Fall 2025

Dear friends,

As we wrap up our 3rd year of making music together, we wanted to share some of the great things Harmonize has been doing! We appreciate the donations, volunteer hours and participation that have come our way. As is the case with most new non-profits, our first years were spent trying to get the word out about our programming. This year we are seeing Harmonize Peoria start to be known and recognized, and the growth of our program in 2025 reflects that. Our continued success and growth is directly related to the community’s awareness of our organization. Thank you for helping us continue to spread the word about Harmonize Peoria!

P.L.A.Y. Music Lessons

We continue to offer Pay-What-You-Can-Afford Lessons at our facility in Peoria. To date, we have provided over 350 lessons in guitar, cello, drums, voice, piano, flute, violin, and keyboard! Our Students range in age from just two years old, all the way through College. We also offer full price lessons to adults over the age of twenty one.

Pictured: Our musical petting zoo at the 2025 Peoria Music Live Takeover.

In October we were happy to be part of the 2nd Annual Peoria Music Live Take-Over. This event showcased over 21 local bands and musicians. Half of the proceeds of the event were donated to Harmonize Peoria! We love showcasing what is possible through music and inspiring our students and the community. It’s always a fun chance to be able to perform with other musicians without any extra stress!

Garage Band Open Stage

Garage Band 2025 was a huge success! Ten bands hosted our open stage and invited participants to “get onstage and join the band.” We were thrilled to see what our students have been learning, loved all the local youth that dropped by to participate, and were amazed by what some of the young bands have accomplished this past year!

Musical Petting Zoo

Our Musical Petting Zoo continues to be a hit, and sparks interest in learning an instrument by allowing kids to try out a bunch of instruments all in one place! This year we were proud to bring it to local events including Ignite Peoria, Big Picture Peoria and the Peoria Music Live Takeover. These events were attended by thousands of people, who learned about our mission, and hundreds of kids took part in our musical zoo!

2025 St. Patrick’s Day Parade

We also brought information and activities to other community events such as the Hult Back to School program, Worldwide Day of Play, Peoria Drum Circle and the Peoria St. Patrick’s Day Parade. We loved speaking with each and every one of you that stopped by our booths, made instruments, or played games with us!

Community Outreach

Thank you to Scout Troop 165 of Germantown Hills for repairing our fence, not only does it look nicer, but it will allow for our Garage Band Open Stage participants to have easier access! This is another example of the great community we find ourselves in.

School Outreach

We recently started bringing instruments and activities to Peoria schools during their Be Anything Power Lunches through the Peoria Park District! This initiative will allow thousands of students to try instruments they might not otherwise have access to, show off their skills, and learn about music! This has been very helpful for us and our mission of making music more accessible for all. Being able to reach the kids where they are has a tremendous impact.

We here at Harmonize are proud of what we’ve accomplished this year. We have added more programming, participated in more community events, added more students, hired more staff, received more grants- the list is long. We are growing exponentially. We are incredibly grateful for all the support and well wishes we’ve received. We are even more excited for what comes next! After all, We’re just getting started.