NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Hot Topic Foundation – the charitable arm of music and pop culture merch retailer Hot Topic – announced a major gift of $250,000 to Little Kids Rock in support of the charity’s ‘Modern Band’ music program, which equips public schools with instruments, training, and curricular resources to teach popular musical styles that kids know and love. The announcement was made Thursday at Little Kids Rock’s annual benefit, where Joan Jett was honored as “Rocker of the Year.” Hot Topic recently unveiled an exclusive fashion collection by Jett and TRIPP NYC.
The Hot Topic Foundation gift to Little Kids Rock comes as Hot Topic kicks off its 25th anniversary celebration with a fundraising drive in stores and at hottopic.com.
“Since the beginning, Hot Topic has been ‘all about the music.’ So we are thrilled we can celebrate our 25th anniversary by providing significant support to Little Kids Rock and our other partner organizations, which inspire young people through music and the arts,” said Lisa Harper, chief executive officer at Hot Topic, Inc.
“The Hot Topic Foundation has supported our work for a decade now, and has been instrumental, pun intended, to Little Kids Rock being able to expand music education and reach hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren who otherwise may not have had access,” said David Wish, chief executive officer and founder of Little Kids Rock.
The Hot Topic Foundation helped Little Kids Rock expand into Nashville, Houston, Los Angeles, Tampa and New York. With the new $250,000 gift, Little Kids Rock will reach more young people in markets where it currently operates, plus expand into one new city – bringing music to 5,600 kids over a year.
Hot Topic 25th Anniversary Fundraising Drive Allows the Hot Topic Foundation to Do More
Founded in 2004, the Hot Topic Foundation works to inspire and encourage young people to express their individuality through music and the arts. Hot Topic recently launched a fundraising initiative allowing customers to round up their purchase amounts to the next dollar – at its 659 stores and at hottopic.com. The “spare change” goes directly to the Hot Topic Foundation to support music and arts-related nonprofit organizations: Notes for Notes®, The GRAMMY Foundation® and Little Kids Rock.
“The generosity of our customers is quite remarkable,” said Harper. “We’re proud of our thousands of store associates who have helped spread the word about the Hot Topic Foundation’s work, which will allow us to bring more music to more lives.”
Earlier this year, the Hot Topic Foundation partnered with Notes for Notes® – which provides youth with free after-school recording studio environments packed with instruments to explore, create and record music – to expand the organization’s footprint to Los Angeles. A Notes for Notes Studio opened at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Monica’s JAMS branch earlier this year, and on Oct. 27 at 3:00 p.m., the two organizations will unveil a new Notes for Notes Studio at the Boys & Girls Clubs of West San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles. Later this year, Notes for Notes will expand into Detroit, thanks in part to a grant by the Hot Topic Foundation.
Also in 2014, the Hot Topic Foundation provided $2,000 band grants to 50 schools nationwide through the GRAMMY Foundation’s Signature Schools program.
About the Hot Topic Foundation
The Hot Topic Foundation is the charitable arm of music and pop culture merch retailer Hot Topic. The Hot Topic Foundation* believes the creative arts enrich lives – so we inspire and encourage young people to express their individuality through music and the arts. Since its founding in 2004, the Hot Topic Foundation has gifted nearly $10 million in grants to non-profit organizations – including Notes for Notes®, Little Kids Rock and the Grammy Foundation – that create music and arts programs for young people across the country, at schools and beyond. Give to the Hot Topic Foundation at all Hot Topic stores and at HTFoundation.org. Follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/HotTopicFoundation.
*The Hot Topic Foundation is administered by the California Community Foundation, a 501c3 public charity.
About Hot Topic
Founded in 1989 in a Southern California guest house, Hot Topic was the first retailer to make alternative apparel and accessories available to individualistic teens at malls across the country. Today, Hot Topic offers music and pop culture junkies exclusive pop culture and band merch, collectibles, and fashion apparel and accessories. Hot Topic operates 659 stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico and an online store at hottopic.com. Find Hot Topic on Twitter (twitter.com/hottopic), Facebook (facebook.com/hottopic), YouTube (youtube.com/hottopic) and Instagram (instagram.com/hottopic).
#HotTopic #HT25
About Little Kids Rock
Little Kids Rock is a national nonprofit that gives schoolchildren the opportunity to unlock their inner music-makers. The organization partners with school districts to train public school teachers in their innovative curriculum while donating all of the instruments and resources necessary to run Modern Band music programs. Little Kids Rock began as a schoolteacher’s vision to give his students access to music education that is relevant to them while diminishing budgets for the arts made that more and more difficult to do. What began as a single after-school guitar class has since exploded into a national movement that is bringing free, weekly, “Modern Band” music lessons to more than 135,000 public school children due to the efforts of nearly 1,200 teachers nationwide. To date, Little Kids Rock has served over 320,000 students. More info at www.littlekidsrock.org.
