Member Highlight: Musical Mentors Collaborative
Tell us about you: provide a short bio or organization statement.
Musical Mentors Collaborative (MMC) is a nonprofit that provides student-centered music instruction and mentorship to under-resourced communities, addressing structural inequities in music education. We leverage the power of music to build trusted mentorship relationships that empower young people to reach their full potential.
Share a story of how your organization engages with the business sector (i.e. sponsorship, volunteerism, etc.).
Since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, MMC has offered subsidized private lessons over Zoom to under-resourced youth around the United States. While working online allowed us to reach communities that we may not have been able to, Zoom did not offer reliable enough audio and video quality to offer a sustainable, high-quality lesson experience. Audio from instruments would often distort and video quality was not always good enough to allow students to see clearly what their instructor was showing them.
In 2025, MMC was connected with Virtu.Academy, an online learning platform that offers professional-level audio and video to music students and teachers. Virtu is world-renowned and used by some of the music world’s top institutions. We formed a groundbreaking hybrid non-profit/for-profit partnership with Virtu.Academy, a platform for live online music education.
How has this engagement with business benefitted you and your organization?
MMC’s partnership with Virtu has been nothing short of transformational. We are now able to offer thousands of free and subsidized high-quality lesson experiences at no additional cost, thus creating a welcoming and hassle-free learning environment for learners of all backgrounds. We are particularly excited about being able to reach new communities all over Colorado.
How is your organization supporting the creative economy?
We hire professional musicians to serve as Musical Mentors to our students. This puts money into the hands of young musicians who are passionate about music education. We also are dedicated to hiring musicians for MMC events such as masterclasses, fundraisers, and community events. Since we are regularly hosting in-person events, we are also regularly supporting creative spaces such as art galleries and music venues. Lastly, we regularly hire graphic designers and photographers to help promote and capture our events so that we can share our mission and offerings far and wide.
Why are you involved with CBCA?
Musical Mentors Collaborative has recently expanded into Colorado and we’re excited to connect with the CBCA community! We’re especially looking for local partners who are interested in helping us deepen and expand our offerings. This could be local businesses that are seeking to sponsor MMC students or events, musicians who are interested in teaching with us, or presenting organizations who would be interested in offering free or discounted tickets to our community. CBCA is a stellar connector of impassioned Coloradans, and we’re delighted to have joined this thriving community.
If you would like more information about becoming a CBCA member, visit the CBCA Membership page or contact our Membership & Development Manager, Sarah Braverman at sbraverman@cbca.org.
