Our Impact

Music to Life facilitates connections and opportunities for talented social change musicians.  We monitor the quality of our work in three areas: Artist Outcomes, Program Quality and Organizational Effectiveness.

Program Quality

Change Agent Training: Our Accelerator uses a unique multi-layered approach, mobilizing artists for creative community change strategies, building a social justice focus for music-affinity groups, and engaging the broader community: stakeholders, donors and allies become volunteers, mentors and instructors in the program. Our work with artist activists through the MCA sets up a ripple effect of change, for themselves and, by extension, the communities in which they live and work. This linked diagram illustrates an MCA-trained musician's wheel of community impact or influence. 

Performance Platforms: Our performance platforms provide artists with paid exposure and opportunities to connect with an engaged audience. The Hope Rises album, featuring artists across genres, issues and locations, has garnered over 135,000 streams across its tracks on Spotify alone. Our music and conversation series, Brave Troubadours, connects artists across genre lines, opens them to new fanbases and provides a themed and focused opportunity through which to discuss their social change work and share their music.

National Network: Our national network thrives on the diversity, dedication and collaborative spirit of the musicians it serves. We actively identify social change artists at various stages of their career to build our network and we engage with artists monthly through personal guidance and opportunities for performances/panels/special events. We aim to bring together social change artists to expand their platforms and their combined impact.

Participating Artist Outcomes

Artists develop meaningful, effective music-driven programs that attract resources and support.
Our Accelerator artists typically generate a minimum of 2-3 grant applications or contracts (of $1-$5k each) in collaboration with their partner nonprofits, resulting in approximately $5-10K economic return per project. Most Accelerator artists have local or national fiscal sponsors by the end of the program and continue to apply for grants.

Artists develop culturally sensitive programming that engages people from diverse racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Each artist designs their pilot concept with knowledge and consideration for marginalized voices, and the conditions and cultures of their intended participants. Attention to diversity, access, inclusion and equity is woven into their planning and projects.

Artists design/deliver innovative and impactful programming in collaboration with organizational partner/s and community allies.
Each musician’s piloted project impacts approximately 1000 people, directly or indirectly, within the community and stakeholder base, based on the mobilization of their own fan base, growth in their and their nonprofit partner's social media networks, and their connection with the vulnerable populations they are working to serve.

Artists establish connections with other social change artists, providing mutual support and greater opportunity for impact.
Every artist participates in our national network which fosters collaboration between artists across genres and location. Artists also take advantage of diverse issue-based performance platforms and mentorship opportunities.

Organizational Effectiveness

We are passionate about investing in musicians and their social change programs.  As a lean, virtual organization, we dedicate more than 80% of our revenues (donations, sponsorships and grants) toward engaging, educating and empowering artists and their communities. As we grow, we aim to reduce our operating costs to 10% and are exploring creative ways to underwrite these expenses including the development of earned income and commercially viable channels such as broadcast programming and franchise opportunities of our training model, proceeds from which will enable us to direct all subsequent donations to serving artists.