When asked about the backlash Swift faced, Janice Weinman, CEO of the New York-based nonprofit, told Radar, “I think it’s so unjustified, and I think it is, I hate to use this word, I think it’s cynical in a way.”
She further called out critics who worried Swift might be donating for a morally inferior reason. According to Weinman, that’s all just noise and doesn’t matter.
“What she has done for people who otherwise would not have the services that the money allows them to provide far more important than the motive, the way it was done, when it was done,” she said.
Swift and Kelce’s charitable donation will help fund music programs in New York City schools, including compensation for teachers.
Weinman added, “She really made it possible for many, many initiatives to take place, primarily for people who would not be able to receive services.”
Weinman further explained that the music education they offer becomes a “core subject” in schools that are under-resourced.
She explained, “54 percent of the schools in New York City do not have music teachers. And this allows schools to really be able to offer our program. And what the program does is not only instruct students in music education, it allows them to perform and allows them to compose. It really gives them the opportunity to be creative, to focus, to learn the discipline.”
However, the impact is far beyond the creative skills. Weinman observed that students with access to music education often have higher morale. “It affects their discipline,” she said. “It affects their academic achievement. It affects their attendance dramatically.”
Currently, Education Through Music serves 18,000 students in 52 schools across New York City. However, they have a waiting list, and funding is a constraint stopping them from expanding.
The donation from Swift and Kelce, both 36, though, makes a difference. Weinman said, “We have additional schools that we know would really, really welcome and value the opportunity to provide our program, and this lets us do it.”
The specifics of Education Through Music’s potential expansion are still being hashed out. After all, the organization didn’t receive much of a heads-up when they were handed the money.
Weinman explained, “We found out a few days, only a few days before the announcement. We had no idea this was going to happen. We were both surprised and just absolutely overjoyed. This makes a very big difference for the students we serve.”
The donation was sent in as an “unrestricted grant,” meaning there are no specific obligations from the nonprofit. That small classification gives the nonprofit flexibility to use the funds both in the classrooms and in general operations.
“She understood the value of what we do,” Weinman said. “And I think that’s partially why she did make it unrestricted.”
In addition to Swift’s donations, her fans, Swifties, joined in on the charitable giving. Education Through Music is fielding donations from others who want to help out, often in the amounts of $13 or $26, which are very special numbers for Swift, who is obsessed with numerology.
In addition to Education Through Music, Swift and Kelce donated to:
- Feeding America
- ASPCA
- Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
- .Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- New York City Harvest
- Food Bank For New York City
- New York Cares
- Answer The Call
- New York.Musical Mentors Collaborative
- After-School All-Stars
- Los Angeles Regional Food Bank
- Harvesters – The Community Food Network
- Operation Breakthrough
- Children’s Mercy Hospital
- Rhode Island Community Food Bank