GRAMMY Foundation program provides grants to top public schools making a commitment to music education
GRAMMY.com
The GRAMMY Foundation today announced that 14 schools nationwide have been selected as GRAMMY Signature Schools for 2008. Created in 1998, the GRAMMY Signature Schools program recognizes top U.S. public high schools that are making an outstanding commitment to music education during an academic school year.
Glenbrook South High School, Glenview, Ill., was named the National GRAMMY Signature School. Schools awarded Gold status are: Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Jacksonville, Fla., and Plano Sr. High School, Plano, Texas. The GRAMMY Signature Schools Enterprise Award recipients are: Bridger High School, Bridger, Mont.; Nederland Sr. High School, Nederland, Colo.; and Philomath High School, Philomath, Ore.
"For the past 10 years, the GRAMMY Signature Schools program has recognized and rewarded excellence in music education at U.S. public high schools," said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy and President of the GRAMMY Foundation. "These schools maintain high quality music programs that foster and demonstrate the significant role music can play in the lives of their students. Many do so with serious economic challenges, so it is especially gratifying that we are able to award three Enterprise Awards this year. We are also grateful for the continued support of the Gibson Foundation for this program."
Each of the 14 GRAMMY Signature Schools will receive a custom award and a monetary grant to benefit its music program. The top three are designated Gold recipients. The best of the Gold recipients is designated the National GRAMMY Signature School. The National GRAMMY Signature School will receive $10,000 and the two remaining Gold schools each will receive $5,000.
In the Enterprise Award category, which recognizes efforts made by schools that are economically underserved, three schools will receive a grant of $5,000 each. Additionally, through the Gibson Foundation, three schools will each be awarded grants of $5,000 to benefit their guitar and/or piano programs.
Award presentations are made throughout the spring at the National GRAMMY Signature School, and schools that are Gold recipients, Enterprise Award winners and Gibson grantees. The remaining five GRAMMY Signature Schools recipients will receive a grant award of $1,000 to benefit their music programs. The recipients are determined by a panel of top music educators and professionals.
The selection process for GRAMMY Signature Schools begins each year in September when the GRAMMY Foundation mails notification to more than 20,000 public high schools from districts large and small, urban, suburban and rural, requesting information about each school's music program. Applications are completed and submitted online in October at Grammyintheschools.com. After the applications are scored, finalists are identified and asked to submit additional documentation, such as recordings of school concerts, sample concert programs and repertoire, which is then reviewed by an independent screening committee to determine the schools that merit Signature School status. The GRAMMY Signature Schools' Blue Ribbon Committee selects the National school, the two Gold recipients and the three Enterprise Award schools.
For a complete list of 2008 GRAMMY Signature Schools, please click here.