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Kiff Gallagher, CEO and Founder, served in the White House, on the legislative team that created AmeriCorps. At the Corporation for National Service, Gallagher ran a $15MM program portfolio in education, health, public safety, and the environment. At night, he produced for and performed in a hip-hop, acid jazz project. Gallagher then joined Odwalla, Inc., where he was lead spokesman and advisor for brand strategy and corporate responsibility. Later appointed President of Social Venture Network, a national organization for CEOs and investors, Kiff was an early leader and public voice in the movements for social entrepreneurship and sustainable business. In 2002, Gallagher turned to his lifelong passion for music full-time. He wrote and produced two critically praised pop-rock albums, toured nationally, and received radio and TV placement for his songs. Gallagher has consulted internationally for the State Department and global NGOs. He recently served on Barack Obama's National Arts Policy Committee and as an advisor to the Presidential Transition. Kiff is an active equity investor, a 2008 Aspen Institute “Ideas Fellow,” and an honors graduate of the College of Letters from Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

Problem

Music education has the ability to positively transform people’s lives; however, it is not accessible everywhere and to everyone.

Innovation / New Solution

MNS recently launched a domestic “musical Peace Corps” called MusicianCorps in four cities – SF/Oakland Bay Area, Chicago, New Orleans and Seattle – where twenty MusicianCorps Fellows serve full-time in public schools, parks and recreation centers, children’s and veteran's hospitals, public housing communities and elsewhere in return for a living stipend, health benefits and professional development. MusicianCorps recruits, trains and places musicians in high-need settings in order to strengthen communities, develop 21st century skills (like teamwork, discipline, perseverance, risk-taking, critical thinking, etc.) and spread music wherever music can reach, teach or heal.

Impact

In June 2010 MusicianCorps completed its first year with 20 MC Fellows empowering over 3,000 disadvantaged youth in New Orleans, Seattle, Chicago, Oakland and San Francisco with a music education and 21st century leadership skills—like imagination, courage, discipline, perseverance, teamwork and critical thinking. In its first year, MusicianCorps touched over 7,000 additional community members through 40+ outreach events, and the creation of 17 recording projects and 45 bands and ensembles.

Expert Comments

• This organization is attempting to have local impact and significance, while at the same time scaling up to a national effort in order to secure significant resources and recognition. It's difficult to do both well, but MusicianCorps is trying their best to have relevance at both the local and national levels.
  
  
• Music National Service has an innovative model of integrating the community service movement with music and the arts. In many ways, this has been happening informally at the local level, but their pilot initiatives in the SF Bay Area, Seattle, Chicago and New Orleans offer a new conception for the role of music in community. By supporting local "musician fellows" in a model similar to AmeriCorps or Teach for America, they offer a structure for musicians to give back to their communities through service. Music National Service has strong leadership in its Executive Director, Kiff Gallagher, and has great potential to scale up in communities around the country.
  
  

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