THE ARTHUR W. DELAMONT FOUNDATION

MENTOR & LIFE COACH AWARDS

PURPOSE

1. To get more students to enroll in band.
2. To show band is for all not just music nerds.
3. To instill in teachers and students band history in BC through living history
4. To keep the above history in the forefront of music education in BC for decades

WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?

The foundation will sponsor 100 Mentor Awards to be given to eligible high school students enrolled in a band program in BC. There will not be a scholarship attached to these awards at the present. To attach a scholarship someone needs to donate to a particular award. Guidelines for donations are a minimum of $1000 to a maximum of $5000 per award per year. We don’t want more than $1000 to be handed out annually per award so a $5000 donation will cover 5 years, each year to a different recipient.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

In September we will send out an email to band teachers telling them of the awards. We suggest that they tell their students to go to our website and choose an award they feel they can aspire to over the course of the year and let them know. If the teacher agrees they can nominate a student(s). There will be a nomination form available. Make it a part of their mark for the year.

I guesstimate there are about 100 high schools in BC with band programs. If each has 100 students then there are around 10,000 band students in BC in any given school year. I will know the exact figures in September and will update our website.

On our website students will first go to their instrument of choice and then browse through the awards. By clicking on a photo they will bring up the story(s) of each.

The stories represent 100 people who started life in a band. They all went on to very diverse careers even a big game hunter and a sports fisherman. There are of course those who went on in music. All the stories are different and represent all aspects of the music industry. The one thing they all have in common besides playing in a band is they all lived successful lives that’s why their called a life coach.

HOW DOES IT END?

MEET THE MENTORS AND SPONSORS! We want to have an awards evening in Vancouver which all winners need to attend hopefully with their band teacher. We see this as a great opportunity to develop a greater band family and welcome new members to the family. We do not have to give out all 100 awards if there are not eligible candidates but if we do the evening could be held over three nights at say Cecil Green or elsewhere. There is time to decide this later. There will be posters and band memorabilia and as many mentors as possible.