St. Petersburg College is partnering with the Gasparilla Music Foundation to promote Recycled Tunes, an instrument donation drive seeking to narrow the gulf between Pinellas County Schools’ students and their music-related goals.
Imagine for a moment that your greatest love in life is music.
You don’t merely listen to music or enjoy the experience fashioned by others — you are driven to create. Your parents cannot afford to buy you private music lessons nor an instrument. High school music classes, band practice and chorus are your only windows of opportunity for developing your growing talent. Funding is being cut for arts programs such as music, drama and visual arts. Intuitively, your know your future will be in creating, producing and writing music, but you worry that money will be the great divide between you and your dream.
SPC, the Gasparilla Music Festival and Recycled Tunes
SPC and the Foundation share common goals such as promoting music education, giving music students hands-on experience in the industry and providing musical instruments to students.
SPC St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus Outreach Specialist Rosaria Pipitone helped establish SPC’s partnership with Gasparilla Music Festival in 2013. She encouraged her music students to volunteer for them at the annual festival in downtown Tampa.
The festival pairs a wide variety of musical acts on multiple stages with cuisine from top local restaurants. As part of the partnership, GMF gives MIRA students control of “the Orange Room” during the festival. It’s an area where students get the opportunity to meet and interview the festival’s performers.
That collaboration led to this year’s partnership between the college and the Foundation on the community outreach program GMF organized – Recycled Tunes.
SPC’s weeklong Recycled Tunes donation drive
From Nov. 14 – 18, the college will host a musical instrument donation drive benefiting Recycled Tunes. The week of giving starts with a kickoff event at SPC’s St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus.
SPC Radio will broadcast live from the campus kickoff event on Monday, Nov. 14. And musical instrument donations can be made at all participating SPC campuses, which include Allstate, Clearwater, Downtown, Seminole, St. Petersburg/Gibbs and Tarpon Springs.
Recycled Tunes donation prizes
All instrument donors will receive a one-person, two-day pass to the 6th annual Gasparilla Music Festival, valued at $150. Additionally, donors will be given free entrance to the MIRA Music Showcase on Nov. 28 at the Palladium Theater at St. Petersburg College. To promote this worthy event, music instrument donors will be encouraged to take selfies with an SPC and Recycle Tunes backdrop to post on social media.
Refreshing donated instruments
Don Banks Music will volunteer the time and manpower necessary to refurbish the donations. Then the refreshed instruments will be donated to Pinellas County Schools.
The collaboration between SPC and the GMF will continue on stage at the Palladium.
To provide hands-on performance experience to students, last year’s Pinellas County music instrument recipients will perform with SPC’s MIRA students at the annual MIRA Student Showcase at the Palladium on Nov. 28.
In addition to providing students with music instruments and hands-on experience, SPC’s partnership with the Gasparilla Music Foundation and Recycled Tunes has helped expand the visibility of the MIRA music program and given back to the community by helping build musical dreams.