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: Goose, Rhiannon Giddens Silk Road, Skullcrusher and Beabadoobee 

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

On behalf of Valerie June, Newport Festivals Foundation has made a grant to The Soulsville Foundation’s Stax Music Academy. Stax is an after school and summer music institute located adjacent to the home of the legendary ’60s-’70s soul record label Stax Records. Funds will be used to provide a full scholarship for a Stax Music Academy student for their Summer Music Experience.

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.

On behalf of Taj Mahal we have made a grant to the Music Maker Foundation. The grant will be used to fund an exhibit to educate the public about musical heritage and histories of racial terror, rural black life, and art, resistance & civil rights.

Newport Festivals Foundation has provided a grant to Anahuacalmecac World School. The grant will support a new artist in residence collaboration with Xiuhtezcatl Martinez focused on the development of an ancestral song and a modernized expression of Indigenous survivance. This project will expand their current music education to focus on connecting indigenous language revitalization and popularization.

On behalf of John Moreland, Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation to Appalachian Artisan Center’s “Culture of Recovery” program which helps those impacted by the opioid crisis learn to build stringed instruments. Funds will be used to purchase wood, strings, and other supplies for the students of the luthiery school.

On behalf of Joy, Newport Festivals Foundation has made a grant to W.O. Smith/Nashville Community Music School. Funds will be used to support the hiring of music staff for Camp BackBeat, a weeklong experience for students in Nashville interested in forming bands and performing live.

On behalf of Arooj Aftab, Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation to The Lower Eastside Girls Club. Funding will be used to support their sound studio programs where girls learn technical skills such as DJing (both digital and using turntables), music production, sound engineering, music theory, and radio journalism.

Through our Artist Gives program, Neal has asked that Newport Festivals Foundation make a grant to The Roots of Music, which empowers the youth of New Orleans through music education. The grants will be used to purchase cymbals for their Marching Crusader Band that provides over 2,500 hours of music education and academic tutoring, over 30,400 nutritious hot meals, 1,400 bus journeys, and over 150 instruments for student use.

Durand has asked Newport Festivals Foundation to make a grant to Decolonizing the Music Room, whose mission is to center Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian voices, knowledge, and experiences in music education and related fields. The funds will help bring a teaching artist specializing in American roots music to local orchestra students in Fort Worth, Texas.

Newport Festivals Foundation has made a grant on behalf of Trampled by Turtles to Purple Playground, which teaches Prince-inspired music education in Minneapolis. The grant will go towards their “Academy of Prince” program, where students learn Prince history and write and record their own songs, with help from teachers, guest speakers, and musicians.

On behalf of The Dead Tongues, Newport Festivals Foundation has made a grant to the The Black Banjo Reclamation Project, whose mission is to return instruments of African origin to the descendants of their original makers. These funds will directly support one of their cohorts of Black banjo builders who will be convening this Summer for a training aimed to grow their base of educators involved with the BBRP to reach more communities interested in pursuing paths of creation through the banjo in Black-centered and in many cases, all Black spaces.

Adia has asked Newport Festivals Foundation to make a donation to Jessi Zazu, Inc. which supports the arts and humanities, social justice, and women’s health. The funds will help them purchase supplies, and film a soldering workshop on how to create guitar fuzz pedals.

On Madi’s behalf, Newport Festivals Foundation has made a grant to Youth Empowerment through Arts & Humanities, Inc. in Nashville, which builds a culture of positive self-esteem and collaboration among girls and gender non-conforming youth. The grant will be used for their Scholarship Fund which helps send youth to their Rock Camps, an eight-week experience where students form their own rock band.

On Maren’s behalf, Newport Festivals Foundation has made a donation to Little Kids Rock, which helps schools to provide innovative music education. With this funding, Little Kids Rock will be able to put an instrument in the hands of 10 students across the country.