A Message From Arhoolie Foundation

by | 15 Dec, 2011

The Arhoolie Foundation was established in 1995 to document, preserve, present and disseminate authentic traditional and regional vernacular music to educate and enlighten the public and also support and reinforce traditional community values.

The Arhoolie Foundation was classified by the IRS as a public charitable and educational non-profit organization with a 501(c)(3) status, which means all your donations are fully tax-deductible.

Although the Foundation shares its name with Arhoolie Productions Inc., a for-profit, it is not a successor to that Corporation. The Arhoolie Foundation does not control and is not controlled by the Arhoolie Corporation or any other organization.

We received the following message from Arhoolie this morning:

For sixteen years the Arhoolie Foundation has been successful in preserving and sharing vernacular music through exhibitions, documentaries, and partnership with academic institutions. We have been able to accomplish much with the help of many friends and people like you. As the year closes, please consider supporting the work of the Arhoolie Foundation so we can continue our efforts to document, preserve, present and disseminate authentic traditional and regional vernacular music.

This year the Arhoolie Foundation received help from many friends in our drive to raise funds to support our largest project: the digitization and dissemination of the Frontera Collection, the world’s largest collection of Mexican-American recordings. The Frontera Collection consists of 78s, 45s, 33s and cassettes with over 140,000 songs that share the stories of our nation’s fastest growing minority.

Over the next four months, the foundation needs to raise $40,000 in order to get a similar amount from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). This means that for every dollar you are able to donate we will receive two dollars!

In addition to our continued work on digitizing the Frontera Collection, recent months have seen the release of the DVD Down Home Music: A Journey Through the Heartland 1963, and Squeezebox Stories, a radio documentary about the stories and rich traditions of the accordion in California’s diverse cultural landscape.

We are cooking up some good projects for the coming year and we want to work with you to help make it all happen. Please help the Arhoolie Foundation in our goal to carry the wonderful music and traditions that we care so much about far into the future. Your tax-deductible contribution will be matched by the NEA and NEH, and you will join Ry Cooder, Taj Mahal, Laurie Lewis, the Savoy Family, the Campbell Brothers, and others who are helping us fulfill our mission –  Chris Strachwitz Arhoolie Records.

Check out their latest projects at arhoolie.org and let’s work together to preserve great vernacular music.
Donations can be made by check, sent to: The Arhoolie Foundation, 10341 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito CA 94530. You may also donate through PayPal.

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