Santa Monica, Calif. (Feb.4, 2008) — Starkey Hearing Foundation is proud to announce its partnership with the GRAMMY Foundation® and MusiCares®. The GRAMMY Foundation was established to cultivate the understanding, appreciation and advancement of the contribution of recorded music to American culture and MusiCares provides emergency financial assistance, confidential resources and a safety net of services for music people in times of need. "Music is such an important part of our culture, it connects us to special moments in our life and the people who shared those moments", said Debbie Wright, Executive Director of the Starkey Hearing Foundation. "This is why the GRAMMY Foundation and MusiCares—the two charities of The Recording Academy®— are natural partners. Your ability to hear music is what affects your experience, and the Foundations care for music and its makers and their legacy, as well as the next generation of music professionals."
Starkey Hearing Foundation's team, led by it's Founder, William Austin will join GRAMMY Career Day at USC during GRAMMY Week. While music professionals educate high school students about careers available in music and guidance on how to prepare for them, Starkey Hearing Foundation will donate approximately 300 hearing instruments with a retail value of over $900,000, to an estimated 150 local LA area children with hearing loss so that they can HEAR the MUSIC! Additionally, Starkey will support the MusiCares program by providing hearing instruments to artists in need.
"The GRAMMY Foundation and MusiCares are especially pleased to collaborate with a partner as innovative and passionate as the Starkey Hearing Foundation," said GRAMMY Foundation and MusiCares Senior Vice President Kristen Madsen. "Working together we bring a heightened awareness to our shared message of the importance of hearing health."
The GRAMMY Foundation was established in 1989 to cultivate the understanding, appreciation and advancement of the contribution of recorded music on American culture — from the artistic and technical legends of the past to the still unimagined musical breakthroughs of future generations of music professionals. The Foundation accomplishes this mission through programs and activities that engage the music industry and cultural community as well as the general public. The Foundation works in partnership year-round with The Recording Academy to bring national attention to important issues such as the value and impact of music and arts education and the urgency of preserving our rich cultural heritage. For more information, please visit www.grammyfoundation.com.
Established in 1989 by The Recording Academy®, MusiCares provides a safety net of critical assistance for music people in times of need. MusiCares' services and resources cover a wide range of financial, medical and personal emergencies, and each case is treated with integrity and confidentiality. MusiCares also focuses the resources and attention of the music industry on human service issues that directly impact the health and welfare of the music community. For more information, please visit www.musicares.com.
About the Starkey Hearing Foundation
Since 1973, Starkey has been giving the gift of hearing to the world's underprivileged - especially children - through its internationally recognized mission program and its domestic program, Hear Now. With a mission to promote hearing health awareness and education, provide hearing instruments and personal listening devices to people in need, and to support and conduct research and education in hearing breakthroughs and technologies, the foundation has provided more than 45,000 hearing instruments over the last 12 months, both domestically and abroad. Since 2000, more than 240,000 hearing instruments have been distributed to persons in need worldwide.
More information about the Starkey Hearing Foundation can be found at www.sotheworldmayhear.org or the Starkey Web Channel on Audiology Online at www.audiologyonline.com/channels/starkey.asp
