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Music for Everyone cultivates the power of music as an educational and social well-being tool to transform lives, schools, and communities in Lancaster County, PA.

Here's why we exist:

Music is important to our community: Research shows that music education helps create strong schools and vibrant communities.
Music programs are in financial trouble: Despite overwhelming evidence of their value, funding for music programs is being slashed.
Music for Everyone is doing something to help: MFE is cultivating the power of music for education and community building.

Our strategy employs three steps:
1. Consult with education and community leaders to identify and assess the needs of school and community-based music programs,
2. Raise community awareness of those needs and resources to address them,
3. Strategically invest those resources to effectively and efficiently address those needs.

Programs that serve the educational component of our mission include:
MFE in the Schools: This program aims to enhance the one-on-one and small group music instruction time that students receive while in school. MFE underwrites several professional musicians and Millersville University Music majors (MFE Scholars) to work alongside music educators and directly with students. This program reaches over 400 students per week in the School District of Lancaster and Columbia Borough School District. The Target Audience for this program is students in grades 3 – 12. (The following programs fall under the MFE in The Schools Umbrella:)

Student Strings: The MFE Strings are an after-school group of approximately 40 students, ages 8 – 17, who meet weekly and perform in public on a regular basis.

MFE Scholars: We provide seven $2,000 scholarships to Millersville University Music Majors. In return for their scholarships, the students serve in the School District of Lancaster as “Music Mentors”, working alongside teachers and staff, as well as directly with students to enhance their experience. The students also work to record student ensembles in the SDOL and with the Boys and Girls Club of Lancaster to develop and teach a recording curriculum. (MFE has provided the equivalent of three recording studios to the B & G club, one for each club in Lancaster County.)

Camp MFE: This is a full scholarship summer learning opportunity. This summer, almost 200 students attended the camps.

Sound Factory: During the school year, MFE hosts the "Sound Factory," an after-school program focused on expanding the musical opportunities available to young students. This program is fully funded by MFE, meaning it is completely free for the students to attend!

The MFE Annual Instrument Grant Program: Since 2007, MFE has provided over 15,000 instruments to schools in all 17 school districts in the county, as well as over 80 community programs and organizations

The MFE Instrument Repair Program: The goal of this program is to catalog and repair every instrument of every public school in Lancaster County on an ongoing basis, ensuring every student has a working instrument to call their own.

Programs that serve the community-building component of our mission include:
Community Chorus: The Chorus began with 6 members who wanted to meet for the sheer joy of singing. The Chorus is now over 40 members strong and is a community tour de force.

Ukulele Uprising: A community ukulele orchestra that is open to players of all ages and skill levels. They meet once a week purely for the fun of making music and building community.

Keys for City: Since 2010, MFE has placed anywhere from 12 – 20 pianos every year on the streets of Lancaster that can be played 24/7 from May to September. Literally tens of thousands of magical musical moments occur around those pianos, involving people of all ages, colors, and creeds. Keys has proven to be a wonderful, community-building initiative for Lancaster, PA, “The Street Piano Capital of the World.”

Music Friday: Every third Friday from May to September, MFE partners with the city to place local musicians all around Lancaster, making the city come alive with a music-filled environment month after month.

Songs For Justice: Music For Everyone has sponsored a series of vinyl records featuring various leaders, events, and narratives around an array of civil and human rights causes and issues.

Why invest in Music?
Music For Everyone is focused on music because every issue we face - at any and every level - whether related to healthcare, the environment, or geo-politics – in our increasingly fast paced world is becoming more complex. To successfully address those increasingly complex issues and challenges, we must develop in our populace a corresponding increase in creativity. Research tells us that music is the most effective tool in our educational and community arsenal to inspire creativity. To that end, MFE will continue to provide musical opportunities and experiences for everyone.