The GRAMMY Foundation Announces 2012 Signature Schools

The GRAMMY Foundation^®(www.grammyfoundation.org) today announced that 18 schools nationwide have been selected as GRAMMY^® Signature Schools (www.grammyintheschools.com) for 2012 and have been awarded cash grants totaling more than $100,000. Created in 1998, the GRAMMY Signature Schools program recognizes top U.S. public high schools that are making an outstanding commitment to music education during an academic school year. GRAMMY Signature Schools are made possible in part through the generous support of Best Buy, Campbell's Labels For Education program, the Ford Motor Company Fund, and Gibson Foundation.
 
In August 2010, the GRAMMY Foundation launched the GRAMMY Signature Schools Community Award, a new extension of the GRAMMY Signature Schools program in partnership with Best Buy Mobile. To celebrate the opening of new Best Buy Mobile stores, the GRAMMY Foundation identified deserving public high school music programs to receive the award and a $2,000 grant. During the past year, approximately 100 schools have received the GRAMMY Signature Schools Community Award, and total dollars granted were in excess of $200,000. For a list of schools, visit www.grammy.com.
 
"Our GRAMMY Signature Schools program is making a real difference in the lives of young people in public high school music programs across the country," said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy^® and the GRAMMY Foundation. "With the generous support of our partners, we've been able to grow this program's reach, and further the GRAMMY Foundation's commitment to fostering excellence in music education."
 
Each of the 18 GRAMMY Signature Schools will receive a custom award and a monetary grant to benefit its music program.The top six schools are designated Gold recipients. Thebest of the Gold recipients is named the National GRAMMY Signature School. The National GRAMMY Signature School will receive $15,000, and the five remaining Gold schools each will receive $5,000. One remaining GRAMMY Signature Schools recipient will receive a grant of $2,500 to benefit its music programs. In the Enterprise Award category, which recognizes efforts made by schools that are economically underserved, 11 schools will receive a grant of$5,500 each.

2012 GRAMMY Signature Schools:
 
2012 National GRAMMY Signature School ($15,000)
Douglas Anderson School of the Arts — Jacksonville, Fla.
 
2012 GRAMMY Signature Schools Gold ($5,000 each)
Flower Mound High School — Flower Mound, Texas
Green Valley High School — Henderson, Nev.
Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts— Las Vegas, Nev.
Prospect High School — Mount Prospect, Ill.
Westwood High School — Austin, Texas
 
2012 GRAMMY Signature Schools ($2,500)
Jeffersonville High School — Jeffersonville, Ind.
 
2012 GRAMMY Signature Schools Enterprise Award ($5,500 each)
Bartlett High School — Anchorage, Alaska
Billings Senior High School — Billings, Mont.
Chazy High School — Chazy, N.Y.
David Douglas High School — Portland, Ore.
East Anchorage High School — Anchorage, Alaska
Ewing High School — Trenton, N.J.
Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center — Columbus, Ohio
Hialeah Gardens High School — Hialeah Gardens, Fla.
Pahoa High & Intermediate School — Pahoa, Hawaii
Philomath High School — Philomath, Ore.
Towers High School — Belvedere Park, Ga.
 
The selection process for GRAMMY Signature Schools begins each year in August when the GRAMMY Foundation mails notification to more than 20,000 public high schools from districts large and small, urban, suburban, and rural, requesting information about each school's music program. Applications are completed and submitted online in October at www.grammyintheschools.com. After the applications are scored, finalists are identified and asked to submit additional documentation, such as recordings of school concerts, sample concert programs, and repertoire, which is then reviewed by an independent blue ribbon committee of top music educators and professionals to determine the schools that merit GRAMMY Signature School status.