2024 Impact Statement

In our ongoing commitment to providing music opportunities to Chicago-area youth, we proudly selected McCutcheon STEAM Elementary (in the Uptown neighborhood Network 2 of the CPS District) as one of our 2024 beneficiaries. With 356 students from diverse backgrounds speaking over 34 languages at home, McCutcheon fosters an inclusive learning environment centered on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math). To support their mission of enriching arts education, our grant of $5,855.68 funded the creation of a keyboard lab. This new facility will provide students with hands-on learning opportunities to develop skills in music theory, piano performance, and composition.

Additionally, we continued our partnership with UpBeat Music and Arts through a $12,357 grant, supporting their efforts to expand programs. The funding was used to purchase recording studio equipment and soundproofing materials to enhance the 14 music rooms in their lesson studio. We are proud to see UpBeat grow, now serving over 650 students in the Chicago area, furthering their mission of bringing music education to those who need it most.

2023 Impact Statement

In response to the ongoing challenges faced by Chicago families transitioning back to in-person work, we selected UpBeat Music and Arts as our 2023 beneficiary. This organization is dedicated to providing after-school music education opportunities to youth and families in need of support. Our $10,000 grant enabled UpBeat to purchase new equipment, supplies, and materials for their new facilities, allowing them to expand their programs and reach more families. From a humble beginning with just five students, UpBeat now serves over 340 students and has awarded nearly 800 scholarships since 2016, ensuring access to music education for those who might otherwise go without.

2022 Impact Statement

Recognizing that our community did not return to pre-pandemic norms, we passionately worked to continue supporting music programs in our Chicago community, providing much needed outreach to children, students, and families still transitioning out of this difficult time. In the spring, we began a relationship with Music in Urban Schools Inspiring Change (MUSIC Inc.) and granted $7,500 to purchase new instruments for its students who live in Chicago neighborhoods that do not have resources for arts programs in their schools or communities.

We were inspired in continuing our support of The Chicago Lighthouse, which used our $10,000 grant to create the Multi-Sensory Environment in its Children’s Development Center Music Lab. The Lighthouse’s goal is to increase experiential access to the academic, emotional, and behavioral benefits of music to the core communities it serves – the blind, visually impaired, disabled, and Veterans communities.

We were also thrilled to support a local high school - the Jones College Preparatory High School Choir Department - with a grant of $9,310 for its projects in purchasing musical equipment and gender-inclusive formal performance attire. Our mission of creating positive self-esteem through music aligns with the Jones Choir Department’s goal in providing a music curriculum that provides students not only with the skills to independently create, compose, and consume music, but also an emotional outlet for them that could last a lifetime.

2021 Impact Statement

During the ongoing pandemic in 2021, we continued supporting music programs in our Chicago community that provide much needed outreach to children, students, and families in this difficult time.  We were inspired to begin a new relationship with The Chicago Lighthouse (The Lighthouse), which would use our $10,000 grant to create the Children’s Development Center Music Lab at its school.  This music lab would allow The Lighthouse to further help children who are blind, visually impaired, and disabled build their confidence, improve interaction skills, and reach developmental milestones.  With over 50,000 people in our community whom they serve each year, we were excited that our grant will make a critical difference in the under-resourced areas of Chicago’s South and West sides.  We also were thrilled in continuing our fourth consecutive year of supporting Intonation Music with a grant of $11,375.  Our grant to Intonation helped in its effort to build out fully functional music classrooms that increased its capacity by 30% and continued its efforts in building community through music.

2020 Impact Statement

As 2020 marked a year where the pandemic has affected the music industry globally, we strove to make an impact on our local music community which had to make necessary shifts due to these unprecedented challenges. We continued in our support of local schools and granted the Performing Arts Department of the Whitney M. Young Magnet High School (WMYHS) over $9,800 for its projects of expanding its curriculum to offer music production as a class and an after-school music production club. Additionally, to address the sudden shift to its virtual-only schooling, we also assisted WMYHS in upgrading its remote-learning program so that students could continue with their music learning by meeting in virtual rooms, recording their parts individually, and then combining their performances to create ensemble performances. We also continued in our support of Intonation Music with a grant of $8,000 to help in continuing its efforts to build community through music. As Intonation Music also needed to shift to virtual lessons and musical collaborations in 2020, our grant assisted them not only in providing a virtual band room for its students, but also in supporting its organizational shift to virtual music opportunities it provides to over 700 Chicago students.

2019 Impact Statement

2019 was a fantastic year for LPMC. We selected Intonation Music as our 2019 beneficiary and granted over $12,000 to Intonation to upgrade its music program’s instruments and establish a student instrument ownership program for use by over 700 at-risk Chicago students. Additionally, to further our vision in sharing the benefits of a creative education to those who are growing up in more challenged circumstances, LPMC paid the travel expenses for David Espinosa for his piano lessons at LPMC.  Moreover, our 2018 grant to Aspira Business & Finance High School blossomed into positive outcomes in 2019, when the launch of its music program for the 2018-19 school year resulted in over 140 Chicago students enrolling in music classes for the first time.

2018 Impact Statement

LPMC had another successful year in 2018.  We selected Aspira Business & Finance High School and Intonation Music as our 2018 beneficiaries.  To Aspira, we granted over $17,000 for the development of its music program for at-risk students coping with adverse conditions at home and in their community; specifically, our grant helped to provide the school all of the instruments used in its music program.  To Intonation Music, we granted over $11,000 to upgrade its music program’s instruments and equipment for use by its at-risk students in the Greater Bronzeville area of Chicago.

2017 Impact Statement

In 2017, we raised 28,000 dollars for the inter American Magnet School in Lakeview for a new piano lab. This lab includes 32 brand new keyboards for the students to learn and practice on. In November, 18 students and families will be traveling to Vienna for the dedication concert for the Beethoven Museum Heilingenstadt which will include 9 concerts for students and general public for the opening day, reception at the City Hall by the Mayor of Vienna, and a Dedication ceremony concert hosted by American Ambassador of Austria.

2016 Impact Statement

In 2016, we had another special year. The LPMC raised $75,000 dollars to help and renovate the recite hall in the Beethoven Museum Heiligenstadt; it is the first and only Beethoven museum in Austria. Our LPMC students will be performing there in a dedication concert on November 22, 2017. Additionally, we raised over $10,000 at a student recital and holiday concert, which we will use to help music programs in various public schools in the Chicagoland area. 

2015 Impact Statement

In 2015, the LPMC had a very successful year. We raised over 18,000 dollars to renovate a brand new piano lab for the People's Music School that  includes state-of-the-art keyboards and teaching equipment. In addition, we have tutored People's Music School students throughout the year, helping them not only learn the fundamentals of piano, but to appreciate music as a whole.