Award Winning Music Lessons

Fundraiser for Accessible Music Lessons

Greetings!

I am Thomas Sage Pedersen the CEO and Founder of Everyone's Music School. The reason we created this fundraiser is so we can continue to provide accessible music lesson to our community! the funding will go toward:

Community choir

Free group music lessons

BIPOC Scholarship

General Operating Expenses

We are going through a transition into providing more accessible music instruction than we ever have. During this transition, we are using every last penny of our resources to provide these services and could really use the help of our community!

Below is a more detailed account of the history of our school and of where this money will make the greatest impact

Everyone's Music School was founded on the idea that we can make transformative changes in people's lives using music education.

This was inspired by my previous career as a mental health counselor/med aide along with my own experiences with music education while being a neurodivergent, Black man who wrestles with their mental health on a daily basis.

As a child I didn't fit into a lot of traditional ways of learning, which left me feeling somewhat alienated from mainstream society. So I wanted to create a learning space where we have the freedom as educators to give these students a sense of belonging and for them to thrive creatively.

To support this ideology, I developed a research-based - and therefore continuously growing and morphing - method of teaching which we call "Compassionate and Progressive Music Instruction" (CPMI) where we really focus on building a rapport with our students and initiate the process of discovering where music can make the greatest impact in their everyday lives

We radically focus on the individual adopting a variety of different teaching methods to make a positive impact and give space for their authentic self to emerge in the process, with the intention of music being a catalyst for people being in community in an authentic way.

Doing this work in community is not just complex but humbling. The constant reevaluation of your own behavior and actions based on experiences with the community while staying true to our mission can be difficult at times. This required me to go more outside of my comfort zone and to learn more about how community engagement can be done in a way that truly creates sustainable impact. This was what inspired me in 2020 to go to Selma,Alambama to be trained in Kingian Nonviolence.

As a Black and Bi-racial man who has primarily been raised in white spaces this was not just a training but a life changing experience.

Being in Selma where it was roughly 80% Black and being part of an annual event where the vast majority of people looked like me truly gave me a life changing perspective!

Also during this experience I saw first hand the blatant inequities and injustices that the Black community is still struggling with today.

Since this experience and with the founding of Speak For Change Podcast (now a part of Speak for Change Productions) also in 2020, I made a commitment to Social Justice in our community, especially in our BIPOC community.

Since then, I have been part of many different organizing efforts to help increase racial diversity and BIPOC visibility in Santa Cruz County especially within our Black community.

It is important to me that my contributions to community are in creating a foundation of safety in Santa Cruz County so that the Black community feels seen and supported. As previously mentioned, being raised in primarily white spaces I understand this feeling deeply.

In addition to Everyone's Music School’s accessibility to folks who are neurodivergent or otherwise struggle to thrive in traditional learning settings - we also are making moves to being more accessible to our BIPOC community.

Since our founding, we have gone from just me going to people's homes and teaching lessons - to having 3 locations in Santa Cruz County, providing employment opportunities to a diverse group of artists and educators all over Santa Cruz County, and bringing accessible and authentic music education to our community.

Much of this growth is owed to our community and their support of this school during hard times, our teachers and finally our administrator/lead music teacher Genoa Brown who has played an essential role in this school's success.

This money will be going toward our programs and our school so that we can go forward in this transition with ease! This funding will go to the below 2023 needs!

BIPOC Scholarship fund

This fund is to pay tuition for BIPOC students who opt in to this scholarship!

Community Music Classes (Free to the public BIPOC priority)

We received a grant that has provided us funding for one class per week! This would help us expand this series to more than just once a week.

Community Choir (Free for our existing students sliding scale/donation based for public/Free for Tannery Residents)

Our amazing teacher and administrator Genoa Brown has been volunteering her time to run our Everyone's Music School choir! This funding will allow us to pay her for her time. It will also give us funding for any gear or any services needed for recitals, and other general costs

Cover Rent/operating expenses to help us thrive!

This is definitely a hopeful ask! But having to not worry about paying rent month to month and other necessary expenses will allow us to securely work on these projects with safety rather than having to struggle month to month.

Taxes

Since we are not a non profit (yet) we still have tax responsibility so I added this into the calculations

Grand total! $56,534

Thank you so much for your time, support and being an active member of our community!

Thomas Sage Pedersen