Randy Newman will be one of the headliners for the July 2020 Newport Folk Festival. Each headliner gets to choose a non-profit to support in conjunction with the festival and Newman chose local non-profit Make Music NOLA.

If you’ve watched a Disney film, you’ve enjoyed the warm embrace of Randy Newman’s songs. He’s best known for the soundtracks to the Toy Story films, Monsters Inc and the tune “Down In Orleans” from the Princess and the Frog. He’s won seven Grammys and is currently nominated for his work on Marriage Story and Toy Story 4.

Thanks to his recommendation, Make Music NOLA, which has been providing group string instruction and general music classes to over 400 students from under-resourced areas of Orleans Parish for nine years, will be receiving a much needed $5,000 from the Newport Festival Foundation.

All funds will be used to support the organization’s Saturday classes, which include a fiddle class, an orchestra that focuses on teaching students music by local composers of all genres, music theory classes, and a chamber ensemble. “New Orleans is a city with a great musical tradition and they continue to support music very effectively. It is, needless to say, a great cause. I appreciate the very generous and thoughtful gesture by the Newport Folk Festival,” said Randy Newman on his choice to support Make Music NOLA.

For more information on the Newport Folk Festival Foundation, click here. For more information on Make Music NOLA, click here.