The Martin Guitar Foundation announces 2024 Grants

Foundation Awarded $485,500 in Grants to Support Communities in the Lehigh Valley and Nationally

NAZARETH, Pa., Jan. 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Martin Guitar Foundation awarded grants for 2024, awarding $596,500 in grants to over 93 nonprofit organizations creating opportunities for the communities in which their employees live in Nazareth 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 2024 were:

• Allentown Art Museum
• Allentown Rescue Mission
• Allentown Symphony Association
• Arts Quest
• Bach Choir
• The Baum School of Art
• B.E.S.T.
• Bethlehem Emergency Sheltering
• Big Brothers – Big Sisters
• Bloom-Lehigh Valley
• Burn Prevention Network
• Casey Doolin Foundation
• Cay Galcon Life House
• Cedar Crest College
• Center for Humanistic Change
• Civic Theatre of Allentown
• Community Bike Works
• Community Action Committee Lehigh Valley
• Community Services for Children
• DaVinci Science Center
• Family Promise of the Lehigh Valley
• Fox Chase Cancer Center
• Godfrey Daniels
• Greater Easton, Development Project
• Hellertown Historical Society
• Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley
• Historic Bethlehem Museums and Sites
• Ice House Performing Arts Center
• The Kindness Project
• Lehigh Gap Nature Center
• Lehigh Valley Arts & Culture
• Lehigh Valley Zoological Society
• Lifepath
• Manufacturers Resource Center
• Meals on Wheels Greater Lehigh Valley
• Memorial Library of Nazareth
• Miller Keystone Blood Center
• Minsi Trails Boy Scouts
• Monocacy Farm Project
• Moravian Historical Society
• Morris Museum
• Muhlenberg College
• Nazareth Area Food Bank
• Nazareth Economic Development Committee
• Nazareth Center for the Arts
• New Bethany Ministries
• Northampton Community College Foundation
• Univest Public Media Center (PBS39)
• Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival
• Pennsylvania Youth Theatre
• Philadelphia Folksong Society
• Philadelphia Outward Bound
• Project of Easton, Inc.
• Reading Music Foundation
• River Crossing YMCA
• Rock to the Future
• Special Olympics Pennsylvania
• State Theatre Center for the Arts
• Third Street Alliance
• Touchstone Theatre
• United Way of Greater Lehigh Valley
• Valley Youth House
• VIA of the Lehigh Valley
• Visiting Nurse Association St. Lukes
• Volunteer Center of the Lehigh Valley
• WDIY 88.1
• Wildlands Conservancy
• WXPN
• Young People's Harmonic of the Lehigh Valley

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

• Abriendo Mentes (TX)
• American Song Archives (OK)
• The Ashokan Center (NY)
• At the Tabernacle (NJ)
• Birthplace of Country Music (VA)
• Country Music Hall of Fame (TN
• Education through Music (NY)
• Folk Alliance International (MO)
• Guitars in the Classroom (CA)
• The Hello in There Foundation (TN)
• Living in Traditions, Inc. / Jalopy Theatre (NY)
• Museum of Making Music (CA)
• Music for Life (VA)
• Musical Instrument Museum (AZ)
• NAMM Foundation (CA)
• New Horizons International Music Association (NY)
• Old Town School of Folk Music (IL)
• Owenboro Community & Technical College (KY)
• Ukelele Kids Club (FL)
• Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour (KY)

The Foundation will receive proposals for 2025 grants from June 1 to August 31, 2024.For more information, please visit www.martinguitar.com/martin-foundation.

ABOUT THE MARTIN GUITAR FOUNDATION

The Martin Guitar Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization. Started in 1996 by C.F. Martin IV, the Foundation supports causes by giving grants to non-profit music, arts, education, environmental action and human services groups. Foundation trustees seek to achieve the best value in awarding grants to the people and causes the grantees serve.

ABOUT C. F. MARTIN & CO.

C. F. Martin & Co. has been making the finest handcrafted acoustic guitars for nearly two hundred years. For some of the biggest names and the most revered musical legends across every genre and every decade. And we've been doing it with pure artistic passion, a deep love for all things music, and an unwavering commitment to our community and the environment.

But most importantly, we're still doing it… for you. For current and future generations of pioneers, rebels, and dreamers. For the beginners, the pros, and everyone in between. We believe music is an unstoppable force. It raises us up. Tells our truths. Gets us on our feet. Expresses our deepest heartaches. And our greatest joys.

So, we'll continue to make the very best acoustic instruments and strings for as long as there are people like you who love music and love making it. We want to be there to help you tell your story. To help you share your music with the world. To help unleash the artists within.

We're ready for the next two hundred years. Want to come with us? Visit martinguitar.com. 

SOURCE C.F. Martin Guitar Co.