MMM News & Updates

Enjoy Our Seniors in Action

MMM Joins Forces with LA Opera & Renée Fleming 

Renée Fleming and MMM Executive Director John Kander

MMM was honored to take part in “LA Opera Connects” in conjunction with Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, Healing Arts—an initiative of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab—and the World Health Organization.

MMM Executive Director John Kander spoke on the June “Creative Aging in Los Angeles,” panel about the public health aspect of the ability of music to spread joy and well-being on both a personal and a community-wide scale for the increasing aging population, especially those with neurodegenerative challenges.

“It was a wonderful opportunity to share this discussion with so many national, international and local artists, thought leaders, and decision makers who embraced Music Mends Minds for its mission. We now have important world-wide partners joining us in singing the praises of music as a profound and positive influence on the physical and mental wellbeing of seniors and their caregivers and loved ones,”  Kander said.

This year’s Arts and Health Week Summit featured acclaimed soprano and arts in healthcare advocate Renée Fleming alongside local, national and global community leaders. The daylong summit showcased the ways in which the arts support mental health and wellbeing, and how they enrich our lives at all ages. 

Representatives from the Wallis Annenberg GenSpace, Alzheimer’s Los Angeles, the Music Center, the World Health Organization and The National Endowment for the Arts also took part in the event.

In April, our Toronto Recollectiv band was featured in a CBC radio story. Click on the image to read!

We were honored to receive a $10,000 grant from our long-time supporter, The Good People Fund. Thanks to MMM Founder Carol Rosenstein, who matched the GPF grant with a $10,000 donation. Carol was also interviewed by GPF Executive Director Naomi Eisenberger on The Good People Talk Podcast.

In May, we dined in person with MMM supporter and Rotary Past District Governor, Bonnie Sirower who was en route to the Rotary International Convention in Melbourne, Australia. Pictured in back row left to right: Marcia Kander, John Fitzgerald, John Kander, Steven Weinglass and front row left to right: Carol Rosenstein, Bonnie Sirower, Jean Mackie. 

In June, our Studio City Jazzanova band performed a Summer Concert to a packed house at the Studio City Universalist Unitarian Church.

In July, Rudy Hornish, our 5th Dementia band pianist, was profiled in “Circling the News,” a Pacific Palisades website.

Dr. Julene Johnson, the principal investigator and co-director of the Sound Health Network was the latest guest on our "Music is Medicine for the Mind: Ask the Expert Podcast." Johnson is a cognitive neuroscientist with an undergraduate degree in music. She discussed her career as well as health and aging and the initiatives and research process within the Sound Health Network. 

In August, Past District Governor Dave Clifton and Past District Governor Valerie Perry interviewed Carol Rosenstein and John Kander on weekly Service Matters news talk podcast about Music Mends Minds' state of the union. This podcast has been sent to over 500 Rotary District Governors globally to share our story with their constituents.

Carol was profiled on Together For Sharon’s (TFS) website. TFS is a nonprofit that raises awareness and hope for a cure for Parkinson’s.

NBCUniversal Peacock volunteers joined our Zoom platform for a “TV Show Theme Song Sing-along.” Among the featured shows were Friends, Gidget, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Carol Burnett Show.

We Appreciate Your Generosity to Keep MMM Growing