Media Inquiries:
Dantes Rameau
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer | 203-887-5108 | dantes@atlantamusicproject.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHESTNUT FAMILY FOUNDATION PARTNERS WITH ATLANTA MUSIC PROJECT TO LAUNCH INNOVATIVE COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP FUND
(Atlanta, GA) (June 3, 2021) — The Atlanta Music Project (AMP), together with the Chestnut Family Foundation (CFF), announces the launch of The Chestnut Family College Scholarship Fund, an innovative scholarship program designed to provide financial support to AMP seniors and alumni. The CFF has committed to funding the two-year pilot, which will launch in Fall 2021.
According to Learn4Life’s data, only 29% of college enrollees in Georgia complete their degrees within five years. Students can often be derailed by emergencies and unexpected financial hurdles that can prevent them from completing their education. The Fund will address these challenges and build upon AMP’s goal of providing quality, accessible and affordable education to all who seek it.
“A significant challenge many of our alumni face in planning for their future is the financial barrier to start and complete college,” says Dantes Rameau, AMP’s Chief Executive Officer. “Now, thanks to the tremendous generosity of the Chestnut Family Foundation, we are now able to expand our mission to support our students before and during their pursuit of higher education.”
“Having followed the remarkable progress of AMP’s dedicated and talented students, we are inspired to deepen our commitment to AMP and their mission to support and help their students by removing the financial barriers that so often prevent students from persisting to degree completion,” said Teresa Chestnut, Trustee of the Chestnut Family Foundation. “We value education and want to do our part to ensure that the young people AMP serve in this community achieve their post-secondary goals.”
The Fund will provide support in preparing for, paying for and persisting through college. It will aid with educational costs such as tuition, books, housing, music instruments and emergency living expenses. In addition, the Fund will support the hiring of a full-time college-prep counselor to assist AMP students with the college application and completion process.
Graduates of AMP and current AMP high school seniors meeting specific requirements and who have been accepted into a four-year degree institution, are eligible for support from the Fund. A panel consisting of AMP faculty, parents, board members and alumni will review applications to the Fund and recommend scholarship awards.
About the Atlanta Music Project
Founded in 2010, the Atlanta Music Project is a non-profit organization providing more than 5,000 hours annually of intensive, tuition-free music education for underserved youth right in their neighborhood. Serving 350 students through innovative music and leadership programs, AMP provides all its students with an instrument, a teaching artist, and classes in band, orchestra, and choir. In addition to after-school learning sites, AMP’s programs include the AMP Academy, providing advanced musical training to AMP’s most talented and dedicated students; the AMP Summer Series, a music festival and school; and the AMP Youth Choirs & Orchestras. AMP is based in the Capitol View neighborhood at the Atlanta Music Project Center for Performance & Education.
AMP music ensembles perform more than 50 concerts annually, performing in venues all across Atlanta, from community centers to Mercedes-Benz Stadium. AMP music ensembles have performed alongside international stars such as the Harlem Quartet, The Imani Winds, electric violinist Lindsey Stirling, hip hop artist Lecrae, soprano Alison Buchanan, and R&B singer Monica. AMP musicians can be seen performing with rapper T.I. on NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series. AMP’s young musicians have successfully auditioned for Georgia All-State ensembles, and have concertized as far away as Los Angeles, Aspen, and Mexico City.
AMP was awarded ArtATL’s 2019 Luminary Arts Award for Arts Education. AMP is a 2018 winner of Emory University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award. In 2016 and 2017 the White House named AMP one of the top 50 after-school arts programs in the nation.
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