A key component of Law Rocks’ mission is to promote music education for underserved youth. In 2023, due to our increased sponsorship and fundraising, Law Rocks was able to offer a new grant at each Law Rocks show: The Music Matters grant. This grant, continuing in 2024, is given to a local nonprofit that supports youth music education in each of our U.S. tour cities. Omi Crawford, director of Law Rocks, says of the grant initiative:
“Since our 2009 founding, Law Rocks has supported hundreds of incredible nonprofits, with an emphasis on youth music education organizations. The Music Matters grant is a natural evolution of our mission and a chance to formalize our support of amazing music education nonprofits across the country.”
Today’s spotlight is on our 2024 Law Rocks Houston Music Matters grant recipient, Prelude Music Foundation. PMF exemplifies our mission in every way and we are delighted to celebrate the hard work and heart behind this exceptional organization.
Keep reading to learn more in our spotlight interview with Prelude Music Foundation Co-Founders, Dr. Ana Treviño-Godfrey & Jonathan Godfrey.
Our 2024 Houston Music Matters Grant Recipient: Prelude Music Foundation
1) Can you tell us a little about the history of your nonprofit, as well as its mission and focus?
We founded PMF in 2014 to bring high-quality music education to children across Houston. Our mission is to change the lives and enhance the education of children in our city through the power of music. Today, we offer weekly in-person Music Together® music and movement classes to more than 2,600 children at 15 sites. This includes five Houston ISD early childhood sites and three elementary schools within the Houston Independent School District and several early childhood education centers in high-need areas of Houston. We also offer weekly classes at Ronald McDonald House Houston in the Texas Medical Center and at Casa de Esperanza de Los Niños, a temporary residential home for young children whose families are in crisis.
Our work has always been concentrated in underserved and high-need communities. The five Houston ISD schools we serve are Title I, high-need campuses, and the families we serve at our other community sites have similar demographics. At sites like Casa and Ronald MacDonald House, our programming offers a moment of respite and connection for children affected by illness, loss, or trauma. We use music as a means of connection, helping build strong bonds between children and their teachers and caregivers so that children may grow, learn, and thrive.
Over the years, we have created a dynamic, high-impact program that has transformed the lives of thousands of children, teachers, and families.
2) What is the best example of the way you’ve seen your organization’s work make a difference?
We're so grateful that we get to do this precious work of spreading peace, love, and joy. The best example of our success is when we see that joy in people's faces when we make music together. I think about the babies we meet at Casa and the families of children awaiting medical treatment at Ronald McDonald House, who are all navigating difficult life circumstances but who find peace and respite when we sing. I think about the teachers and children we meet in our preschool and elementary classes and the way they find new ways to playfully, joyfully explore letter sounds, counting, and more.
Image courtesy of Prelude Music Foundation
3) What are some upcoming initiatives that you are planning for?
April is a busy month for us! We just celebrated our annual end-of-year concert event, which we call My First Orchestral Concert. This free concert features our music specialists in concert with musicians from Houston's premier performing arts organizations (including the Houston Symphony, Mercury Chamber Orchestra, Apollo Chamber Players, and more) where we sing and dance to the songs we use in our school program all year long. We welcomed more than 2,000 children from our program to these concerts, and we transported them and their teachers and chaperones from their schools to Hermann Park for this joyful interactive concert created just for young children. . This year, we transported more than 2,000 students, teachers, and their chaperones to Miller Outdoor Theatre in Houston's Hermann Park for a free, interactive concert created just for children from birth to age six.
Over the summer, we'll prepare for the school year ahead with our Summer Institute, where we invite classroom teachers from our program sites to participate in highly interactive workshops that explore the art and science behind using music to enhance young children's developing skills in literacy, numeracy, and more. Teachers have the opportunity to develop their own music-infused lesson plans to use in their classrooms, and we forge partnerships between our music specialists and the teachers whose classrooms they visit each week.
4) What is the greatest challenge your organization faces?
One thing that we're always mindful of is the challenge of growing our organization and expanding our reach in a thoughtful and sustainable way. We've been proud to bring high-quality programming to our program sites week after week, even as Houston has navigated some serious challenges, from flooding from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and the freeze from Tropical Storm Uri in 2021 and the massive global effects of the pandemic. The communities we serve have been among the hardest hit in these disasters, and we've worked hard to be a consistent source of connection and joy in the midst of some daunting events.
5) What does the power of music mean to you?
We use music as a means of connection, helping build strong bonds between children and their teachers and caregivers so that children may grow, learn, and thrive. We're proud that we get to use music to spread peace, love, and joy wherever we go.
As music educators, we are committed to bringing excellent music education to the children we serve, many of whom would otherwise not have the chance to experience arts education. We endeavor to bring consistent, high-quality music programming to the sites we serve year after year so that these communities can count on our program as a source of joy and a resource for effective, engaging teaching practices.
We hope that our programming helps foster a sense of belonging as we affirm that Houston's rich educational and cultural opportunities belong to all of its residents, not just a privileged few. We believe that music is a birthright for all children, and we are grateful for the opportunity to bring joyful music-making to sites across our city.
6) How will the Music Matters grant be used?
This grant will help support our core programming bringing developmentally appropriate music and movement classes to children across Houston. We're so grateful for the support of your organization — thank you for choosing us and thank you for including us in your great work!
Learn more about Prelude Music Foundation.