More than six million U.S. elementary and middle school students do
not have access to arts or music classes, resulting in a generation of
young people lacking much-needed school programs. Today at the South
by Southwest (SXSW) Social
Good Hub, StubHub,
the world’s largest ticket marketplace, furthers its support of music
education by announcing a commitment to put $1 million worth of musical
instruments in U.S. classrooms, working in partnership with music
education non-profit, The
Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation (MHOF).
StubHub is collaborating with Dr. Martens, indie band Portugal. The Man
and various other major companies and artists to award instrument
donations at schools nationwide throughout the year, particularly in
low-income areas. In recognition of the home of the SXSW music festival,
and its great strides toward prioritizing arts education, Austin will be
the first city awarded in 2015 with two benefitting schools receiving
more than $80,000 worth of musical instruments from MHOF, thanks to
funding support from the StubHub Foundation (a corporate-advised fund of
the Silicon Valley Community Foundation) and Dr. Martens.
“Monetary support will always be vital to keeping school music programs
alive, but at StubHub, we aim to do more than that. In combining our
sheer reach as a company with the voice and inspiration that only
musicians can bring, we hope to increase our impact by shining a
national spotlight on the issue itself,” said StubHub Head of Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR), Emma Leggat.
“Growing up in Alaska, we did not have many opportunities to play music,
let alone get exposed to it,” said John Gourley, lead singer of
Portugal. The Man. “We were lucky enough to have parents who supported
our passions, but we know without them we would have never had the
opportunity and who knows what I would be doing now. It is great to see
supporters like StubHub and MHOF giving underfunded schools and students
the chance to chase their passions. Music and arts education is very
important to us and are we stoked to be part of this program.”
“Sadly, due to the high cost of musical instruments, school music
programs around the country are struggling, even when the will to keep
them alive is strong,” said Felice Mancini, President & CEO of The Mr.
Holland’s Opus Foundation. “Combining StubHub’s funding support with
ways to raise awareness around the issue itself will be game-changing
for our organization and the countless children who will benefit.”
Working in collaboration with MHOF, brands and artists, including those
from its 2014 Next
Stage Concert Series and 2015 StubHub Music Experience at SXSW,
StubHub aims to achieve a truly collective impact through combined
investment, elevated exposure for the cause and opportunities for youth
to be inspired by musicians themselves. Selected markets will be chosen
collaboratively between StubHub, MHOF and partner artists and brands,
with awarded schools to be chosen by MHOF through its established selection
criteria. Interested schools are invited to inquire or apply
directly through MHOF.
StubHub’s expanded commitment to music education builds upon its 2014
partnership with MHOF through its Next Stage Concert Series, which
enabled nearly $600,000 in instruments donated to 16 U.S. schools in
2014. Since the creation of the StubHub Foundation in 2012, StubHub has
allocated more than a quarter of its $3 million in charitable giving to
arts non-profits, primarily in music education.
FOR MORE ABOUT HOW STUBHUB HAS SUPPORTED MUSIC EDUCATION:
View a film about its partnership with The Mr. Holland’s Opus
Foundation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6x_o_xoUK8
Meet The Roots of Music, another StubHub Foundation beneficiary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNl4F5mXRqo
Learn about StubHub’s 2014 Next Stage Concert Series: StubHub.com/Next-Stage-Concert-Series
Learn about the StubHub Music ‘1 for 1’ donation campaign: http://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/37572-StubHub-Kicks-Off-the-Season-of-Giving-With-a-1-for-1-Donation-Campaign-to-Support-Music-Education
About StubHub
StubHub is the world's largest ticket marketplace, enabling fans the
choice to buy and sell tickets to tens of thousands of sports, concert,
theater and other live entertainment events on desktop, tablet or
mobile, as well as the ability to discover local live music through its
iOS app StubHub Music. Offering a superior fan experience at its core,
StubHub reinvented the ticket resale market in 2000 and continues to
lead it through innovation through numerous industry firsts, including
the introduction of the industry’s first ticketing application, first
interactive seat mapping tool and the first live entertainment Fan
Rewards program. The market leader, StubHub is partners with major
organizations and brands, including more than 60 teams in MLB, NBA, NHL,
MLS and NCAA, plus ESPN, NBC Digital, AEG and Paciolan. Throughout North
America and Europe, StubHub provides the total end-to-end event going
experience that is the way ticket buying should be. StubHub is an eBay
company (NASDAQ: EBAY). For more information on StubHub, visit StubHub.com,
Twitter.com/StubHub,
Facebook.com/StubHub,
or YouTube.com/StubHub.
About The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation
The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation was inspired by the acclaimed motion
picture Mr. Holland’s Opus, the story of the profound effect a dedicated
music teacher had on generations of students. The film's composer,
Michael Kamen, started the foundation in 1996 as his commitment to the
future of music education.
The Foundation donates musical instruments to under-funded schools in an
effort to give students the many benefits of music education, help them
achieve more in school and inspire creativity and expression through
playing music. Hundreds of thousands of students across the country have
benefited and thousands of instruments have been donated to 1,311 school
music programs. Please visit mhopus.org
for more information.
Copyright Business Wire 2015