Joe Galante Understandably Honored

Label legend Joe Galante, Chairman of the CMA Foundation Board of Directors, was honored Monday night with the CMA Foundation Chairman’s Memento during a dinner for the CMA Board of Directors at the new CMA corporate offices on Music Row. “Joe is a passionate advocate for the advancement of quality music education and CMA’s support of sustainable music education programs across the country,” said Sarah Trahern, CEO of the CMA. “He has made a personal commitment to not only chair the Foundation Board, but visit programs and meet with music education leaders to create and implement best practices for the grants we provide on behalf of our artist community.”

Galante was presented the CMA Foundation Chairman’s Memento by 17-year-old Destini Thompson, a student at the W.O. Smith Music School in Nashville, which provides low-cost, after-school music instruction to deserving students and is a beneficiary of the CMA Foundation. During a performance by Thompson and other students from the school, Galante presented Executive Director Jonah Rabinowitz with their 2017 grant of $100,000, which brings the CMA Foundation’s total support for W.O. Smith Music School to $325,000.

Galante said, “This truly has been an honor for me to work with the Foundation Board, [CMA Senior Manager of Community Outreach] Tiffany Kerns and Sarah to provide music education across the country benefiting over one million students, and there are so many more that are deserving of our attention and time. We will continue to champion these impactful programs and work towards helping even more students gain access.” Pictured, (l-r): Sarah Trahern, Destini Thompson, Joe Galante, Tiffany Kerns and Jonah Rabinowitz. [Photo Credit: Christian Bottorff/CMA]