October 25, 2021 I Appointments
Guitar Center Music Foundation Names Executive Director
Myka Miller
The Guitar Center Music Foundation, a non-profit focused on granting instruments and other musician services to various music education organizations, has appointed Myka Miller as its new executive director. The announcement was made by the Foundation’s board of directors and reflects the organization’s goal of growing its charitable initiatives in 2021 and beyond.
In her new role, Miller will be responsible for the successful operation and performance of The Guitar Center Music Foundation. Additional responsibilities will include working closely with the board to sustain and grow existing funding while establishing new relationships and partnerships with prospective donors, fundraising networks and the music industry at large, while expanding the scope and reach of the foundation.
Miller is an award-winning and accomplished non-profit executive with more than 19 years of prior experience in entrepreneurship, program design, board development, fundraising, performance management and cost management analysis. Most recently, Miller served as executive director and CEO at Harmony Project, a music education organization in Los Angeles. While there, she increased the program size from 250 students at one community site to over 3,500 participants in 16 underrepresented communities and seven other cities nationwide.
Under her leadership at the Harmony Project, Miller also launched new initiatives and nurtured cost-sharing partnerships with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Unified School District, LA City College, California Arts Council, the Sheriff’s Foundation, and many other community organizations and school districts.
“I am pleased to welcome Myka to The Guitar Center Music Foundation team. She truly believes in the power of music to transform lives and has the energy, drive and ability to make a difference on a larger scale with the Foundation and its amazing initiatives,” said David A. Helfant, chairman of the board for The Guitar Center Music Foundation. “I look forward to working closely with her and our board with the goal of putting more instruments in the hands of many people and school districts in need.”
Miller has a master’s degree in Music and Business Administration from the University of Southern California. She is also a member of the El Sistema USA Board of Directors and sits on the founding board of the Compton Youth Activities League and Extera Public Schools in Boyle Heights.
The Guitar Center Music Foundation’s mission is to offer as many individuals as possible the invaluable experience of learning and playing a musical instrument. Since its founding in 2005, the foundation‘s charitable efforts have put instruments in the hands of over 300,000 persons nationwide during its history of supporting musicians through music education, music therapy programs and other music-centric non-profits.
