A new nonprofit helps CMS music programs acquire needed instruments
A Myers Park High graduate founded the Instrumental Impact nonprofit this summer and is working to find instruments and funding for school music programs
The following article appeared in the October 4, 2024, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.
New local nonprofit aims to link middle and high school band and orchestra programs with needed instruments
by Cristina Bolling
After The Ledger published an article last week about the need for more funding for instrument repair in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ band and orchestra programs, we heard from Pearson Dunaway, a Charlottean who recently started a nonprofit dedicated to supporting CMS music programs through donations of instruments, equipment and money.
Dunaway, a 2018 graduate of Myers Park High, says he founded Instrumental Impact last summer after realizing that there were unused instruments in people’s homes that could be put to use in local public schools.
Dunaway studied piano intensively in high school, and after graduating from UNC Chapel Hill and returning to Charlotte, he saw that people were selling or giving away musical instruments they no longer needed on Facebook Marketplace. After talking to CMS arts program staff, he said he learned of the school district’s need for instruments, so he created a nonprofit to pair the instruments with the schools.
So far, he’s collected three clarinets, and he said he’s speaking with band directors to see where they can best go to use.
He’s also received instruments from the Charlotte Symphony — three saxophones and four trombones — which he took to Mallard Creek High School on Saturday. He said the school’s band director, Sir Davis, told him that the saxophones would be put to use that very night.
“He [Davis] said, ‘Actually, we have a football game tonight, and a couple students wouldn’t be able to play, but now that we’ve got these saxophones, they’re going to be able to,’” Dunaway said. “So that was really great to hear.”
➡️ Want to help? To make an instrument or financial donation, you can visit Instrumental Impact’s website or email the Charlotte Symphony at feedback@charlottesymphony.org.
Related Ledger articles:
“CMS music programs battle failing instruments” (Sept. 25)
“Charlotte Symphony rallies support for CMS instrument needs” (Sept. 27)
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