Image: A graphic of choral music singers In the fall of 2023, Bucks County Choral Society’s Artistic Director Thomas Lloyd penned an article for The Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians about whether the choral music space has changed since the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Here, we delve into some of his…
A collage of 2023-24 Presser Scholar Award recipients. One year ago, The Presser Foundation implemented several significant changes to the Undergraduate Scholar Award program. These changes included adding 32 Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) to the program, shifting the focus from institution to student recipient with the addition of a…
Image: A GEGISOM student playing piano. Pulled from reports written by Dr. Joyce Drayton, organized by Abby Rolland* As part of The Presser Foundation’s drive to be more transparent and to amplify the work of its partners, it uses information from grant reports to highlight its grantees. Each post will spotlight one partner, who has…
By Sepehr Pirasteh Being a composer can feel a bit like living in an artist’s cave. We spend countless hours absorbed in our own creative worlds, meticulously crafting something that eventually blossoms into art. However, my fellowship at The Presser Foundation pushed me to crack the walls of my creative isolation, forcing me to step…
Image: Claire Moustafellos works on a project for the Foundation during her summer internship. By Claire Moustafellos What piqued my interest when applying to and interviewing for The Presser Foundation Internship, was the strong focus surrounding diversity, equity, inclusion, and access (DEIA). What I didn’t realize when going through this process, was that I would…
Image: Cassandra (Cassie) Slade works on a project for the Foundation during her summer internship. By Cassandra Slade Toward the end of my junior year at Temple University, I began to explore various options for how I would spend my summer. In an effort to pursue my interest in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and…
By Abby Rolland Recently, The Presser Foundation hosted the fourth iteration of its virtual Next Movement event series, this time focusing on (Nonprofit) Boards & DEI. The Foundation plans to host three Next Movement events every year, and at least one of those each year will focus on topics around DEI (August 2021 spotlighted four partner…
By Abby Rolland “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” That phrase resonates with The Presser Foundation as we seek to center equity and end systemic inequities. We began our equity journey in 2019 and accelerated it after George Floyd’s murder in May 2020. You can learn more about the “why”…
By Abby Rolland On May 25, 2020, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, George Floyd was murdered by police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota. While this was not the first (nor unfortunately, the last) brutal murder of an unarmed BIPOC man or woman, it began a national reckoning with systemic racial injustices that have…
By Abby Rolland, Grants & Communications Manager In addition to understanding The Presser Foundation’s history and why it focuses on music philanthropy, recognizing the Foundation’s values and the role that they play in how the Foundation acts and works is key. The values, as well as the Foundation’s commitment to social justice, are embedded within…