From Vision to Action: North Carolina Launches a New Model for Music Education
- Aug 24
- 6 min read
Issue #1, August 2026
Every generation must redefine what an essential education requires.
For much of the last century, schools were designed to prepare students for an industrial and information economy. Literacy, mathematics, science, and technology became the foundation of opportunity — and they remain essential today.
But the world our students are entering has fundamentally changed. Success now depends not only on what young people know, but on their ability to create, collaborate, communicate, adapt, persevere, and solve problems in an increasingly complex world. These aren’t "soft skills"; they are the uniquely human capabilities that will shape the future of work, innovation, and civic life.
Creative learning experiences — especially music and the arts — are among the most powerful ways to develop these skills. Yet too often, they are treated as enrichment rather than essential infrastructure.
The Music Impact Coalition (MIC) was created to help change that.
A Different Kind of Investment
Across the country, extraordinary educators, nonprofit organizations, researchers, artists, school districts, policymakers, and philanthropists are working every day to expand access to music education.
The challenge has never been a lack of commitment. The challenge is coordination.
Too often, organizations build parallel solutions, school districts navigate dozens of disconnected partnerships, research and implementation efforts remain siloed, and funders invest toward similar goals without shared learning or coordinated strategy.
The result is a system where remarkable organizations create meaningful impact but the ecosystem surrounding them isn’t designed to maximize what they can accomplish together.
MIC represents a different approach.
Rather than funding individual programs in isolation, the coalition aligns philanthropy, school districts, nonprofit organizations, researchers, policymakers, artists, and communities around one coordinated strategy for strengthening music and arts education.
Because the opportunity isn’t more activity, it’s better coordination.
“Philanthropy’s greatest opportunity isn’t building another great organization. It’s connecting those already doing exceptional work — so they can move faster, reach further, and create lasting change together."
— Cayley Tull, Founder, Music Impact Coalition
Why North Carolina?
North Carolina is uniquely positioned to demonstrate what coordinated systems change can look like.
With strong statewide arts leadership, diverse school communities, and trusted organizations already advancing arts education, the state offers an ideal environment to pilot a scalable model that can inform future efforts nationwide.
This fall, MIC will launch with eight participating public school districts representing urban, suburban, and rural communities across the state:
1. Buncombe County Schools
2. Chatham County Schools
3. Cumberland County Schools
4. Newton-Conover City Schools
5. Pitt County Schools
6. Wayne County Public Schools
7. Winston-Salem / Forsyth County Schools
8. Charlotte / Southwest Piedmont Region (District TBD)
Together, these districts represent a diverse cross-section of North Carolina and will help shape a model designed for replication across the country.
What Makes MIC Different
Most districts are asked to navigate a fragmented landscape of grants, nonprofit programs, professional development opportunities, and community partnerships.
MIC flips that model.
Instead of separate organizations approaching districts independently, partners arrive aligned — working from a shared strategy, common goals, continuous communication, and coordinated implementation.
The coalition invests across six interconnected areas:
Creative
Learning
Expanding equitable access to high-quality music and arts education.
Educator Development
Supporting teachers, school leaders, and district capacity.
Research & Evaluation
Measuring implementation, outcomes, and continuous improvement.
Policy &
Advocacy
Building long-term systems support.
Community Partnerships
Connecting schools with families, artists, and local organizations.
Sustainable Infrastructure
Strengthening the ecosystem so investments create lasting impact.
This coordinated approach helps reduce duplication, strengthen local capacity, and ensure resources are directed where they can make the greatest impact. Through its assessment work, Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation is providing early insights into the current state of music and arts education across participating districts. To date, 221 music and arts educators representing 181 schools have shared feedback identifying barriers to student participation, facilities and equipment needs, and opportunities to better align coalition resources. Additional enrollment analysis will help clarify which students and communities are most affected and further inform district priorities and future investments.
"Our leaders too often underestimate — or misunderstand — the power of arts education, leaving access deeply unequal within our borders. I believe in the value of collaboration and collective action. I am inspired by the people who work hard to bring the gift of the arts to our children. And I am proud to add my voice to this chorus of dedicated individuals and mission driven professionals that is the Music Impact Coalition."
— Nate McGaha, Executive Director, Arts North Carolina
Partner Spotlight: Enlight Foundation
Founded in 2004 by Xin Liu, Enlight Foundation has spent two decades funding education equality and youth empowerment through catalytic, collaborative grants — including past support for music through the Art of the Piano festival. This year, that same approach turned toward Music Impact Coalition: a $1M investment fueling the coalition's push to expand music education access across North Carolina.
Taking care of our young people's mental health is one of the most important things we can do right now. Music and the arts give kids something truly special: a safe space to express who they are, build real confidence, and connect with others.
— Xin Liu, Founder, Enlight Foundation
A Coalition Built for Impact
Seeded by a $2 million investment from the Tullman Family Office, the North Carolina pilot brings together more than 20 national and local partners spanning philanthropy, research, implementation, advocacy, and industry.
Together, these organizations share a common belief: every child deserves access to the creative learning experiences that prepare them to thrive.
Rather than working alongside one another, they’re working with one another. That’s what makes this coalition different.
Music Matters Challenge Grant Expands Access in North Carolina
Every year, Let Music Fill My World's Music Matters Challenge awards a $300,000 grant to fund a full-time music teacher in a school that lacks one, inspired by the vision of the Individual Winner. This year's winner, Breona Brogan, helped guide the search by identifying communities that held personal significance to her and where she hoped the investment could make a meaningful difference.
After data examining music teacher placements in the eight districts provided by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Newton-Conover City Schools was identified as the strongest opportunity for impact. Today, one music teacher serves three elementary schools, leaving students without consistent music instruction for much of the year. By funding an additional full-time music educator, the grant will provide one school with year-round music instruction while allowing the existing teacher to serve the remaining two schools more consistently — expanding access across all three campuses.
This partnership demonstrates how the Music Matters Challenge extends beyond recognizing student voices to creating lasting systems change. By aligning the winner's vision with district needs and statewide partnerships, MIC is helping transform a single grant into sustainable access to music education for more students.
What's Ahead
This fall marks the beginning of implementation.
Over the coming months, coalition partners will continue district assessments, strategic planning, and partner alignment while preparing for the next phase of implementation. The Duke Sanford School of Public Policy's Center for Child and Family Policy will evaluate how the coalition's coordinated approach expands access to music and arts education while identifying best practices for sustainable implementation. At the same time, cultural strategist and evaluator Arielle Julia Brown will lead a complementary benchmarking process to assess the coalition's collaborative model and develop a framework for measuring long-term impact.
A major milestone will be the Music Impact Coalition’s statewide launch convening in Raleigh this October, where district leaders, coalition partners, researchers, funders, policymakers, and advocates will come together to celebrate the official launch of the North Carolina pilot and align around a shared vision for the work ahead.
Throughout the year, we’ll also begin sharing early insights from participating districts, highlight the partners helping bring this work to life, and explore what coordinated systems change can teach us about expanding access to music and arts education nationwide.
By the Numbers
8
Participating North Carolina school districts (one remains TBD)
~184,068
Students represented across participating school districts
~336
Schools participating in the pilot
20+
National and local coalition partners
$2M
Seed investment from the Tullman Family Office
6
Areas of coordinated investment
Fall 2026
North Carolina pilot officially launches
Join the Conversation
Preparing young people to thrive requires all of us.
Whether your work is rooted in education, workforce development, mental health, economic mobility, civic engagement, philanthropy, or the arts, there is a place for you in this conversation.
North Carolina is where we begin.
Our hope is that what we learn together will help communities across the country build stronger systems for music and arts education — and ultimately create more opportunities for every student to thrive.
Because creative learning isn’t an enhancement to education.
It’s essential infrastructure.
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