Musicopia gets transformative gift to keep music education alive in Philly schools
Musicopia has received a transformative private gift, in addition to a $500,000 grant from the city for gun violence prevention through the arts.
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Meara Lim-Goyette, 11 (center), rehearses with Musicopia for a performance of Mark Laycock's ''Musicopia Suite.'' (Emma Lee/WHYY)
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At 50 years old, Musicopia received a transformational gift to keep its programs running in perpetuity.
The Philadelphia youth education nonprofit leads several musical ensembles and music education in schools. It has received $1 million to establish a permanent endowment fund.
Musicopia typically operates on a budget of about $1.5 million, according to tax records. The latest endowment established by a gift from the Walter R. Garrison Foundation will be earmarked for Musicopia’s new Arts Leadership Fund.
The “Walter R. Garrison Arts Leadership Academy: Rhythms for Success” will round up several programs for high school students that the organization has been piloting for several years and integrate them into a holistic network of services, including mentorships, scholarships, college and career counseling, and stipends for ensemble rehearsals.
“To be able to bring it together and have students enroll in this Academy, and have a name attached to it, and have formal structure for the students to interact on a regular basis,” said Catherine Charlton, president and CEO of the fund. “It just brings it all together in a really beautiful way.”
Musicopia supports drumline ensembles in at least 10 Philadelphia schools. Through the new Leadership Academy it will bring together drumlines from schools across the city to enable students to collaborate.
The Garrison Foundation was created by Walter R. Garrison, the CEO of CDI Engineering Solutions and founder of the Pennsylvania Institute of Technology, who died in 2019. The task of his foundation is to spend down its assets, which in 2023 was $10.9 million, according to tax records. Foundation Chair Barton Winokur expects to zero out the foundation in about a year.
Winokur said the creation of an ongoing endowment at Musicopia will ensure music in public schools remains strong. The foundation prioritizes the importance of music education and finds it particularly vulnerable to school district budget cuts. Winokur considered giving money directly to the Philadelphia School District to bolster its music education programs but was discouraged by bureaucratic red tape.
“They can’t get out of their own way,” Winokur said.
Charlton said her musical programs are designed to foster better adult citizens.
“Musicopia has never had as part of our core mission to build future musicians,” she said. “If our students want to go on to be professional musicians, that’s amazing and wonderful, but we are much more about the social and emotional learning skills, and global awareness, those core tools people need to succeed in whatever field they’re in.”

Musicopia is also the recipient of a $500,000 Community Expansion Grant from the city of Philadelphia for gun violence prevention. This is the third round of the funding program that started in 2021.
The grant supports anti-violence programs targeting specific zip codes with statistically high rates of gun violence, mostly in North and West Philadelphia.
Charlton said Musicopia has already been established in those areas, where it has operated about 40% of its music programs over the last three years. The Community Expansion grant will allow it to deepen its existing services. Musicopia will work with Drexel University to track the impact of those programs.
The next concert of the Musicopia string ensemble will be Jan. 25 at the First Presbyterian Church near Rittenhouse Square. It will be the first concert led by Musicopia’s new artistic director, Jessica Morel.
A larger concert marking Musicopia’s 50th anniversary is planned for May 31 at the Miller Theater (formerly the Merriam Theater) on Broad Street, which will have many performers including a professional string ensemble, drumlines and performances of custom-tailored compositions created through the Lullaby Project.
Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series that explores the impact of creativity on student learning and success. WHYY and this series are supported by the Marrazzo Family Foundation, a foundation focused on fostering creativity in Philadelphia youth, which is led by Ellie and Jeff Marrazzo. WHYY News produces independent, fact-based news content for audiences in Greater Philadelphia, Delaware and South Jersey.

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