With the right support, creative artists can use their talent and energy to meet important civic and social goals. The Music National Service Initiative (MNSi) is launching MusicianCorps™, a “musical Peace Corps” that calls and enables musicians to serve in:

1. Underserved schools and communities to develop more successful students and youth;
2. Health care and therapeutic settings for recovery and improved functioning;
3. The public domain for increased civic engagement, volunteerism, diplomacy and peace.

We need your help! Please join us or make a donation (or better yet, both!).

• President-Elect Barack Obama's top arts policy priorities include "Create an Artist Corps."
• National service guru and co-author of "The Charismatic Organization," Shirley Sagawa advises MNSi on policy and organizational development.
• MNSi Founder does a two-day residency at the University of Michigan to discuss MusicianCorps™ and the intersection of arts, entrepreneurship and public service. MNSi participates in the Music for Change panel at CMJ Music Marathon in NYC.
• The Honorable Bass Player, Governor Mike Huckabee rocked with Congressional Musicians Caucus Co-Chair, Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY), in support of MNSi. See Wash. Post, Center for American Progress story & video, photos.
• Aspen Institute's "Big Ideas Report" says MNSi Will Strengthen U.S. Communities.
• Huffington Post features MusicianCorps™ as an innovation strategy.
• MusicianCorps blogs America Forward: Dec. '07 and June '08.
• Behavioral economist and social innovator, Roland Fryer from the Educational Innovation Laboratory at Harvard University partners with MNSi to design MusicianCorps pilot program evaluation.

MNSi thanks the law firm of Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin for generously providing pro bono legal services.