Gibson Baldwin Music Education Announces Key Music Education Beneficiaries

Music Education and Foundations to Benefit from Sales of Products from new Gibson Division

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE…Nashville, Tennessee…September 27, 2005  Gibson Baldwin Music Education (GBME) announced today five non-profit organizations as beneficiaries to the new Gibson Guitar division dedicated to supporting music education. The new division offers entry level guitars, amps, band instruments and accessories through mass merchants and will donate a portion of the proceeds to help music education nationwide.  The Gibson Baldwin Music Education division is based in Nashville, Tennessee, at the company’s Corporate Headquarters.  

Beneficiaries announced include The Grammy Foundation,  The National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts (NFAA), MENC (The National Association of Music Educators), MNTA (Music Teachers National Association) and the VH 1 Save the Music Foundation. Each beneficiary announced will partner with Gibson Baldwin Music Education in marketing and promotions and will be involved in the special events throughout the year.

“The Gibson Guitar and Baldwin Piano companies were founded by music educators and we will continue the tradition by supporting these great music foundations who have served students and musicians for years,” said Gibson Chairman and CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz. “Gibson is committed to telling students about the many rewards of musicianship. We are also very pleased to offer such high quality, affordable instruments to beginning music students and at the same time help worthy organizations.”

The Gibson Baldwin Music Education family of brands includes Maestro, Epoch, Spirit,

Talent, Savant and Signature. The line of instruments will include both electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitars, woodwinds, horns and percussion instruments. GBME is also offering amplifiers and a full line of Gibson branded accessories. 

ABOUT THE MENC

The National Association for Music Education, the world's largest arts education organization, is the only association that addresses all aspects of music education. Nearly 125,000 members represent all levels of teaching from preschool to graduate school. Since 1907, MENC has worked to ensure that every student has access to a well-balanced, comprehensive, and high-quality program of music instruction taught by qualified teachers. MENC's activities and resources have been largely responsible for the establishment of music education as a profession, for the promotion and guidance of music study as an integral part of the school curriculum, and for the development of the National Standards for Arts Education

ABOUT MTNA

Music Teachers National Associatoin is a nonprofit organization of independent and collegiate music teachers committed to furthering the art of music through teaching, performance, composition and scholarly research. Founded in 1876, Music Teachers National Association is the oldest music teachers associations in the United States. For more information on the MTNA  go to www.mtna.org.

ABOUT NFAA

Dedicated to empowering the arts for America’s future, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA) is a non-profit organization founded in 1981 by businessman and visionary Ted Arison. NFAA’s mission is to identify emerging artists and assist them at critical junctures with their educational and professional development; and to raise the appreciation for, and support of, the arts in American society.Arts Recognition and Talent Search® (ARTS) is a program of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA). The NFAA ARTS program is sponsored, in part, by: Carnival Cruise Lines; The Coca-Cola Company; Gibson Guitar, Baldwin Piano and The Gibson Foundation; The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Trust; Music for Youth Foundation; Northern Trust; PricewaterhouseCoopers; Smithsonian Magazine; and SunTrust. For more information about NFAA, visit the website www.NFAA.ARTSawards.org.

About the VH1 Save The Music Foundation
The VH1 Save The Music Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of education in America’s public schools by restoring instrumental music programs in cities across the U.S., and by raising public awareness about the importance of music participation for our nation’s youth. Since the VH1 Save The Music Foundation was established in 1997 it has donated nearly $30 million worth of new musical instruments to 1,200 public schools in 80 cities, improving the lives of more than 500,000 children. VH1 Save The Music’s many honors include the Governors’ Award (a special Emmy Award), the George Foster Peabody Award for broadcast and cable excellence, and many Beacon Awards.

ABOUT THE GRAMMY FOUNDATION®

The GRAMMY Foundation ® was established in 1989 to cultivate the awareness, appreciation and advancement of the contribution of recorded music on American culture — from the artistic and technical legends of the past to the still unimagined musical breakthroughs of the future generations of music professionals. The GRAMMY Foundation® accomplishes this mission through programs and activities designed to engage the music industry and cultural community as well as the general public. The Foundation also works in partnership year-round with the Recording Academy to bring national attention to important issues such as the value and impact of music and arts education and the urgency of preserving our rich cultural legacy.

ABOUT GIBSON GUITAR

Founded in 1894 in Kalamazoo, MI, and headquartered in Nashville since 1984, Gibson is known worldwide for producing classic models in every major style of fretted instrument, including acoustic and electric guitars, mandolins and banjos. Gibson’s digital guitar represents the biggest advance in electric guitar design in over 70 years.  Gibson Guitar Corp.’s family of brands now includes Epiphone, Dobro, Kramer, Steinberger, Tobias, Slingerland, Maestro, Baldwin, Hamilton and Wurlitzer. Visit Gibson’s website at www.gibson.com or www.gibson.com/press.

CONTACTS:
Caroline Galloway  GIBSON 440-338-3469  caroline.galloway@gibson.com

Maureen O’Connor Rogers & Cowan 310-854-8116 moconnor@rogersandcowan.com

Jason Padgitt          Rogers & Cowan 310-854-8140  jpadgitt@rogersandcowan.com

QUALITY     PRESTIGE     INNOVATION