The Guitar Recycling Project
Give a kid an instrument to play! Donate your old guitar today!
Have you got a guitar or bass that you have outgrown or haven’t played in years? Well here’s your chance to put that instrument in the hands of a young Chicagoan who is anxious to learn to play.
Chicago Fret Works is proud to accept acoustic or electric guitars and basses (along with working amps, drums, keyboards or other equipment) for donation to Chicago’s Intonation Music Workshop. We will perform minor repairs, clean, set-up, and restring each instrument before passing it on to IMW. We do ask that your donated instrument be in relatively good working order when it arrives. A 25 year old twelve string with a broken neck isn’t what these kids need. A Squier bass with a loose jack and old strings that you outgrew? THAT we can work with. You will receive a letter acknowledging your tax-deductible donation in the mail after it arrives with IMW.
Watch Medill News Service’s story on this project!
About IMW
Intonation Music Workshop empowers children to become rock stars on every stage in life through innovative music education. Using donated instruments and a unique pop band curriculum, their after-school music program provides kids age 6-17 in Chicago’s under served communities with access to instruction and performance opportunities in a safe and positive environment, sparking for many a life changing sense of accomplishment and belonging. Students learn to express themselves musically, at the same time developing essential life skills such as cooperation, practice, risk taking, and setting and meeting goals.
IMW Instructors work closely with the students as they explore each aspect of the pop band format- drums, bass, guitar, keyboards and vocals- before choosing their niche and forming a band with fellow students. The bands are then mentored through weeks of preparation for a community performance. IMW partners with social service agencies, Chicago Park District locations, Charter Schools, and other organizations in the realization of its mission.
Today, IMW is providing access to instruments, instruction and performance opportunities for 150 kids at 9 sites throughout the city of Chicago.
Read the Chicago Tribune’s August 4 2010 story on Intonation Music Workshop!
Don’t have an instrument, but still want to help?
**Donate to Intonation Music Workshop today!
