Maryville University has selected L.I.F.E. Arts (Leadership, Innovation, Faith, Entrepreneurship), an organization founded by soul singer, songwriter, producer and community advocate Brian Owens, as the recipient of a $100,000 grant that will be awarded over the next two years.
“Maryville is honored to support the LIFE arts initiative and all the amazing work that it will do now and in the future,” said Maryville University’s president, Mark Lombardi, PhD. “There is no better way to make a profound difference in St. Louis than to invest in the educational opportunities of our youth.”
The partnership between L.I.F.E. Arts and Maryville University will enable various initiatives of the organization to come to life, including Compositions For L.I.F.E Therapeutic Songwriting. The songwriting program fosters positive expression through music for junior high students (ages 11-14) whose daily experiences include a range of traumas involving poverty and violence. The grant will also support one undergraduate fellowship or graduate assistantship for a minority music therapy student as well as enable L.I.F.E. to pilot and implement an E Sports For Life program.
Launched by Owens in 2014 in the wake of the Michael Brown shooting, L.I.F.E. Arts is dedicated to helping develop leadership skills through the arts, using therapeutic methods to focus on the student’s mental and emotional well-being. Each year the foundation serves between 70 to 100 high school and college students in Owens’ hometown of Ferguson, MO and from across the St. Louis metropolitan area.
“On behalf of L.I.F.E. Arts, I am humbled and overwhelmed by God’s favor and the generous commitment of Dr. Lombardi and Maryville University,” Owens said. “They have been a valuable partner since our beginning. We look forward to the continued development of our relationship as we partner in service to the students and families in North County and our region at large.”
In September, St. Louis-based M1 Bank donated a 17,000 sq. ft. building located in North County that will support L.I.F.E. Arts year-round.
