Record label awards local Boys Choir $10,000 grant

Big Machine Records, a 15- year- old, Nashville- based record label, has awarded the Chattanooga Boys Choir one of 15 $10,000 grants it is handing out to support nonprofit organizations and schools dedicated to creating beautiful music.

Label owner Scott Borchetta started the small label on Music Row with a handful of employees and a few artists. It has grown into what is now Big Machine Label Group and its lineup of artists includes Florida Georgia Line, Sheryl Crow, Thomas Rhett, Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, Brantley Gilbert, Lady A and Jennifer Nettles.

To celebrate the label’s historic 15-year successes, according to a news release, BMLG President/CEO Scott and his wife Sandi Borchetta, senior vice president of creative, announced the launch of a grant fund for 501(c)( 3) nonprofit music schools and organizations, awarding 15 recipients $10,000 grants.

The Chattanooga Boys Choir was announced as one of the

first five organizations to receive a grant alongside Tacoma, Washington’s Ted Brown Music Outreach; Higley, Arizona’s United Sound; Boston’s Education Through Music and Oklahoma City’s El Sistema Oklahoma. The Boys Choir learned of the award via a Zoom call with the Borchettas.

The Chattanooga Boys Choir features more than 120 boys aged 8 through seniors in high school from more than 40 public, private, home and parochial schools.

“When we set out on this journey a little over 15 years ago, the mission was the same then as it is now,” said Scott Borchetta in the release, “find great artists and make great music. Music comes at us from all corners in all shapes and all sizes. Sandi and I feel the responsibility to continue to enable opportunities for all students to experience music-making, whether it’s the sheer joy of just doing it … all the way to successful recording artist. These first five recipients of [Music Has Value] grants all have a unique take, and challenge, to carry out this mission. We applaud them and proudly support them.”

The grants are supported by the Borchettas’ Music Has Value Fund, which was created in 2015 to provide financial support to organizations that support those who make music, aspire to make music and access and appreciate music.