CMA Comes to the Aid of Nashville Schools & Flood Victims

Kix Brooks announced Wednesday that the Country Music Association will donate nearly three million dollars to ensure music education in Nashville, and to continue to support flood relief efforts in the area.

Kix, a member of the CMA Board, said the total figure of $2,924,936, is from the net proceeds brought in by the CMA Music Festival this past June. The donation will be split between CMA's Keep the Music Playing campaign and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

"When we started this program several years ago, the success of the Music Festival itself and the opportunity to have an ongoing contribution to aid in the music programs of our local schools, was just a dream," Brooks said. "Today we have a reality that's has far exceeded our imaginations. Considering the year our community has had, the faithful support from the fans of Country Music could not have come at better time."

Just a month after the Cumberland River overflowed its banks, the CMA Music Festival went on as scheduled. Like the Grand Ole Opry and other events planned for Music City, the festival was very well supported by citizens of the community and people from out of town, who did not let the flood dampen their spirits when it came to supporting Nashville's efforts to continue despite the devastation.

Over the years, the CMA has contributed nearly five million dollars to help support music education in public schools. The money has been used from everything from building music labs to purchase nearly four thousand instruments for Metro Nashville Public Schools through a partnership with the Nashville Alliance for Public Education. It also includes an annual endowment gift for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's Words & Music program, which assists language arts and music teachers with classroom instruction in the basics of songwriting. During the next two years, 74 Metro Nashville public elementary schools will participate in Words & Music. At the same time, the program will expand, due in part to a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, to encompass more schools in Tennessee and across the country via video conferencing.

Money is being given to flood victims through grants from the fund, which are made available to nonprofits supporting relief and restoration in the Davidson County area. Millions of people were affected by the disaster and many are still struggling to return to the normal life they had before the flood.

The CMA donates the funds to charity on behalf of the hundreds of country artists who perform at the annual Music Fest. This year's festival saw 65,000 fans descend on Nashville for the country music extravaganza.

In addition to Kix, Luke Bryan and Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town joined Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, CMA executive director Steve Moore, Kyle Young of the Country Music Hall of Fame, and several other dignitaries for the presentation.