ST. LOUIS – Barry Manilow has announced that Dr. Melissa Gustafson-Hinds, the Band Director at O’Fallon Township High School, is the recipient of the St. Louis Manilow Music Project Teacher Award. Dr. Gustafson-Hinds will be honored during Manilow’s concert at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis on July 25, 2024.
Dr. Gustafson-Hinds will receive a $10,000 grant from the Manilow Fund, with $5,000 allocated directly to her and another $5,000 for new band instruments for O’Fallon Township High School. This recognition comes as part of Manilow’s Last, Last Tour, which aims to support high school music teachers and bands across the United States.
The Manilow Music Project was launched by Manilow after a friend requested a saxophone for his high school daughter.
Manilow discovered that many public schools had experienced significant budget cuts in their music programs, forcing high school music teachers to take part-time jobs to fund basic supplies.
Since its inception, the Manilow project has donated more than $10 million in instruments and scholarships to music students nationwide.
Local high schools in each tour city submitted the names of their favorite music teachers, and the winners were selected through a voting process. The current tour includes stops in cities such as Indianapolis, Chicago, Green Bay, Omaha, Des Moines, St. Paul, Milwaukee, San Antonio, Sugarland, Oklahoma City, Austin, Corpus Christi, Ft. Worth, Tulsa, Springfield, and Kansas City.
