In May, the DeKalb County Community Foundation awarded $116,100 in Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation Fund Grants to support music education. The grants benefited 26 nonprofit and public sector organizations in DeKalb County and greater Chicagoland.

“We are honored to be a recipient of a Wurlitzer Grant. The grant supports the purchase of a large audio rack, wireless receivers, bodypacks, and microphones,” explained Sandwich High School Band Director Justin Heinekamp. “The upgraded equipment allows us to streamline our current setup, creates a more professional experience for students, boosts audio range for attendees, and instills more confidence in performers with reliable equipment. Thank you to the Community Foundation for supporting musical excellence in our schools through Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation Fund Grants!”

DeKalb County recipients:

• DeKalb Public Library – $900 to support a public steel pan concert
• NIU Community School of the Arts – $3,000 to provide need-based scholarships for families in DeKalb County area communities
• DeKalb CUSD #428 – to purchase sound equipment for the high school percussion program
• Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra – $12,500 to support concerts, clinics, and musical instruments for local students in need
• Children’s Community Theatre – $4,000 to support a youth summer theater camp
• Sandwich CUSD #430 – $10,000 to purchase audio equipment for school performances
• Sycamore Music Boosters – $4,000 to purchase ukeleles for elementary school students
• Cor Cantiamo – $6,800 to support a music education outreach program for high school students

Greater Chicagoland area recipients:

• William Ferris Chorale – $3,000 to support a choral composition workshop for CPS students
• The Chicago Academy for the Arts – $3,000 to support classical music curriculum and programming
• Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education – $7,500 to support music education programs in low-income schools
• Algonquin Road School – $3,000 to purchase musical instruments for an elementary school
• Community School of the Arts (Wheaton College) – $3,000 to provide music instruction to under-resourced DuPage County students
• Special Gifts Theater – $4,000 to support a therapeutic, educational music theatre experience
• Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras – $4,000 to provide youth-performed chamber concerts to underserved schools
• Orchestra Parents/Patrons United Support – $2,500 for outreach to underserved minority and female students for 2024 OPUS Chamber Music Camp
• Lawrence Hall – $4,000 to support music therapy
• Chicago Center for Music Education – $4,000 to provide school classroom instruction and after-school programs
• VanderCook College – $4,500 to provide instruments to underserved students in the Bronzeville area
• Walther Christian Academy – $5,000 to replace and repair instruments
• Music of the Baroque – $5,000 to support a choral program for underserved Chicago high school students
• Experimental Sound Studio – $2,500 to host a public workshop series
• Chicago Arts and Music Project – $5,000 to provide after-school programming in East Garfield Park
• Lampo – $2,000 to support a public workshop with TAK ensemble
• St. Charles Singers – $2,500 to support a teen vocal workshop
• Chicago Human Rhythm Project – $5,000 to expand music outreach programs for youth and adults

The Wurlitzer Company was one of the largest musical instrument companies in the United States, with a primary manufacturing location in DeKalb. The Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation was established in the 1940s and became a Fund of the Community Foundation in 2012. Today, the Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation Fund Grant is one of several grantmaking programs at the Community Foundation.

Donations to any Fund at the Community Foundation can be made online at dekalbccf.org/donate or by mail to the DeKalb County Community Foundation, 475 DeKalb Avenue, Sycamore, IL 60178.

For questions or additional information, please contact grants@dekalbccf.org. Please direct questions or inquiries about the Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation Fund Grant to the Fund’s Board of Advisors Chairperson George Buck at george@dekalbccf.org.