Help Italian Kids with Music: COVID19 Scholarships
Donation protected
My dear friend, Michele Spandri, is a talented, professional musician in Italy. He studied pop, rock, and contemporary guitar at university, before turning music into his profession. Michele performed successfully in several bands in Milan (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWisqGHnMfk and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shz-SMd8y3k).
In 2010, Michele co-founded the Valsassina Music Academy (http://www.accademiamusicalevalsassina.it/?jjj=1593978188273 ) with the goal of serving the community where we grew up, Valsassina—a small valley in the Italian Alps. The Academy teaches kids, teenagers, and adults to play guitar, piano, drums, bass, banjo, and other instruments; to sing; to dance; and other performing arts. Hundreds of talented aspiring musicians and dancers have studied there, with several going on to advanced studies and music careers abroad.
Michele’s Academy is a well-known institution of high-quality music education in the region. The Academy also partners with many local elementary schools to offer music courses, which lead to end-of-the-year shows including musicals such as The Lion King and Grease. Michele has provided these kids with world-class opportunities in a local, community setting.
Valsassina is in Lombardy, one of the Italian regions most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The resulting economic and social crisis, which is expected to worsen over the coming months, has dramatically reduced the ability of families to support their kids’ music learning. This is clearly terrible for the kids and is also putting at risk the survival of Michele’s Academy.
This campaign has the primary goal of creating a pool of money to fund music scholarships for children and teenagers who want to attend Michele’s Academy. Of course, this will also support the Academy itself, which can happen only by helping its students first.
Specifically, your donations will be used as follows for the 2020/2021 academic year, which will start in late September 2020:
- $2,500 will be allocated to finance music courses at the public elementary school in Cortenova (a town in Valsassina), benefiting approximately 170 children. This program will lead to a show at the end of the academic year, which will be professionally recorded. The video will be sent to each donor as a thank you gift.
- Scholarships will be created to cover 90% of the cost of courses selected by students. This 10% `copay’ is intended to attract only motivated students. To the extent possible, if we can clearly identify the group of donors who finance a specific scholarship, that scholarship will be named in their honor. Donors can indicate which program they prefer to support.
--- For kids under age 12, a dance course for the whole academic year costs $200 and an instrument or singing course costs $650. (Goal: 9 dance scholarships, 8 instrument/singing scholarships)
--- For students 12 years and above, an instrument or singing course costs $990 per year (Goal: 7 scholarships).
To thank our donors, the Academy will create a dedicated webpage where their names will be listed. Moreover, at the end of the 2020-21 academic year, all supported students will perform in a celebratory show, which will be recorded, sent to each donor, and posted on the Academy’s webpage and YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbnsU3nylSZirEOfvyd0gJQ ). Finally, in September 2020, the Academy will produce a video to celebrate its first 10 years of activity. Donors in this campaign will be honored in a special section of the video.
About Me:
My name is Simone Galperti and I live in San Diego, CA. I grew up in Cortenova, Italy. As a teenager, I discovered the passion of playing an instrument while in a band with Michele. This kept me away from troubles and taught me the power of discipline and patience in improving my playing, an invaluable life lesson. I owe this to people who created opportunities for my passion to grow. I did not become a rock star, but this was never the point, and does not make the time spent playing any less precious or rewarding. Michele provides kids what I had been gifted when I was a teenager, except at a much larger scale and higher quality level. Valsassina Music Academy is invaluable to our community. I decided that I cannot sit back without trying to help lessen the financial strain of the pandemic on this enriching institution. I hope you will too! Please. Thank you!!
In 2010, Michele co-founded the Valsassina Music Academy (http://www.accademiamusicalevalsassina.it/?jjj=1593978188273 ) with the goal of serving the community where we grew up, Valsassina—a small valley in the Italian Alps. The Academy teaches kids, teenagers, and adults to play guitar, piano, drums, bass, banjo, and other instruments; to sing; to dance; and other performing arts. Hundreds of talented aspiring musicians and dancers have studied there, with several going on to advanced studies and music careers abroad.
Michele’s Academy is a well-known institution of high-quality music education in the region. The Academy also partners with many local elementary schools to offer music courses, which lead to end-of-the-year shows including musicals such as The Lion King and Grease. Michele has provided these kids with world-class opportunities in a local, community setting.
Valsassina is in Lombardy, one of the Italian regions most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The resulting economic and social crisis, which is expected to worsen over the coming months, has dramatically reduced the ability of families to support their kids’ music learning. This is clearly terrible for the kids and is also putting at risk the survival of Michele’s Academy.
This campaign has the primary goal of creating a pool of money to fund music scholarships for children and teenagers who want to attend Michele’s Academy. Of course, this will also support the Academy itself, which can happen only by helping its students first.
Specifically, your donations will be used as follows for the 2020/2021 academic year, which will start in late September 2020:
- $2,500 will be allocated to finance music courses at the public elementary school in Cortenova (a town in Valsassina), benefiting approximately 170 children. This program will lead to a show at the end of the academic year, which will be professionally recorded. The video will be sent to each donor as a thank you gift.
- Scholarships will be created to cover 90% of the cost of courses selected by students. This 10% `copay’ is intended to attract only motivated students. To the extent possible, if we can clearly identify the group of donors who finance a specific scholarship, that scholarship will be named in their honor. Donors can indicate which program they prefer to support.
--- For kids under age 12, a dance course for the whole academic year costs $200 and an instrument or singing course costs $650. (Goal: 9 dance scholarships, 8 instrument/singing scholarships)
--- For students 12 years and above, an instrument or singing course costs $990 per year (Goal: 7 scholarships).
To thank our donors, the Academy will create a dedicated webpage where their names will be listed. Moreover, at the end of the 2020-21 academic year, all supported students will perform in a celebratory show, which will be recorded, sent to each donor, and posted on the Academy’s webpage and YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbnsU3nylSZirEOfvyd0gJQ ). Finally, in September 2020, the Academy will produce a video to celebrate its first 10 years of activity. Donors in this campaign will be honored in a special section of the video.
About Me:
My name is Simone Galperti and I live in San Diego, CA. I grew up in Cortenova, Italy. As a teenager, I discovered the passion of playing an instrument while in a band with Michele. This kept me away from troubles and taught me the power of discipline and patience in improving my playing, an invaluable life lesson. I owe this to people who created opportunities for my passion to grow. I did not become a rock star, but this was never the point, and does not make the time spent playing any less precious or rewarding. Michele provides kids what I had been gifted when I was a teenager, except at a much larger scale and higher quality level. Valsassina Music Academy is invaluable to our community. I decided that I cannot sit back without trying to help lessen the financial strain of the pandemic on this enriching institution. I hope you will too! Please. Thank you!!
Fundraising team: AMV Covid-19 (3)
Simone Galperti
Organizer
San Diego, CA
Michele Spandri
Team member
Francesco Cerigioni
Team member
