JOI ‘Jazz Routes’ youth program collaborates with ‘Doorstep Music Lessons’ to bring highly qualified music instructors into homes…
Last summer, VEGAS 411 introduced you to Jazz Outreach Initiative and its performance entity, the JOI Jazz Orchestra. In the two-part feature, available here and here, we detailed the philanthropic nature of this music-education organization, along with a profile of its Executive Director, Mr. Donny Thompson.
This month, we have new information to share, as Jazz Outreach Initiative has partnered with a fellow organization to bring music teachers directly to the homes of promising, financially-challenged students. Here’s the official announcement:
Created in 2021, Jazz Outreach Initiative‘s “Jazz Routes” program has been a favorite among many of our donors and sponsors. The only known instrument donation program of its kind, which provides economically challenged students with both a music instrument AND donor-sponsored private music lessons for a year, Jazz Routes has improved and even changed the course of many children’s lives in Southern Nevada.
JOI learned while developing the program that the costliest part of learning an instrument isn’t buying it, it’s taking the lessons, with an average cost of $1,800 per year. While there is no shortage of charitable organizations generously donating instruments to needy children, the cost to learn to play them inhibits too many of those children from actually playing them. JOI is proud that through its partnerships and with support from generous donors, we can solve this problem.
Jazz Outreach Initiative and Doorstep Music Lessons are proud to announce a new partnership that will dramatically improve Jazz Routes, enabling students to receive their lessons from highly qualified music teachers in their homes.
JOI Executive Director, Donny Thompson, noted Sam and Arianna Villano‘s founding of Doorstep Music Lessons in August 2023 and reached out shortly after. At that time, students were taking their lessons at Music & Arts stores, which provided the instruments.
“One thing we found,” said Donny, “is that too many of these kids couldn’t get to their lessons. The same economic challenges that qualified these students for the program were also preventing them from getting to and from those stores.”
JOI Co-founder, Gary Cordell, who heads all of JOI‘s programming and education services, adds, “The ability for Doorstep Music Lessons to reach these students greatly improves our ability to serve parts of town where we believe there is the greatest need for an outstanding program like Jazz Routes.”
After a few discussions with Sam and Arianna, Doorstep Music Lessons created a unique online registration form for Jazz Routes students to enroll and request a teacher. Their “Love Your Teacher” guarantee ensures that if a student and teacher are not well-aligned, another will be provided to guarantee successful outcomes.
Since 2023, Doorstep Music Lessons has taught over 5,000 lessons in students’ homes to hundreds of Nevada families, been recognized by the Mayor of Las Vegas and Las Vegas City Council, and recently celebrated a milestone of more than 300 currently enrolled students.
A hallmark of their program is student recitals and regular touchpoints to ensure students are making measurable progress, something especially important to the Jazz Outreach Initiative, which needs to measure success when seeking grants.
Doorstep Music Lessons co-founder, Arianna, says, “Doorstep Music Lessons is so excited to be partnering with the Jazz Outreach Initiative. Our mission statement at Doorstep Music Lessons is to remove barriers to music education, be good partners in the community, and foster a lifelong love of music. We feel that by partnering with the Jazz Outreach Initiative, we are able to accomplish all of these things and to spread the joy of music with many more families all over the Las Vegas valley.”
Would you like to see Jazz Routes in action? We’re giving a young student from Monaco Middle School a drum set and free lessons during our FREE all-ages concert sponsored by the City of Las Vegas and Ward 6 Councilwoman Nancy Brune!
The concert will feature our Jazz Vegas Orchestra with featured guest vocalist Naomi Mauro in a “Concert Underneath the Stars” – Friday May 9th at the Centennial Hills Park Amphitheater. For more information, visit our events page at www.jazzvegas.org or the city’s EventBrite page HERE.
You can help us bring the JOI of music to a child today! Just click the button below and make your monthly or one-time contribution and you can use the drop down to select “Jazz Routes” from the menu! If you have an unused instrument in good playable condition and would like to donate it to support Jazz Routes, email us at info@joi-lv.org!
