AVANT ACADEMY OF MUSIC SCHOLARSHIP
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My name is John Habel, and I am an American educator. I split my time between East Tennessee, Western North Carolina and Jamaica, and I want to tell you about a new project that is dear to my heart, the AVANT ACADEMY OF MUSIC SCHOLARSHIP FUND.
In 2013, Jamaican Seretse Small, a professional musician and music educator, and I started Avant Academy of Music in Kingston, Jamaica. In a beautiful island nation with both great poverty and great opportunity, Seretse has been working for years to enrich the lives of Jamaicans of all ages. While Jamaica is a musical country, the land of Bob Marley and so many stars, a music education that meets global standards is beyond the means of the average Jamaican.
John and Seretse at Avant Academy of Music
Therefore, I ask for you to help provide financial assistance to talented Jamaicans who have the potential to become great musicians. Seretse and I have been able to create an academy that has the basic equipment and staff to offer great music instruction in piano, guitar, singing, violin, drums and musical theatre to Jamaicans who can afford one-on-one lessons. Now we are launching a scholarship program that will make our lessons available to those we have not been able to serve until now.
For 700 USD we can provide lessons to a scholarship student for one year (three 10-week terms). This support covers 30 hours of one-on-one instruction, all instructional materials, and fees for the annual college-accredited exam fees. By passing these exams our students not only show their progress as musicians, but also earn formal certification of this progress.
Your donation to our new scholarship program will allow us to provide lessons to talented students in order to explore a career in music. We have a vision of empowering our scholarships winners not only to express themselves musically, but also to become self-supporting contributors to the development of Jamaica.
Our goal for this first scholarship campaign is 8,000 USD by the end of June, which will allow us to offer 10 scholarships (including Gofundme fees). This is the first of many scholarship campaigns, since we intend to have at least 50% of our student body on scholarship.
Please help us to achieve our goal by donating to our first scholarship campaign.
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More about Avant Academy of Music
With a bit of seed money, Seretse and I set up Avant Academy of Music in a building in Kingston that had been a hostel for migrants who worked in a garment factory. Our building had been empty for a long time, so we all pitched in and cleaned it from top to bottom, painted it, and installed partitions and sound-proofing in order to create our first four teaching studios. Seretse reached out to his network of musicians and music teachers and convinced seven musicians to become our first music teachers, whom we refer to as mentors. Avant Academy of Music opened with one student and grew to thirty-five students by the end of the first term. From time to time I go to Jamaica to help in any way that I can, from giving encouragement, to training our mentors to become professional educators, to lending a few dollars in order to keep the doors open.
Today we have 15 mentors and four full-time staff members, and we serve 140 students. I am very proud of the members or our team, who have shown a lot of grit and dedication. However, we still have cash flow problems, even though our students pay tuition.
Avant Academy of Music already has been recognized for its achievements. Last fall the Academy was one of ten businesses featured in the season of “Community Innovators,” a reality TV series in Jamaica. At the end of the season, the series selected the Academy as the business with the greatest potential to contribute to Jamaica. The prize was 350,000 Jamaican Dollars (about 2,900 USD), which we have used to provide one-year scholarships to four talented, financially challenged musicians.
Now is the time for Avant Academy of Music to launch its first scholarship campaign. Join the members of our community who believe in the power of education and the importance of music. We ask you to support the mission of Avant Academy of Music’s new scholarship program to help talented, financially challenged Jamaicans who deserve to realize their dreams for success and for enriching Jamaica, a country that I have grown to love.
Thank you very much.
In 2013, Jamaican Seretse Small, a professional musician and music educator, and I started Avant Academy of Music in Kingston, Jamaica. In a beautiful island nation with both great poverty and great opportunity, Seretse has been working for years to enrich the lives of Jamaicans of all ages. While Jamaica is a musical country, the land of Bob Marley and so many stars, a music education that meets global standards is beyond the means of the average Jamaican.
John and Seretse at Avant Academy of Music
Therefore, I ask for you to help provide financial assistance to talented Jamaicans who have the potential to become great musicians. Seretse and I have been able to create an academy that has the basic equipment and staff to offer great music instruction in piano, guitar, singing, violin, drums and musical theatre to Jamaicans who can afford one-on-one lessons. Now we are launching a scholarship program that will make our lessons available to those we have not been able to serve until now.
For 700 USD we can provide lessons to a scholarship student for one year (three 10-week terms). This support covers 30 hours of one-on-one instruction, all instructional materials, and fees for the annual college-accredited exam fees. By passing these exams our students not only show their progress as musicians, but also earn formal certification of this progress.
Your donation to our new scholarship program will allow us to provide lessons to talented students in order to explore a career in music. We have a vision of empowering our scholarships winners not only to express themselves musically, but also to become self-supporting contributors to the development of Jamaica.
Our goal for this first scholarship campaign is 8,000 USD by the end of June, which will allow us to offer 10 scholarships (including Gofundme fees). This is the first of many scholarship campaigns, since we intend to have at least 50% of our student body on scholarship.
Please help us to achieve our goal by donating to our first scholarship campaign.
****************************** ******
More about Avant Academy of Music
With a bit of seed money, Seretse and I set up Avant Academy of Music in a building in Kingston that had been a hostel for migrants who worked in a garment factory. Our building had been empty for a long time, so we all pitched in and cleaned it from top to bottom, painted it, and installed partitions and sound-proofing in order to create our first four teaching studios. Seretse reached out to his network of musicians and music teachers and convinced seven musicians to become our first music teachers, whom we refer to as mentors. Avant Academy of Music opened with one student and grew to thirty-five students by the end of the first term. From time to time I go to Jamaica to help in any way that I can, from giving encouragement, to training our mentors to become professional educators, to lending a few dollars in order to keep the doors open.
Today we have 15 mentors and four full-time staff members, and we serve 140 students. I am very proud of the members or our team, who have shown a lot of grit and dedication. However, we still have cash flow problems, even though our students pay tuition.
Avant Academy of Music already has been recognized for its achievements. Last fall the Academy was one of ten businesses featured in the season of “Community Innovators,” a reality TV series in Jamaica. At the end of the season, the series selected the Academy as the business with the greatest potential to contribute to Jamaica. The prize was 350,000 Jamaican Dollars (about 2,900 USD), which we have used to provide one-year scholarships to four talented, financially challenged musicians.
Now is the time for Avant Academy of Music to launch its first scholarship campaign. Join the members of our community who believe in the power of education and the importance of music. We ask you to support the mission of Avant Academy of Music’s new scholarship program to help talented, financially challenged Jamaicans who deserve to realize their dreams for success and for enriching Jamaica, a country that I have grown to love.
Thank you very much.
Organizer
John Habel
Organizer
Knoxville, TN