By Chris Maher | Founder & CEO
Dear Friend,
I hope my email finds you happy, healthy and feeling positive!
Welcome to the May 2015 update on the Musical Youth Foundation 'Guitars for kids' music education programme. Since our last update we've been providing opportunities for 100 vulnerable young people to succeed and excel through the proven power of music education across seven Community Centres in Ireland.
With thanks to your generous support the success of our weekly music lessons and practise sessions continues to impact the lives of some of Ireland's most vulnerable children. Well done!
As the end of this term nears the children of the Musical Youth Foundation are having fun working hard at mastering various musical pieces which they will perform for their peers before the summer break. Amazing to think that at the beginning of 2015 these young people didn't think they would ever be able to play the guitar, nevermind performing for others. Quite an achievement in just a few short months. Imagine how this triumph is impacting every other area of their young lives! Confidence to take on the daily challenges of every aspect of life is the key to a happy and healthy mind and with thanks to your continued support of our work these 100 young people are improving every single day and it shows!
No longer is the talk around the guitar cirlce of a negative nature, now it is about what else they can achieve with hard work and dedication. Without exception each participant continues to strive to learn new and increasingly more personally challenging pieces of music and even creating their own sounds too. The positivity is spreading!
In March of this year we finally made our Road Trip to Galway where we are launching our first Music Education Project outside Dublin. A van packed with drum kits, keyboards, guitars, violins, a trumpet and a saxophone made its way to Presentation Primary School in Galway city to deliver the instruments to the utter delight of the young people there. Over the coming months they too will benefit from the power of our music education programme.
In Dublin our Instrument Bank continues to grow as you donate your old and unused musical instruments. Thank You! As each new instrument donation arrives we ship it straight out to one of our Music Education Partners so that the young people may benefit from it.
Over the coming months our focus will be on preparing to launch the next phase of our Guitars for Kids Music Education project which will mean new centres in Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Galway and beyond. Ah but I'm getting ahead of myself, you'll have to wait until our next update to read more about that. Suffice to say there are busy but exciting times ahead!
In other news...
It is with sadness that I have to report that the 9th annual Dublin City Soul Festival has been postponed due to a lack of *funding. The much loved event had become a major annual festival for the City of Dublin, showcasing some of Ireland's best musicians alongside International performers.
Launched in May 2007 the annual Dublin City Soul Festival gave life to the Musical Youth Foundation project and ensured hundreds of children in Ireland could access life-changing music education programmes where previously they had no opportunities to do so. The difference is amazing!
The hope is that the festival can be resurrected later this year or in 2016 should a suitable sponsor come forward but in the mean time the work of the MYF must continue and we urgently need your support for our vital work so please don't forget to donate what you can afford today!
If you never got a chance to visit Ireland's feel-good festival I've included a youtube link here with some memories of the 2014 event which took place in Merrion Square Park last July!
A Chance to win...
Please make a donation today and in return we will enter you in a draw for a unique piece of Instrumental Art (pictured) titled 'Appealing Sky' created by artist Myra Jago and valued at €500. +. The draw will take place live on the Soul Kitchen on 103.2 Dublin City FM on Thursday July 2nd 2015 at approximately 10.20pm.
Tell a friend...
While your financial support is vital please don't also forget the power of your voice. Tell a friend about the work we do, why you have chosen to support our cause and encourage them to help out. There's no better form of advertisng than word of mouth and together we can spread our succesful music programme across the island of Ireland and make a better future for our nations children!
As always I thank you for your support on behalf of the children and welcome any queries you may have. I'm always happy to hear from you, our supporters!
Thanks and best wishes,
Chris
*Please note: Dublin City Soul Festival is not funded by Musical Youth Foundation.
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