In celebration of Phish’s 34 shows this spring and summer, The Mockingbird Foundation has announced that it is sending an unsolicited $1,000 Tour Grant to a music program near each venue at which Phish performs. The grants are part of a long-standing effort to help bring music from the Phish community to the local communities that Phish touches.

These are the 21st round of unsolicited Tour Grants awarded, an effort that now totals over $200,000, which is 9.0% of all disbursements made by the Foundation. Continuing the celebration, additional Tour Grants will be announced through the end of the summer. The recipients announced thus far are:

• LeFlore High School | Mobile, AL | The Wharf Amphitheatre | 5/27, 5/28, 5/29
• Haut Gap Middle School | Johns Island, SC | Credit One Stadium | 5/21, 6/1
• Brookside Elementary School 54 | Indianapolis, IN | Ruoff Music Center | 6/3, 6/4, 6/5
• Mansfield High School | Mansfield, MA | Xfinity Center | 7/14, 7/15
• Orono High School | Orono, ME | Maine Savings Amphitheater | 7/16
• Grover Washington, Jr. Middle School | Philadelphia, PA | TD Pavilion at the Mann | 7/19, 7/20
• Monticello High School | Monticello, NY | Bethel Woods Center for the Arts | 7/22, 7/23
• Weaver High School | Hartford, CT | Xfinity Theatre | 7/24
• Bayside High School | Bayside, NY | Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater | 7/26, 7/27
• Vance County High School | Henderson, NC | Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek | 7/29
• Landsdowne Middle School | Halethorpe, MD | Merriweather Post Pavilion | 7/30, 7/31

Once Phish announces a tour, Tour Grant recipients are handpicked by Foundation board member and tubist Drew Hitz, who has also been a music educator for 25+ years. After vetting to assess programmatic needs and resource accessibility, recipients are slated, voted upon, and approved by the Foundation’s 25 volunteer board members.

“The Phish community travels in and out of cities, touring with the band night after night. Fans flood neighborhood establishments and the events themselves bring jobs, both helping the local economy. However, when the show ends and the tour buses roll away, many of these cities are left with limited resources, especially when it comes to funding music education,” says Hitz. “Our unsolicited Tour Grants are a way for The Mockingbird Foundation and Phish community to give back to the communities that welcome fans with open arms.”

As Phish tour continues this summer, fans are encouraged to take the Foundation’s Good Karma Reprise Pledge. 20 minute jams? Fresh tunes? Dug up from the archives? Pledge to make a donation based on Phish’s performances through their shows at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. Last summer tour, Mockingbird Foundation director Scott Marks kicked off the Good Karma Pledge organically on social media when fans made donations to The Mockingbird Foundation for every 20+ minute song the band played, raising over $20,000 in support of our work to make music education more accessible nationwide.

The Mockingbird Foundation is an all-volunteer, fan-founded and -managed 501©(3) nonprofit organization supporting music education for children. A leading grantmaker in music education for children, the Foundation has now made 558 grants in all 50 states, totaling more than $2.1M. Funds for grants are generated through donations from a loyal base of fans, as well as through books, recordings, artwork, merchandise, and special events. It is the leading provider of historical information about Phish and its music, having cultivated intellectual property through Phish.net since 1994. The Foundation has been operated entirely by volunteer fans of the band, without any salaries or paid staff, since its inception in 1996.

If you liked this blog post, one way you could "like" it is to make a donation to The Mockingbird Foundation, the sponsor of Phish.net. Support music education for children, and you just might change the world.