How School Programs Work In My World

In my decades of doing residencies in more schools than I can name, I have seen the profound impact they can have on youth, improving their morale, self-awareness, self-esteem, overall grades, attendance and, of course, knowledge about the West African djembe drum as well as the cradle of civilization, Africa.

My programs focus on playing and learning traditional West African djembe drumming, but they can also focus on storytelling and/or can be attached to other curricula like math, science, technology, engineering.

I have been surprised by all the vehicles of funding that have found me in my path and wanted to put this together for you to share and, possibly, see yourself as someone who could make a difference with where you put some of your hard earned $$$! The main ways I have gotten funding for in-school, OST (“out of school time” – usually after school) and multi-week residencies are:

By way of a school WITH funding
By way of a school that has access to grants (like TIF funding)
If you’re an non-profit organization like the Outreach Program at the Old Town School of Folk Music, Urban Gateways, After School Matters, etc
If you are a person who would like to NOT pay taxes on some of your money. Several of my friends who have enough $$$ to spare, have granted me funds to do my work in schools. This has happened two ways:
1. By simply writing me a check (folks like this are always granted access to visit the program and get updates/debriefings along the way – you’d 1099 me so I’d pay the taxes on the amount)
2. Some say they can only give to a non-profit, which I am not. As it turns out, Chicago Public Schools are considered non-profit entities, so the check would go to the school with the agreement it would be used to fund my program

Many of the residencies below have been ongoing for many years; some were one or two times only, due to funding fluctuations. If you or someone (or some school) you know fits one of the above categories, please contact me at 773-909-8633 or at dugudude “at” gmail “dot” com (I do my email this way, so bots can’t harvest it from my website). Thank you for your time reading this! Please pass it along!

Some schools I’ve done residencies at are:

Walt Disney Magnet School (school OST funded)

Mitchell Elementary School (via Old Town School Outreach Program)

Hurley Elementary School (via Old Town School Outreach Program)

Spencer Technology Academy (individual donor funded)

York Alternative High School (via Oppenheimer Family Foundation Grant)

West Park STEAM Academy (school funded)

North-Grand High School (school funded)

Austin College and Career Academy (via After School Matters)

Haugan Elementary School (individual donor funded)

Belding Elementary School (individual donor funded)

Portage Park Elementary (via Old Town School Outreach Program)