About

MusAid is a 501(c)3 non-profit that connects musicians across the globe through educational exchanges designed to inspire individual and community transformation.

Through the MusAid Teaching Artist Summer Lab , musicians have the unique opportunity to teach, perform and develop their teaching ability at socially driven music programs around the world during two-week long summer workshops. Through our innovative and immersive program, MusAid seeks to inspire a new generation of socially and globally aware musicians.  Alongside empowering the Fellows that attend our workshops, MusAid tailors each summer workshop to the specific needs of our partner schools in order to provide them with the tools and knowledge necessary for their growth and self-sustainability.

History

Founded in 2008, MusAid has supported music schools and orchestras in Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Burma, Haiti, Belize, El Salvador, Bolivia, the Philippines, and Antigua with donated instruments, volunteer teacher training workshops, and virtual instruction.

Why MusAid

The impetus to begin MusAid arose from the founder, Kevin Schaffter, who while living and studying music in Asia, saw the struggle and difficulties that many musicians face in various parts of the world from having poor access to proper educational opportunities and music instruction.

It is heart wrenching to witness the dreams and aspirations of musicians crushed by the lack of the most basic materials necessary to pursue their art. Our vision is one where artists from any cultural or financial background should be granted the opportunity to share their unique artistic voices with their community. In this world of materialistic ideals it is too often forgotten that the greatest contributions to art come from within each individual and collectively, through the international language of music, reveal the simple and beautiful similarity between all human beings.

Arts are more crucial now than ever before. Globalization has shrunk the world, increasing the need to preserve cultural diversity and identity. The arts, including music, have always been an integral part of every society and are a pure reflection of the creativity, the search for beauty, and the spirit common in all of us. Music has an immense power to inspire, to heal, touch hearts and emotions, and to uplift us. It allows humanity to set physical and political differences aside, and to work in harmony to produce something universally appreciated.