SAN JOSE, Calif. – Cisco and the Good Life Foundation – the charitable organization founded by GRAMMY®-nominated band OneRepublic – are supporting music education across the country by awarding $5,000 grants to 20 public high school music education programs demonstrating significant need.

The $100,000 donation represents one of the single largest commitments of funds to the GRAMMY Museum®’s GRAMMY Signature Schools Program, which has donated more than $2.4 million in financial assistance to school music programs nationally since its inception in 1998. Cisco’s donation will be used to administer Enterprise Awards for economically underserved schools through the GRAMMY Signature Schools Program.

In addition to a monetary donation, Cisco will look to bring digital transformation to the 20 music education programs by enabling each of them with the Cisco Spark collaboration platform. Teachers and students will be able to use the Cisco Spark app to communicate, share and create in the physical classroom – and beyond. Students will be able to collaborate virtually before class even starts and after the end of the school day.

Cisco has been driving digital transformation in the music industry as the Official U.S. Wi-Fi Technology partner of Live Nation and the Official Wi-Fi and Digital Network Architecture partner of OneRepublic’s 2017 Honda Civic Tour. More than 100,000 fans have already logged-on to Wi-Fi in 25 Cisco-connected Live Nation amphitheaters throughout the country during the 2017 concert season.

“We believe that music education in this country, and around the world, is extremely important and a vital way to inspire future generations of musicians and people who love music,” said OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder. “We don’t just want to applaud that effort, we want to reward it. We are grateful that our partner Cisco shares our vision and is working with us to contribute these funds.”

“Cisco is proud to partner with the Good Life Foundation to support music education,” said Maria Dincel, Managing Director, Olympics, Global Sponsorships and Product Placement at Cisco. “We are committed to fostering innovation and creativity in the next generation of musicians, and this partnership with the GRAMMY Signature Schools Program is a wonderful way to make a significant and lasting impact on the selected schools.”

“We are so grateful for Cisco and OneRepublic’s Good Life Foundation’s support of music education in public schools across the United States,” said GRAMMY Museum Executive Director Scott Goldman. “Through their generous donation of $100,000 – one of the largest donations ever to be made to our GRAMMY Signature Schools program – we will provide much-needed funds to 20 schools across the United States, making music education possible for hundreds of students who otherwise might not have had access to it throughout the country.  We thank Cisco and OneRepublic for their commitment to ensuring that the next generation of artists have adequate funding to fulfill their dreams.”

The recipients of the grants will be announced in the following months. More information about the GRAMMY Signature Schools Program is available at www.grammyintheschools.com.

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About The GRAMMY Museum®

Established in 2008 as a partnership between the Recording Academy and AEG, the GRAMMY Museum is a non-profit organization dedicated to cultivating a greater understanding of the history and significance of music. Paying tribute to our collective musical heritage, the Museum explores and celebrates all aspects of the art form—from the technology of the recording process to the legends who've made lasting marks on our cultural identity. In 2017, the Museum integrated with its sister organization, the GRAMMY Foundation, to broaden the reach of its music education and preservation initiatives. As a unified organization, today, the GRAMMY Museum fulfills its mission of making music a valued and indelible part of our society through exhibits, education, grants, and public programming.

For more information, visit www.grammymuseum.org, "like" the GRAMMY Museum on Facebook, and follow @GRAMMYMuseum on Twitter and Instagram.

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