Friends, our organization turned 7 years old as an independent not-for-profit yesterday. We got our IRS designation on July 18, 2007. We have traveled a very long, unusual and soulful journey that started long before that designation. Many remarkable people have made GITC possible and our quiet, hardworking behind the scenes board members deserve a whole lot of acknowledgement and love for their efforts. My former husband, Rick Turner of Rick Turner and Renaissance Guitars served as my partner in bringing GITC to life and then as a visionary founding board member. His introduction to great people including many within the world of music was essential to GITCs birth. The genesis of the work goes all the way back to 1989...and then later, it got started in earnest with Rick introducing me to Bob Taylor at Taylor Guitars to explore and discuss what it would take to make guitar an accepted instrument in schools. The answer that emerged was GITC- something that would take and include everyone and anyone who wanted to help make learning through music with guitars- and now ukuleles, too- possible. In the beginning, 1998, we started as an experimental program under the auspices of the Santa Cruz Community Music School and the guidance of their founder, Shelley Phillips. She and that team helped GITC learn to be an official program- to learn about what a non-profit is and does and how that happens. We were with this beautiful, little collective of music teachers for many years until our reach exceeded central and southern California and they needed us to move along because our work exceeded the scope of their mission. We are forever indebted for their patience, love and care. communitymusicschool.org/ 2001 we were adopted by the San Francisco Foundations Community Initiatives Fund and were able to start programs throughout CA and in about 22 other states. They did all the bookkeeping and official paperwork for us, charged a reasonable percentage and were awesome partners. Brad Sink at the SFFCIF was our angel and he coached, guided and cheered our progress with love. sff.org/ During these years, GAMA (the Guitars and Accessories Marketing Association) and then in 2004 the NAMM Foundation (National Association of Music Merchants) took us under their wings, funded exploratory work, helped us develop programs and outreach, and we started to gain better understanding and have consistent participation from more music products company leaders who care about music making in schools. Several have served on our board through the years. Without GAMA, NAMM and these individuals, there would be no Guitars in the Classroom. nammfoundation.org/ Enough cannot be said about NAMMs support of GITCs efforts. They care genuinely about musical access, quality music education, and helping their grantees do the best possible work. They are tirelessly devoted to creating change and growth through music and were very, very blessed to be in their care. Back to the story. In 2006 it became evident that GITC was again reaching beyond the scope of mission of our parent NPO in San Francisco. They gently nudged us to the next level. We would need to learn to survive independently and handle the legal and financial responsibilities of non-profit filing and business practices to keep going. Any of you who have been involved launching an NPO, you know how daunting this can be. And time consuming. But our board was amazing and came through with elbow grease, determination and exceptional intelligence and dedication. The past board members made everything possible to get us launched on our own. First the business side- with heart. Jasmin Powell of Dunlop Manufacturing was an executive board member at the time and she worked tirelessly as treasurer and then VP to develop our NPO structure and legal documentation, giving up Saturday mornings to the effort for months to prepare our filings. David Lusterman of String Letter Publishing was our president, guiding the process, inspiring the board, helping us look at strategies. Peter DAddario of DAddario Strings and Planet Waves joined us with his special brand of clarity and vigor. He has since served 2 non-consecutive terms as our president. Dan Smith of Guitar Center joined us, brought his legal expertise and passion for music to his service and served as our secretary first, then our VP. John Hawkins, formerly of Samick, was for a time our treasurer and helped bring companies who could help supply schools to the work. The executive board does a lot of heavy lifting but the entire board carries the work. GITC has been an amazing collective effort and continues to be so! In recent years, Janet Godin of Godin Guitars and Art Harvey of Onboard Research, both longtime sponsors, have joined the executive board and are carrying forward the GITC tradition with insight, kindness, creativity and careful judgement. We are so blessed by the quality of kindness that prevails among leaders in that industry and especially those who volunteer to serve with GITC. All these business experts served alongside educators and learned to forge a dialog that could include children, learning, pedagogy AND fundraising, instrument and supply procurement, taxes and organizational management for keeping our little boat afloat. These board meetings were very challenging ones. The business minds AND the educators needed to align to keep programs free to teachers - an unusual model. Marion Davison, Alisa Peres, Paul Ammon and now Joan Maute have worked hard on the education side to cross the line from education into business at every meeting, growing, learning, advising. Our board has always included directors at large, too- people with special compassion for children and skills outside the Music Products industry and education. They round out every conversation and help. Through the years and currently, Billy Stern and Judy Roberts continue to be constant voices for artist involvement, community engagement and strong programs. As musicians, parents and concert givers, they have helped us deepen and broaden our work again and again. In 2013, Anna Ress and Harry Finkel, joined the board and are bringing GITC their special savvy, spark and thoughtful leadership. Its a wonderful family to be part of and I blessed beyond words to work with such great people to make music possible for children. Our organization is grateful to each person who has served on our board, including the handful who have served for a short time such as Walter Borden and Debra Barbre... each of you has blessed GITC and the children we serve with your good will and positive efforts, thank you! Thank you also to each GITC faculty member, each classroom teacher, each administrator, our special artist advocates Laurence Juber, Muriel Anderson, George Winston, John Cruz, Vicki Genfan, Janis Ian and others, and to each and every contributor- you know who you are and so do we! This work is a product of all of you who care and who give of your resources, time, talent and ideas. Thank you for nurturing GITC and allowing us to continue making music accessible for children and teachers every day. We always say this because it is true: TOGETHER WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE. With all my love and gratitude, Jess p.s. To see photos of GITCs board, our artist friends, faculty members, teachers and students, I hope you will explore our photo albums right here on facebook.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 16:03:30 +0000
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