power2give.org is a groundbreaking new website that was designed by the Arts & Science Council in Charlotte, NC, to address changing trends in philanthropic giving. The Fund for the Arts now brings power2give.org to Kentucky and Southern Indiana to allow anyone in the community to easily give a gift to the organizations and/or projects they are most passionate about.

With tools and resources for both donors and non-profits, power2give.org makes posting projects, promoting them to different audiences and giving to projects convenient for all involved.

LYO will have special projects and needs listed.  Be sure to check them out and consider offering your support.  Check back often because projects will change as contributions are made and new items are posted.  Current LYO projects are:

SuperSummerStrings!
We had hoped that fifteen at-risk 1st and 2nd graders would sign up for the after-school beginning string class being offered by the Louisville Youth Orchestra at Lincoln Elementary Performing Arts School. By the end of the fifth day we had FORTY! Forty wide-eyed, enthusiastic and very energetic youngsters all clamoring for their 1/4 size violins. We can't turn any of them away because it's our mission to provide a high quality musical experience for ALL! We are off and rolling with these classes; however, these budding musicians also need a strong experience to keep them involved and progressing through the long, hot, lazy days of summer. So.....we need to offer a SuperSummerStrings! camp for these at-risk children. A $75 donation will pay the way for one musician to have a fabulous weeklong experience making music, having fun and learning the joy of accomplishment with a musical instrument. All we need is forty generous souls to allow EVERY one of our budding musicians this opportunity. Please help!

A BIG bundle of sticks
The German translation for bassoon is "a bundle of sticks". When you are looking to buy a CONTRAbassoon it becomes a VERY BIG bundle of sticks and a very big bundle of dollars ($19,600)! But, the Louisville Youth Orchestra needs one in order to continue to allow our orchestras to perform the wonderful, large orchestral works of the classical, romantic and contemporary periods. No one rents a contrabassoon and no one in town has one for us to borrow. We think it would be best to raise the money in reasonable amounts and since a contrabassoon has five pieces all we are looking for is enough for 2/5ths of the instrument. We'll do some additional fundraisers thoughout the year to raise the money for the rest of this monster but we hope you will help us with at least this part of our "very big pile of sticks".

Tattered and Torn
The sounds coming from the trombonist were abysmal. Wrong notes and strange noises accompanied by a complete look of confusion on the young man's face. The conductor stopped the orchestra with irritation. "What are you DOING back there????" The young man slowly picked up his music and held it up for all to see. "It's kinda hard to read, sir." The old excuse of "the dog ate my homework" came to mind as I viewed the incredibly tattered piece of paper that was in danger of turning to dust at any moment. After a consultation with our Music Librarian I discovered that a good portion of our music library looked similar to this piece. Music that has been around for 53 years (the age of our Louisville Youth Orchestra), handled by countless youth musicians and placed in and out of folders over and over has a right to look a little tired. We need to replace several individual pieces of music in order for our musicians to be able to read and play the great works of the masters, but with one single piece of music costing up to $10 it adds up quickly. We would like to start with the standard classical and romantic works in our library, and have figured out that we need to replace 224 individual sheets of music. Can you help us? We (AND YOU!) really don't want to hear the sounds that came out of our trombone player again!

Grow A Musical Child
The Louisville Youth Orchestra has over 300 members. Forty-five of those members are at-risk, title I children who come from families at or below the poverty level. But they still deserve the right to learn to play an instrument and be a part of this great organization - an organization whose mission is to provide a high quality musical experience for its members. We train the audience, patron, board member, volunteer, music instructor and musician of tomorrow. Our members range in age from five to twenty-one and can participate in five orchestral ensembles of varying ability level, a flute choir, a saxophone choir, a brass ensemble and a percussion ensemble. They perform in great halls, work with wonderful guest artists, present commissioned works and blossom into mature young adults right before our eyes. We need to raise enough scholarship money to support fifteen of our forty-five at-risk members. A membership fee for a full year is $392. This gives a child over ninety hours of instructional time by highly qualified conductors, coaches and professional musicians. This is an astoundingly reasonable $4.36 an hour! How can you beat a deal like that? We hope you feel you can help us close our final scholarship fund gap. The entire Louisville Youth Orchestra family - members, parents, board and staff - will be unbelievably grateful!

Hey, Coach! Can we run that play again?
A youth orchestra is, in may ways, like a high school sports team. The musicians are the players, the conductor is the athletic director and there are a variety of coaches utilized to teach the plays (in this case, the musical selections) and perfect the game (the performance). The coaches of the Louisville Youth Orchestra are the professional musicians and college music instructors of the area. The more coaching sessions the better the ultimate game (the performance) will be. We would like to offer our talented musicians - the string, woodwind, brass and percussion groups - at least ten coaching sessions per year. That's a total of forty, three hour sessions with the best of the pros in the area. That translates into $70 or $23.33333333 etc., etc., per hour! That's pretty darn cheap given that these coaches will touch the lives of over 350 youth musicians! Help us win the game and provide these dedicated youth artists with the instruction they deserve.

Pop Goes the D String --- THANK YOU!  Project Completed

Keep the Pig on the Road --- THANK YOU!  Project Completed

No fighting over the cowbell! --- THANK YOU!  Project Completed

The wheels on the trailer DO NOT go round and round! --- THANK YOU!  Project Completed