Martin Guitar Charitable Foundation Announces 2023 Grants

The Martin Guitar Charitable Foundationannounced that it awarded $485,500 in grants to over 85 nonprofit organizations in 2023, creating opportunities for the communities in which their employees live in Nazareth, Pennsylvania and throughout the Lehigh Valley, as well as acoustical music organizations nationally.

These grants support the foundation’s focus areas: performance, participation, and education in acoustic steel string guitar music; community activity in the Nazareth region; study and preservation of America’s acoustic guitar heritage; arts education programs emphasizing acoustic guitar; educational institutions in the Lehigh Valley; promotion of arts and culture, mainly in the Lehigh Valley; help for the poor, hungry, sick, and homeless in the Lehigh Valley; and environmental action related to guitar-making materials and processes.

Grants ranging from $1,000 to $35,000 were awarded to local and national programs. Lehigh Valley and regional organizations receiving foundation support in 2023 were:

Allentown Art Museum
Allentown Rescue Mission
Allentown Symphony Association
ArtsQuest
E.S.T.
Bethlehem Emergency Sheltering
Big Brothers Big Sisters
Bloom for Women
Boy Scouts of America-Minsi Trails Council
Bradbury-Sullivan LGBTQ Community Center
Burn Prevention Network
Casey Doolin Foundation
Cedar Crest College
Center for Humanistic Change
Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley
Community Bike Works
Community Music School
Da Vinci Science Center
Family Connection of Easton
Family Promise of the Lehigh Valley
Fox Chase Cancer Center
Godfrey Daniels
Greater Easton Development Partnership
Greater Valley YMCA-Nazareth Branch
Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley
Historic Bethlehem Museums and Sites
Holy Family School
IceHouse Performing Arts Center
Lehigh Gap Nature Center
Lehigh Valley Active Life
Lehigh Valley Zoological Society
Lifepath
Meals on Wheels-Northampton County
Memorial Library of Nazareth and Vicinity
Miller-Keystone Blood Center
Moravian University
Moravian Historical Society
Moravian Music Foundation
Muhlenberg College
Nazareth Area Food Bank
Nazareth Economic Development Commission
Nazareth Center for the Arts
New Bethany Ministries
New Hope Helping
Northampton Community College Foundation
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival
Pennsylvania Youth Theatre
Philadelphia Folksong Society
Philadelphia Outward Bound
ProJeCt of Easton
Reading Music Foundation
Rock to the Future
Special Olympics Pennsylvania
State Theatre Center for the Arts
Third Street Alliance
Touchstone Theatre
United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley
Valley Youth House
Via of the Lehigh Valley
Visiting Nurse Association-St. Luke’s
Volunteer Center of the Lehigh Valley
WDIY 88.1
Wildlands Conservancy

The foundation also made grants to national organizations with a strong arts presence and programs in acoustic guitar education and research:

Abriendo Mentes (TX)
The Ashokan Center (NY)
At The Tabernacle (NJ)
Birthplace of Country Music (VA)
Boston University (MA)
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (TN)
Folk Alliance International (MO)
The Folk Project (NJ)
Guitars in the Classroom (CA)
Junior Appalachian Musicians, Inc. (VA)
Jalopy Theatre and School of Music (NY)
Museum of Making Music (CA)
Musical Instrument Museum (AZ)
Old Town School of Folk Music (IL)
Queen Bee Music Association (NM)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (NC)
Woodsongs Old-Time Radio Hour (KY)
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (MA)

The foundation will receive proposals for 2024 grants from June 1 to August 31, 2024. For more information, please visit martinguitar.com/martin-foundation.