When funk icon Bootsy Collins and his wife visited Franklin L. Williams M.S’s Little Kids Rock (now Music Will) children’s music education program in 2011, he knew he would continue his commitment to kids’ music education. Having donated a bass, given the children a bass lesson, and rapped with them while they played the blues, Collins cemented his commitment to the nonprofit’s mission.

Next month he’ll continue his work with Music Will for their annual Modern Band Summit that’s coming up on Wednesday, July 12th at CSU in Fort Collins, Colorado. Bootsy will deliver a keynote at the annual Modern Band Summit, a three-day professional development conference where music educators from all over the country come together to learn, teach, play music, and experience the modern band curriculum.

About Music Will:

Music Will runs the largest nonprofit music program in the U.S. public school system. Its teachers currently serve over 500,000 students in more than 600 cities and towns across the country. For two decades now, their programs have taught students such popular American genres as rock, pop, R&B, Latin, rap and country—alongside styles already taught in schools, such as classical and jazz. Today, a national network of K-12 districts has adopted the Music Will program as their own. Additionally, more than 70 colleges and universities now use their approach to music education majors. Several state departments of education have partnered with Music Will to grow music education in the schools they serve. Its mission of transforming lives by transforming music education has grown into a movement.