Tag Archives: community engagement grant

Grand Rapids Symphony Receives Community Engagement Grant

The Grand Rapids Symphony has been awarded a grant of $1.1 million from the Wege Foundation to engage new and diverse audiences with live orchestra music. The grant, spread over four years, will add community engagement staff positions and create a two-year music fellowship for a musician fellow to perform with the Grand Rapids Symphony and be mentored by symphony musicians, members of Local 56 (Grand Rapids, MI).

The grant money was first put to use with the symphony’s free community outdoor concerts at a local park in July. Funds will also help to grow the symphony’s Mosaic Scholarship program—a mentoring program for black and Latino music students, created with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. A new program, Mosaic Music Majors, will assist college music students of color in developing skills to launch their careers. Teenage students will be provided with musical instruments, private lessons, and the opportunity to perform at and attend concerts.