MEMPHIS, Tennessee — The Stax Music Academy launched a fundraiser this summer to help students impacted by COVID-19, and help is still needed to reach their goal.
The #MusicMustContinue fund has a goal to raise $50,000 by Friday. Currently, the fund has brought in more than $33,000. That money will go toward student tuition.
“For us, we understand the realities that is something our families would be faced with," Pat Mitchell Worley, Stax Music Academy Executive Director, said.
Mitchell Worley said Stax launched the fundraiser after hearing about the financial concerns parents had due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Stax, many of the students already come from economically challenged neighborhoods where this pandemic has disproportionately affected them. 80% of the students receive tuition assistance.
Stax Music Academy, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, hasn't turned away a student because of their inability to pay, Mitchell Worley said.
“We know for some of the students that we have, that Stax Music Academy is their shelter," she said. "It is a place where they can be creative. They can express themselves but it’s also a place where they are working towards the future.”
Mitchell Worley said while 65% of the students will go on to pursue a career in music, the academy works on personal growth.
“This is a place that they come to grow. To nurture. The program is not just concerned with them being the best musician they can be. Stax Music Academy is about being the best person they can be," she said.
The fund will also help STAX provide free beginner online music classes for all Shelby County students who are interested this semester.
“We encourage the student that is great at math to pursue math," she said. "We encourage the student that is great at science, to pursue science and that same idea goes into a student that is great at music, that they should be encouraged also to pursue music.”
To learn more and to donate, click here.
