If you have supported the Arnold Shultz Fund in the past, we are asking for your continued support. If you are hearing about the Shultz Fund for the first time, we invite you to join everyone that has supported this important initiative.
Just four short years ago amid the Covid pandemic, the IBMA Foundation established the Arnold Shultz Fund to support activities increasing the participation of people of color in bluegrass music. Arnold Shultz (1886–1931) was an African American musician from western Kentucky who had a profound influence on Bill Monroe and the development of bluegrass music.
Since its beginning, the Arnold Shultz Fund has awarded more than $100,000 in grants and scholarships, including a total of $30,000 during the past three years for the Black Banjo Reclamation Project which came from proceeds from the annual Pisgah Banjo Company’s fundraising raffle.
This year 16 Shultz grants and scholarships totaling $19,650 were awarded to programs and individuals in 12 states, Kenya, and Nepal. Since the first challenge donations from Fred Bartenstein and the late James Reams after an online conversation in the Leadership Bluegrass Alumni Google group, the amount of money in the Arnold Shultz Endowment Fund has increased. However, each year we are also seeing an increase in applications and the total amount of money requested.
The Arnold Shultz Fund is solely funded and supported by community donors (mainly individuals, but also the Pisgah Banjo Company and a few private family foundations that support the arts). We are immensely grateful to Patrick Sawyer at the Pisgah Banjo Company for the annual raffle fundraiser that supports the Shultz Fund, but we still need help from individual donors and organizations so we can provide more grants and scholarships to worthy individuals and organizations.
“The Arnold Shultz Fund seeks to offer a proactive, helping hand to individuals who come from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in the bluegrass community,” Shultz Fund committee co-chair Richard Brown said. “Bluegrass music belongs to everyone who wants to listen to it or play it. We are grateful to donors who continue to support the Arnold Shultz Fund and all the other Foundation initiatives. Their generosity has made it possible to award grants to these very deserving musicians and program organizers.”
Donations to the Arnold Shultz Fund may be made via PayPal HERE, or mailed to the IBMA Foundation, 1183 University Drive #105-215, Burlington, NC 27215. Contact the IBMA Foundation office at info@bluegrassfoundation.org or (615) 260-4807 for information on how to donate stock. Make a donation to the Arnold Shultz Agency Endowment Fund at the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee HERE.
Arnold Shultz (1886 – 1931) was an African American musician from western Kentucky. Best known as an extraordinary guitarist and fiddle player, Shultz often played with Bill Monroe’s fiddle-playing uncle, Pendleton (“Pen”) Vandiver. It was at these gigs that Monroe met Arnold Shultz and began to emulate his backup guitar style. Shultz was impressed enough with Monroe’s progress that he hired Monroe to play guitar with him at dances, thereby giving Monroe his first jobs as a professional musician. Monroe often credited Shultz with influencing his approach to playing music.
Arnold Shultz Fund Advisory Committee
Richard Brown (co-chair), Dr. Neil Rosenberg (co-chair), Dr. Erika Brady, Sav Sankaran, Trisha Tubbs, and Lillian Werbin.
–Nancy Cardwell, IBMA Foundation executive director
RETURN to the August 1, 2024 issue of The Cornerstone.
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