In light of the COVID pandemic, Newport Festivals Foundation has created a Musician Relief Fund to support musicians from our Folk & Jazz communities that have been impacted by the virus. The following artists have asked their donations to be directed to the fund: DEER TICK, MUZZ, THE SECRET SISTERS, LEE FIELDS & THE EXPRESSIONS, ALEXI MURDOCH, THE BALLROOM THIEVES & WATKIN FAMILY HOUR.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation to Buffalo String Works. BSW provides music education for Buffalo’s refugee and immigrant communities. Funds will be used towards salaries for skilled and creative Teaching Artists, who are keeping students engaged by deftly transitioning to virtual learning in the midst of the current health crisis

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on behalf of Sylvan Esso to BUMP: The Triangle to help empower urban youth in Durham, NC through African diasporic music and mentoring. 

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on behalf of Daughter of Swords to Hopewell Music Cooperative-North which provides accessible music education to all in North Minneapolis, regardless of age, ability, background, or circumstance. Funds will help provide continuity and support for students by improving online lesson program.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation to Girls Rock! Rhode Island. The funds will be used to plan and execute free virtual music lessons and gear loan programs for women, girls, trans, and non-binary youth and adults who have been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation to Preservation Hall Foundation‘s Legacy Program Emergency Relief Fund to assist their musical collective affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. The Legacy Program Emergency Relief Fund assists their 61 musicians with medical expenses, lodging, food, and other vital living expenses due to illness or loss of work.

Thank you, Early James, for applying your Newport Festivals Foundation artist donation to The Blues Foundation to assist professional Blues musicians in financial need due to Covid-19 with necessities including rent/mortgage, utilities, phone, and/or car payments.

Natalie Hemby has asked Newport Festivals Foundation to apply her artist donation to She Is The Music which is focused on increasing the number of women working in music. Funds will be used to provide online and IG Live mentorship panels and virtual songwriting sessions during these unprecedented times.

Brittany Howard asked that her Newport Festivals Foundation’s donation be used to help create a music scholarship fund in memory of her sister, Jaime, at her alma mater, East Limestone High School in Athens, AL. We are grateful to have Brittany in our #folkfamily and honored to contribute to such a loving tribute to her sister.

We thank Resistance Revival Chorus for applying their Newport Festivals Foundation artist donation to the The Lower Eastside Girls Club NY which is working to break the cycle of poverty by training the next generation of ethical, entrepreneurial, and environmental leaders. The funds will be used to directly support their audio engineering and musical composition classes.

We thank Phoebe Bridgers for joining us this year and for asking Newport Festivals Foundation to make a donation on her behalf to Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls Los Angeles. Funds will be used to make sure they’re able to fulfill their mission to empower girls through music despite the challenges presented by COVID-19.

Please welcome Steve Gunn and William Tyler to the family. On their behalf, Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation to Brooklyn Music School. BMS makes music and the performing arts accessible to all those that want regardless of age, ability, interest level, or income. In light of the COVID 19 crisis, the funds will be used for online program support and scholarship/financial aid for guitar students.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on her behalf to Beats Rhymes And Life. BRL uses Hip Hop to promote mental health outcomes among marginalized youth. Funds will be used to purchase software and laptops to improve their remote learning music lessons during the quarantine.

Andrew Bird joins us this year and has asked Newport Festivals Foundation to make a donation on his behalf to BandWith Chicago which provides youth in under-served Chicago communities with access to music instruction. Funds will be used during quarantine to ensure students of their Drumline program have proper practice drum kits and books to work with at home and to help fund the development of their online curriculum and technology.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on her behalf to North Hunterdon High School (Sharon’s alma mater). Due to the spread of COVID-19, North Hunterdon has made the move to online remote instruction. This grant will be used to purchase individual student subscriptions to virtual learning products. These will allow their musicians to continue to develop their abilities while separated from the larger performing ensembles they usually find themselves in.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on their behalf to Nuçi’s Space – an organization dedicated to suicide prevention for musicians in Athens, GA. In light of the COVID 19 crisis, the funds will be used to provide uninsured musicians with access to professional mental health counselors and providers.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on behalf of Barrie to Harmony Program which provides after-school music education programs in under-served communities across New York City. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, and given school closures in New York City, these funds will be used to train our teaching artists in the development and provision of a weekly series of online instrumental music classes and corresponding assignments for continued practice at home.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on Delta Spirit’s behalf to Banding Together (a fund created by Red River Cultural District) to help provide financial relief to those in the Austin live music community that have been economically impacted by COVID-19.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on her behalf to Face the Music Foundation’s Grace Notes Project. Face the Music provides community music prevention programs for musicians in recovery. These funds will be used to provide amplifiers, and related gear for use with their Grace Notes Project so that musicians in recovery have reliable equipment when they are performing for other “forgotten” populations.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on Grace’s behalf to Girls Rock Vermont – a music education program dedicated to building self-esteem and encouraging self-expression. The funds will be used to buy needed gear (guitar strings, drum heads, drum sticks, hi hat stands, drum thrones and instrument cables) for their two new camps and to provide scholarship funds for kids who need them to attend camp.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on their behalf to Fine Arts Center pARTners (Greenville, SC) which provides daily pre-professional training for high school students in visual and performing arts. The funds will be used to purchase professional-level drum and bass instruments for their Jazz Studio students – a level of equipment that is not financially accessible to many of their kids.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on their behalf to Renaissance Youth Center. RYC empowers at-risk inner-city youth to maximize their potential through education, music and sports programming in an effort to end poverty. The funds will be used to provide keyboards, drums, dance, guitar and vocal instruction to youth of the South Bronx ages 2-21.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on behalf of Ian to The Appalachian School of Luthiery. The Appalachian Artisan Center is dedicated to promoting the lives and livelihoods of artists in the mountains via professional development assistance, including individuals in recovery. The funds will be used to help those impacted by the opioid crisis learn to build stringed instruments.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on behalf of Son Volt to Music for Lifelong Achievement. MFLA donates instruments to school and community music programs serving disadvantaged young people. This gift will be used to repair instruments and donate new instruments.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on behalf of Sunny War to In The Band to provide direct program support for In The Band’s ensemble, songwriting and production classes at community centers and schools in five under-served communities in Los Angeles.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on Nathaniel’s behalf to Take Note Colorado. We will provide the Denver Public Library District with an annual subscription to Soundtrap, an online digital audio workstation that will let students make and record music in libraries throughout the city. 

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on Erin’s behalf to Youth Empowerment through Arts & Humanities, Inc. (YEAH! Rocks – Southern Girls Rock Camp). YEAH! provides music education for youth ages 5-17 across Nashville. Funds will be used to support their scholarship program, which is used by over 60% of their students, at their Rock Camps this summer. 

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on their behalf to Sam’s Fans. This donation will go directly to provide joy and comfort to seriously ill kids through the amazing vehicle of music and art therapies. 

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on behalf of Joseph to Ainsworth Elementary School (Portland, OR). These funds will provide students with a classroom set of ukuleles so that they can create music of their own.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on behalf of Randy to Make Music NOLA to help pay teaching artist stipends for their fiddle class and orchestra program, both of which expose young musicians to New Orleans music.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation on behalf of EOB to Music Resource Center. MRC provides affordable music and dance after-school enrichment and education to Charlottesville-area 6th-12th grade students. 

As part of our Newport Jazz Ambassador program, we are working to connect festival artists with music education programs they’re passionate about. Robert “Sput” Searight of Ghost-Note asked that we support his alma mater Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Thanks to the support of KORG Education, we were able to donate top of the line keyboards and microphones to their music programs. To celebrate the donation, Ghost-Note will be hosting a special “homecoming” show at the Kessler Theatre in Dallas, TX on April 23rd.

We have made a donation on behalf of Mandolin Orange to Girls Rock NC. The funds will be used to give full financial assistance to five young people who could otherwise not afford their social justice & music oriented summer camp!

We have made a donation on behalf of Rainbow Kitten Surprise to Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center. SVCAC preserves, protects and promotes Southern Appalachian mountain culture. Funds will provide musical instruction and instruments for their Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM) program that provides free music instruction to students 4th – 12th grades interested in learning how to play guitar, fiddle, banjo, and other bluegrass instruments.

We have made a donation on behalf of Vagabon to Sing For Hope. The funds will be used to support their work in NYC public schools, where they place artist-designed Sing for Hope Pianos each year to start or continue music education programming and help mobilize young people as Citizen Artists: those who use their art to strengthen their communities. 

We have made a donation on Tré Burt’s behalf to The Sacramento Preparatory Music Academy to help to maintain and sustain their Guitar Projects at three different schools, which serve over 120 students, year-round.

We have made a donation on Yola’s behalf to Soulsville Foundation – Stax Music Academy. This donation will be used to provide master classes and workshops that will further enhance the students’ ability to express themselves through music and original works. Soul music will remain relevant through the creativity and original work of the young artists at the Stax Music Academy. 

We have made a donation on behalf of Hawktail to W.O. Smith/Nashville Community Music School to provide a week long summer camp for 30 students to learn to play in a variety of genres including bluegrass, country, rock, pop, hip-hop, soul and R&B.   

We have made a donation on behalf of Black Pumas to Kids In A New Groove to help provide central Texas youth in foster care with free, weekly in-home music lessons, instruments, and mentorship.

We have made a donation on behalf of Big Thief to Daniel’s Music Foundation empowers individuals with developmental and physical disabilities through music. Funds will support their weekly, one-hour lyric writing class, free to individuals with disabilities, for one semester.

Newport Festivals Foundation and Nathanial Rateliff have partnered up to provide over $30K worth of instruments to under-served music programs in Greeley, CO.