Music Maker Foundation is a 501(c)(3) that meets the day-to-day needs of the artists who create traditional American music, ensures their voices are heard, and gives all people access to our nation’s hidden musical treasures.

Our programs work in concert to sustain the health and creativity of the musicians we serve while educating Americans about the richness our nation's culture.

• Sustenance: To ensure that the day-to-day needs of the most vulnerable artists are met, we provide grants and social services to musicians who are in crisis or who live in chronic poverty.

• Performance: To help our partner artists build their careers, their income and their skills through touring, we book shows for them and provide management services and professional development.

• Documentation & Education: To ensure that American roots music is always accessible to current and future generations, we mount exhibitions, stage youth engagement programs and provide archival preservation services.

Music Maker seeks out the carriers of America's oldest roots music traditions. We develop long-term relationships with senior artists who are extremely knowledgeable and show excellence in those traditions.

Our programs serve the most vulnerable artists — those marginalized by age, poverty, race, gender — because these are the artists least likely to have the resources to share their musical messages with the world. They have difficulty accessing broader audiences and often lack the tools needed to reach their creative potential.

Since 1994, we have served over 600 musicians whose work spans the entire history of American music: blues, gospel, folk, singer-songwriter, Appalachian string band and Native American. Our primary focus is on musicians 55 years and older, and we provide financial grants to those living in poverty or facing a crisis. We also work with younger emerging musicians, often in collaboration with senior artists who want to carry their traditions forward.

We are unique in being an arts organization that also provides human services. We do this because we believe an artist's health and welfare is critical to their ability to create and perform. We strive to meet artists where they are and help them get where they want to go. When we take on a new partner artist, we discuss their wishes and professional goals — and any health or quality of life issues that might hold them back.

Music Maker works hard to promote the careers and legacies of the musicians who have contributed so much to our nation’s cultural fabric. Help us keep the music playing by making a gift at musicmaker.org, shopping our online store, or casting a vote for us on My Giving Circle.