Minnesota Beatle Project earns $25K for local schools

​We received some exciting news today from Mark Gehring, that man behind last year's stellar local compilation Minnesota Beatle Project, Vol. 1 (which earned a nod in our Best of the Twin Cities issue for Best Local Music Compilation). The compilation, which was assembled by Mark's organization Vega Productions and 89.3 the Current, has raised a whopping $25,000 that the organizers intends to funnel into "disadvantaged music and arts programs statewide" through grants.

Here's more information on the available grants:

Vega Productions has partnered with the MMEA (Minnesota Music Educators Association) and the AEM (Art Educators of Minnesota) to help distribute Minnesota Beatle Project funds equitably across the entire state of MN. Grant applications are available online at the MMEA and AEM websites and are due by June 30th. Funding will be dispersed to grantees in September of 2010.

In addition to the $25,000 in grant money, the Minnesota Beatle Project has already helped some individual public schools to earn money by partnering with them to sell the CD as a fundraiser for their own music programs, which has resulted in "thousands of dollars" of extra funds.

And the icing on the cake? We'll let Mark break the news: "We plan on releasing Minnesota Beatle Project, Vol. 2 on 12.8.2010 with a CD release party at First Ave in conjunction with Curtiss A. The lineup for this year's album is looking very healthy, if I do say so myself!"