Juno Awards Affiliated Music Education Charity Announces Funding to 78 Schools

Canada’s MusiCounts music education charity will distribute $874,500 in musical instruments and equipment to 78 schools schools across Canada as part of the latest funding round of its Band Aid Program.

The program — an arm of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and the JUNO Awards — grants up to $15,000 for high-need schools across Canada to start or refurbish music programming. MusiCounts has allocated more than $16 million to support music education in Canada over its 25-year history.  

“We’re thrilled to announce the 2022 MusiCounts Band Aid Program recipients, especially on the occasion of MusiCounts 25th Anniversary!” MusiCounts president Kristy Fletcher said in a media release.

“These grants will help schools overcome the significant challenges they face trying to deliver inclusive, sustainable music programming to students. We see that in schools across the country music education is a dynamic and innovative practice, and Ontario and Quebec schools in particular are evolving in exciting ways that ensure that students benefit from music education that celebrates culture, embraces technology, and reflects the music kids love to listen to and create.”

The MusiCounts Band Aid Program supports any approach to music education, and the 2022 recipients will be using grants to acquire instruments for concert bands, songwriting and recording programs, Orff ensembles (programs that incorporate movement, drama and speech) and more.

MusiCounts is awarding $362,500 to 32 schools in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia in 2022. It has invested $4.08 million in 431 schools in the four provinces over 25 years.

West Lynn Heights School, located 14 hours north of Winnipeg in Lynn Lake, Man., will use its MusiCounts Band Aid Program grant to acquire a wide range of musical instruments, including keyboards, pianos, mandolins, amplifiers and traditional hand-drums. It's also planning to engage Indigenous elders in workshops to teach students how to build instruments, which would have been impossible with the school's non-existent annual music budget.

Frontier Collegiate Institute Dormitories in Cranberry Portage, Man. (a “by choice” dormitory school for Northern Cree communities) is using the funds to purchase drums, drum-making kits and bear grease to protect the kits. The school is offering the programming as a means for students to connect to their culture and learn the drum, protocols and ceremony of their traditions.

The MusiCounts Band Aid Program is awarding $305,500 to 27 schools in Ontario and Quebec. MusiCounts has invested $5,815,000 in 598 schools in the two provinces over 25 years.

Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School in Thunder Bay, Ont. serves students from 24 First Nation communities in Northern Ontario. With the support of a MusiCounts grant, the school is introducing a radio station program so that students can broadcast from the school back to their communities and receive opportunities to expand their knowledge of the media and music industry.

Many schools that applied for a 2022 MusiCounts Band Aid Program grant reported insufficient funds to deliver music programming in their classrooms. Sunnyview Middle School in Brampton, Ont. has no budget for its school music program. The school serves a large Caribbean student population and, with MusiCounts’ support, will introduce a steel pan program to enable students to engage more closely with their cultural heritage.

The MusiCounts Band Aid Program will award $119,000 to 12 schools in Atlantic Canada. MusiCounts has invested $1,885,000 in 198 schools in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island over 25 years.

The average annual music budget among recipient schools in Atlantic Canada this year is just $56.

Lake Melville School in Northwest River, N.L. will use its MusiCounts Band Aid Program grant to replace the school’s 10-plus-year-old brass instrument inventory and purchase additional percussion instruments to celebrate the community's unique Innu and Inuit cultural connections.

MusiCounts is awarding $88,000 to seven schools in Northern Canada. It has invested $761,000 in 72 schools in the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut over 25 years

Nasivvik High School is located in a remote Inuit community in Pond Inlet, Nunavut. The school will replace the handful of unusable instruments it had with brass and wind instruments, MIDI keyboards, production equipment and instruments for small jazz, rock, pop and rap music ensemble work. The school hopes the music programming will promote mental health and well-being and provide students with an outlet for emotional and spiritual exploration in response to the daily hardships they face.

Chief Jimmy Bruneau Regional High School serves 400 students in Edzo, N.W.T., located 105 kilometres outside of Yellowknife. The school will use its MusiCounts Band Aid Program grant funds to develop both a traditional Tlicho drumming program and a recording program to introduce students to soundscaping, oral storytelling and music production.

MusiCounts is the music education charity associated with the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and the JUNO Awards, and strives to ensure that all youth have access to music education in their schools and communities. It has helped hundreds of thousands of youth experience the benefits of music education in these ways:

• The MusiCounts Band Aid Program has supported 1,290 schools with more than $12.3 million. 
• The MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award, presented by the Canadian Scholarship Trust Foundation, has recognized 16 exceptional teachers and supported their music programs.
• The MusiCounts TD Community Music Program has supported 247 community groups and not-for-profit organizations with $3.7 million in musical instrument and equipment grants.
• The MusiCounts Inspired Minds Ambassador Award, presented by the Canadian Scholarship Trust Foundation, has recognized five philanthropists for their contributions to music education and impact on the charity.
• MusiCounts’ Accelerate Scholarship and Amplify Scholarship provide bursaries and mentorship opportunities for high-school and post-secondary students looking to build careers in the music industry.
• MusiCounts Learn creates new and innovative learning resources for teachers and students while facilitating national dialogue about music education.

Despite these successes, MusiCounts can only help one in five schools that apply for its support. Music education in Canada is critically underfunded and many kids are at risk of losing access to music programming in their schools.

As a charity, MusiCounts relies on individuals and companies to support its music education programs and grants. Donation information can be found here.

Here are the Western Canada 2022 MusiCounts Band Aid Program recipient schools:

Here are the Ontario and Quebec 2022 MusiCounts Band Aid Program recipient schools:

• Mary Street Community School, Oshawa, Ont.
• Sunnyview Middle School, Brampton, Ont.
• McKellar Park Central Public School, Thunder Bay, Ont.
• St. Angela, Etobicoke, Ont.
• Yorkdale Secondary School, Toronto, Ont.
• Broadacres Jr. School, Toronto, Ont.
• Clark Boulevard Public School, Brampton, Ont.
• St. Anthony Catholic Elementary School, St. Catharines, Ont.
• Elmbank Junior Middle Academy, Etobicoke, Ont.
• St. Mary Catholic Elementary School, Welland, Ont.
• St. Timothy, Toronto, Ont.
• Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, Toronto, Ont.
• Prince of Wales Public School, Belleville, Ont.
• Ryerson Middle School, Hamilton, Ont.
• Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School, Thunder Bay, Ont.
• École spécialisée de l'Envol, Québec, Que.
• Riverview Elementary School, Verdun, Que.
• École Léon-Guilbault, Laval, Que.
• Sainte-Claire Brossard, Brossard, Que.
• École secondaire Jean-Grou, Montréal, Que.
• Mariboisé, Saint-Jérôme, Que.
• Pontiac High School, Shawville, Que.
• École Notre-Dame du Sacré-Coeur, Barraute, Que.
• Jacques-Cartier, Sept-Îles, Que.
• La Tuque High School, La Tuque, Que.
• Voyageur Memorial High School, Mistissini, Que.

Here are the Atlantic Canada 2022 MusiCounts Band Aid Program recipient schools: