Music Therapy Gateway In Communications (MTGIC) announced it is the recipient of a generous grant from the UNFoundation of Chattanooga. The grant will be used to establish a series of concerts and educational presentations that will highlight the therapeutic benefit of music.
MTGIC was established as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in 2003.It was founded in order to help persons with special needs through the use of research-based biomedical music techniques originally developed at Colorado State University’s Center for Biomedical Research in Music.
Martha Summa-Chadwick, MTGIC’s executive director and also a concert pianist, is leading an effort to educate the public in the benefits of these techniques utilized with therapy for persons affected with motor, speech, and cognitive disorders. She has focused on working with children with autism and successfully utilized these techniques for several years. She will disseminate information about the techniques as well as her own experience in both the concert hall and the lecture hall to educate the public on the value music plays in therapy.
Ms. Summa-Chadwick has established a series of lecture presentations which will be available to therapists, parents, educators, fellow musicians, and other organizations interested in the benefits of music for therapy. In addition a series of traditional concerts is being established to help concert patrons consider music from a different perspective. These concerts will be based on works of composers with neural afflictions, and also forms of the dance and other music to inspire movement in the body.
Organizations interested in sponsoring the performance series or lecture series should contact Ms. Summa-Chadwick at summa@marthasumma.com. Organizations or individuals interested in collaborating with the UNFoundation should go to Bijan@theunfoundation.org or apply for a grant online at TheUNFoundation.org.