VH1 Save The Music and Toyota Partner in Support of Music Education

TORRANCE, Calif., July 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Toyota announced today a new interactive festival activation and social media campaign to benefit VH1 Save The Music, a national organization committed to ensuring that music instruction is a core component to a complete education. Beginning at Lollapalooza on July 31 in Chicago, Toyota is slated to activate on-site at some of the nation's most prominent festival destinations, engaging with festivalgoers and raising funds for VH1 Save The Music.

To showcase how music positively impacts lives, Toyota is building a glowing, life size Whispering Willow tree on the festival grounds at Lollapalooza, Outside Lands, Nocturnal Wonderland, Voodoo Music + Arts Experience and an additional festival TBA. The tree is customized to follow the theme of Toyota's on-site space, which has a psychedelic, fun feel. Visitors will be asked to write what music means to them on a leaf, hang the leaf on the tree, take a photo, and post to social media with the hashtag #ToyotaGiving. For each social media post, Toyota will donate $1 to VH1 Save The Music.

As the weekend progresses, the tree will grow full with leaves and come to life, showing how important music is to our lives. By the end of the five festival run, Toyota will make a donation to VH1 Save The Music for the organization to restore or implement a musical instrument program for an entire school.

"As a socially conscious company, Toyota is constantly searching for new and innovative ways to take action in the world around us," says Steve Appelbaum, National Manager of Engagement Marketing, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. "We believe that music education enhances students' lives by cultivating creativity and stimulating the self-confidence needed to fuel lifelong success. Toyota is thrilled to partner with VH1 Save the Music to invest in improving the quality of education in schools across the country."

"We are so pleased to partner with Toyota and bring a music education component to these festivals," said Paul Cothran, Executive Director of VH1 Save The Music. "It's just another way for us to reach people that really care about music and want to ensure that it remains a core piece of a quality education." 

About VH1 Save The Music

The VH1 Save The Music Foundation is a non-profit committed to ensuring that music instruction is a core component to a complete education. Since 1997, we have partnered with more than 1900 public schools in 231 school districts to give children the tools and confidence to excel in academics and in life. #PassTheNote and get involved at vh1savethemusic.org join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @vh1savethemusic.

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM), the world's top automaker and creator of the Prius and the Mirai fuel cell vehicle, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands.  Over the past 50 years, we've built more than 25 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 42,000 people (more than 33,000 in the U.S.).  Our 1,800 North American dealerships (1,500 in the U.S.) sold more than 2.67 million cars and trucks (more than 2.35 million in the U.S.) in 2014 – and about 80 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 20 years are still on the road today. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.

SOURCE Toyota