Home / Arts and Entertainment / Swift's $50K Gift Fuels Youth Music Education
Swift's $50K Gift Fuels Youth Music Education
18 Oct
Summary
- Taylor Swift donated $50,000 to Seattle Symphony.
- The donation supported youth music education and musician pensions.
- The Link Up program continues its mission to engage students.
Taylor Swift's $50,000 donation to the Seattle Symphony, inspired by the orchestral piece "Become Ocean," has had a lasting impact.
This contribution, made approximately eleven years before the current date of October 18, 2026, specifically supported the symphony's Link Up education program and its musicians' pension fund.
The Link Up program, which continues to operate in the 2026-2027 season, aims to introduce schoolchildren to orchestral music. It provides classroom lessons and interactive concerts at Benaroya Hall, enabling students to actively participate by singing and playing instruments alongside professional musicians.
"Become Ocean," the contemporary orchestral composition that motivated Swift's gift, was commissioned by the Seattle Symphony in 2011 and premiered in June 2013. It later won a Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2014, and the symphony's recording received a Grammy Award in 2015.
Swift's donation arrived around December 2015, following her personal appreciation for the composition and her fond memories of attending symphony performances with her grandmother. Her contribution helped extend the educational mission of the Link Up program.
The Link Up initiative has since grown, with the 2026-2027 season featuring "The Orchestra Rocks." This current edition introduces children to pieces like "Anvil Chorus" and "O Fortuna." Students engage through classroom resources, interactive sheet music, and culminating concerts where they perform with the Seattle Symphony.
This program's design emphasizes active participation, allowing children to move beyond being passive listeners and become integral parts of the musical experience.
