THE PROBLEM

The holidays are the most crowded time of year for fundraising. For Save the Music, a nonprofit fighting to keep music education alive in underserved schools, breaking through that noise meant making the consequences of budget cuts impossible to ignore.

THE INSIGHT

Musical chairs is a universal childhood game. But for 3.6 million kids in underserved communities, it's also the reality of music education today. Every time a school budget gets cut, another child loses their seat entirely.

THE IDEA

We proposed partnering Save the Music with the New York Philharmonic to stage an immersive concert at Lincoln Center where audiences could hear music education programs being cut in real time. Chairs are removed from the stage one by one as the classical renditions of artist ambassador Leon Thomas’ songs get slowly stripped away until silence fills the room.