Celebrity Sightings at Ear Candy

Things have been a little crazy at the Ear Candy office lately. We’ve been busy, but that isn’t to say that we haven’t been able to still have some fun. While we’re elbow deep into our Indiegogo Online Giving Campaign and close to losing our minds (not really -- but it's been busy), one thing we do know is, we haven't lost our sense of humor. We got creative and filmed a few short Celebrity Impersonation PSAs that we thought you would enjoy.

The first in the series is from the rock group, Nickelback's front man, Chad Kroeger. Chad has been making a few headlines with rumors of his new romance with fellow Canadian and pop princess Avril Lavigne, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have time to stop by the office and give some rock star support to Ear Candy:

Don't forget to post the video to your social networking sites. Share it with friends to help remind them about that Nickelback phase they went through. And be sure to include some of the lyrics to "Rockstar" in your post. We know they'll love you more for it. 

The second video in our series of PSAs comes from the young heroine of the new Disney Pixar film, Brave. While our video isn’t set in the scenic foothills of Scotland, we found an equally dangerous and magical parking lot that seemed to do the trick. With fiery red hair and brave smile, "Princess Merida" is determined to save music education.

We hope you enjoyed these first two gems. Stay tuned for more Celebrity Impersonation PSAs coming your way really soon.

Let Music Be Their Guide

Our latest Backstage Class took place on August 1, 2012, where a group of students had the chance to tour the US Airways Center and meet The Fray. 

After the class, one of our Board members, Maria Brunner, received this email from a student:
"I want to thank you for this amazing opportunity. I really enjoyed your presentation and the time you took out of your busy schedule to see us.

This entire experience was very inspiring for me especially. Seeing a touring band that got famous out of a small town is really going to make me strive to find stardom.The tour itself was also fantastic! I really got a taste of the spectacular things that go on behind the scenes. I think my favorite part of the tour was the ticketing office. I never realized how much work goes into ticketing alone. Overall, the U.S. Airways tour was great.

Finally, my most memorable experience, was meeting The Fray. They were incredibly nice and they answered all the questions in such an enthusiastic way. I really liked the fact they were doing autographs and photos. I even got one with the drummer (which is my instrument) and that was truly exhilarating.

 Once again, I want to thank everyone who put this together, especially Ear Candy Charity, thank you."

"Let Music Be Their Guide" - taken in downtown Phoenix

With the recent launch of our Online Giving Campaign on Indiegogo.com, things at the Ear Candy office have been a little crazy, to say the least. But in the middle of all the madness, this short note from a student served as a great way to remind us exactly why, we do what we do. We strive to fulfill our mission to provide youth access to music education. We want ALL students to have the opportunity to be positively impacted by the benefits that music education provides. But we know we can't do it alone. We are humbled by the amount of support and encouragement we have received so far, but we've still got a long way to go.

We have a short amount of time to reach our goal of $25,000 to support of our Online Instrument Drives Program. We're trying to expand the Ear Candy family. You can help us by:

1) Sharing the campaign with your social networks using the share tools at Indiegogo.com/EarCandy (located directly under the campaign video) - click the 'like' button, type in a personalized message and post to your Facebook.

2) Sending a personalized email or make a phone call to friends, family and colleagues who you think might have an interest in the campaign and would be willing to share it with their networks.

 Remember that every little bit helps. Let's make sure that every child has access to music so the world doesn't lose out on the next John, Ringo, Paul, or George!

Ear Candy on IndieGogo

Our challenge is simple. Ear Candy has 30 days to raise $25,000. We know we can do it, we’re  going to need just a little bit of luck and a whole lot of help. So we’re calling all music teachers, musicians, and music lovers alike to help support Ear Candy’s mission to equip, empower, and enlighten youth through music.

From August 15 to September 14, 2012, Ear Candy will run an online giving campaign on the popular crowdfunding site, Indiegogo (www.Indiegogo.com/EarCandy). There is a good chance that you’ve already heard of  Indiegogo, a fundraising platform that allows individuals or organizations to share their story and raise money to support everything from an independent project, a cause, or a campaign. But Indiegogo is also a place where people can go to get involved in the things they are passionate about and where communities can come together and show their support. At Ear Candy, we’re passionate about providing youth access to music education.

In the past two decades, funding for music education has seen serious cuts nationwide, especially in Arizona. Since 2008, Ear Candy has helped to give new life to old instruments collecting dust in closets and helped to put them in the hands of students who need them the most. Currently thousands of youth in Arizona cannot participate in music education because neither their parents, nor their schools, can afford to purchase or rent an instrument for them to play.

Meeting our goal of $25,000, will ensure they have the funding we need to launch and operate our newest program, Online Instrument Drives. Ear Candy has spent the past year and a half building Online Instrument Drives from scratch on a shoestring budget, hoping to build on the success of their physical instrument collection drives, which resulted in thousands of instruments placed and tens of thousands of students impacted. With their innovative online system, Ear Candy wants to expand their reach where they can place an instrument donated from anywhere in the country in any music program in Arizona.

The benefits of music education, spanning from improved academics across the board to enhanced social skills, are far too numerous to deny any student the opportunity, especially when financial circumstances outside of their control hinder access.We encourage you to learn more about the work that Ear Candy is doing to support access to music education and hope that you will help share this with friends and colleagues. YOUR compassionate support for this campaign will ensure Ear Candy has the funds it needs to launch and operate Online Instrument Drives on September 17th, 2012.

If you’ve been inspired to help but are still unsure about where to start, read our 5 Ways YOU Can Help Ear Candy post for some ideas!

5 Ways YOU Can Help Ear Candy

During the 30 days of Ear Candy’s online giving campaign on Indiegogo (August 15th - September 14th), showing your support for Ear Candy is easier than you think. In fact, it’s so easy that we’ve come up with a list of FIVE ways you can help.

1) Five words
Old instruments get new life! Let these five simple words inspire you. It is Ear Candy’s mission to provide youth access to music education. By reaching our goal of $25,000 we’ll have the funds needed to launch our newest program, Online Instrument Drives. We’ll be able to gather teacher requests and collect instrument donations in quicker and more efficient manner. This will allow us to then place them in the hands of those who need them the most, the students!

2) Five minutes
What we need help with most is making sure that we’re getting the word out about our program and our campaign (http://www.Indiegogo.com/EarCandy). All that takes is five minutes to help Ear Candy. Share your story about why music and music education is important to you.

3) Five of your favorite sites
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr (did we miss any?). I’m sure the list could go on, so choose your favorite FIVE and post, tweet, and pin to help us get the word out.

4) Five friends
Tell five friends about Ear Candy and our online giving campaign. Get each of them to go and tell five of their friends (who will tell five of their friends) and just keep the message going.

5) Or how about just $5?  
Maybe you can forgo your usual five dollar footlong for lunch or skip that venti vanilla latte this morning. Every dollar counts, so even saving your change from one indulgence out of the week can makes a difference. But if you’re really up for a challenge, try to go FIVE days without it! And don’t forget to tell us what you’re giving up in order to give and we promise to make it up to you with some love on social media.

That’s it. Now wash, rinse, and repeat! Ear Candy’s Indiegogo campaigns runs from August 15, 2012 to September 14, 2012, so for the next 30 days we hope you'll help us make some noise!