Santa Monica Students Receive New Instruments Thanks to Your Contributions!

“The pandemic hit us hard; We were looted and a lot of our instruments were damaged or stolen last year, and our fundraising efforts were halted…”

Lana Negrete heads the Outreach Through The Arts program in Santa Monica-Malibu, CA, and for the last ten years, they’ve made a massive impact on the youth community.

“Our objective is to provide a place where curious young people can come in and learn how to play or produce music. We offer a safe space that is equitable, accessible, and provides quality music education to anyone who is curious enough to explore – at any level,” said Negrete

OTTA currently teaches 176 students on scholarship between grades 4-12 who struggle with the costs of pursuing music lessons and who cannot afford to buy/rent instruments to practice at home. When OTTA applied for a Guitar Center Music Foundation grant, we immediately took notice and wanted to step in.

Thanks to your contributions and donations, we were able to provide everything from band and orchestra instruments to guitars, which will be used by the program’s rock band, jazz band, and mariachi band groups (how cool is that!?)

“This Guitar Center Music Foundation grant gives us the opportunity to offer our ensemble program to its full extent and offer each child an instrument to play – lifting the burden of them having to rent, buy, or find one,” said Negrete

Negrete continues, “A lot of times students get second-hand, poorly made instruments that don’t perform well and fall apart, creating a challenge and making it not fun to play. This GCMF grant allows these kids to own their instrument and for us to have a fleet of instruments available each season to lend out to youth.”

The mission of OTTA is to educate students through music and to create a path for young adults to enter apprenticeship and trade skills, giving kids immediate access to start their careers. They instill the value of music education while setting students up for success outside of the arts, which is something we immediately took notice of and admired!

At the Guitar Center Music Foundation, we believe that learning music on quality instruments is one of the greatest gifts a young student can receive. Taking the principles of music and applying them to our everyday lives is a key to success, and the Outreach Through The Arts program blew us away with their accomplishments and efforts in using music to change the world, one generation at a time.

Thank you for your donations and for making grants like these possible! YOU are making a difference, and we appreciate you!