The DeKalb County Community Foundation recently awarded $130,900 in Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation Fund Grants to support music education.

The grants benefited 25 nonprofit and public sector organizations in DeKalb County and the greater Chicago area.

“The DeKalb County History Center is honored to be a recipient of Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation Fund grant,” said Michelle Donahoe, executive director of the DeKalb County History Center, in a news release. “This grant will provide the seed money to kick off the musical programming at the History Center’s new corn crib venue.”

DeKalb County recipients:

• DeKalb County History Center - $10,000 to support the purchase of equipment for a newly developed music performance space and launch a summer concert series
• DeKalb School District - Huntley Middle School - $15,500 to buy percussion instruments for student use
• Hiawatha High School - $7,500 to build the school’s inventory of band instruments
• Indian Creek Elementary School - $2,300 to buy Drums Alive curriculum and materials
• Indian Creek Middle School - $7,600 to buy percussion instruments for student use in lessons and classes

Greater Chicago area recipients:

• Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble - $4,000 to support music classes and performance at Daniel Webster and Johnson Schools
• Chicago Jazz Philharmonic - $5,000 to support music and band instruction for students in Chicago schools
• Chicago Master Singers - $3,000 to support a 2-day intensive music education residency
• Chicago Philharmonic Society - $2,000  for an in-school mentorship program benefiting underserved junior high and high school music students in Chicago and Skokie.
• Classical Kids Music education - $4,000 to support 2026 Chicago Expansion Initiative programming and educational outreach
• Elmhurst Choral Union - to present Carmina Burana and support an educational capstone for 100+ youth singers
• Experimental Sound Studio - $2,500 to present a free workshop series at Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio
• Glenwood Academy - $2,500 to support staffing cost for a school music education program
• Illinois Conservatory for the Arts - $4,000 to provide theater training scholarships to low-income and underserved students
• Intonation Music - $5,000 to support music education for Bronzeville students in grades 3-12
• Maywood Fine Arts Association - $5,000 to fund a financial assistance program for low-income music students
• Merit School of Music - $5,000 to support a music instruction program for students in Chicago area schools and community centers
• Music in Urban Schools Inspiring Change - $3,000 to support free, local, conservatory-style programming to youth on Chicago’s west side
• Music Institute of Chicago - $4,000 to provide essential resources to participants in the tuition-free Third Coast Suzuki Strings Program
• Musical Arts Institute - $3,000 to support programs that provide quality music education in communities where this opportunity is lacking
• Snow City Arts Foundation - $10,000 to provide standards-based music education programs for pediatric patients in Chicago hospitals
• Southland College Prep Charter High School - $5,000 to support costs for a beginning strings education program at Southland College Prep Charter School
• The People’s Music School - $5,000 to support intensive, tuition-free music education to students facing financial barriers
• VanderCook College - $10,000 to buy musical instruments for use by middle school-aged participants
• Young Naperville Singers - $4,000 to support need-based scholarships for participants

The Wurlitzer Company was one of the largest musical instrument companies in the U.S., manufacturing pianos in DeKalb throughout much of the 20th century. The Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation was established in the 1940s and became a Fund of the Community Foundation in 2012. Today, the fund and its board of advisors remain an important part of the Foundation’s grantmaking efforts in support of music education.

Applications for the next round of Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation Fund grants open Jan. 1, 2026. Full details, including eligibility and guidelines, are available at dekalbccf.org/wurlitzer.

Those with questions should contact the Fund’s Board of Advisors Chair, George Buck, at george@dekalbccf.org.