Keith Urban donates $5,000 to Grand Forks Public Schools music program

Keith Urban made a stop on the Graffiti U world tour at Ralph Engelstad Arena Oct. 14. While fans will remember the two and-a-half hour performance chalked full of chart-topping hits from one of country music’s true superstars, the impact of the tour and Keith Urban’s generosity will be felt in Grand Forks long after the tour buses left town.

On Sunday, Oct. 14, the Engelstad Foundation made a $5,000 donation to Keith Urban’s charity of choice as a way to thank the artist for appearing in Grand Forks. Keith Urban chose to keep his donation local, giving all $5,000 to the Grand Forks Public Schools Music Program.  Through this donation, the Grand Forks music program will be able to fully fund new guitar classes at Red River and Central High Schools in Grand Forks.

“Grand Forks Public Schools has recently added guitar classes at both of our high schools as an option for students who maybe haven’t participated in music education before. This is an opportunity for them to learn an instrument that they can play for a lifetime. Due to its popularity, we expect these classes to have a significant enrollment increase next year. This gift will ensure that we will have enough guitars for every student to participate. We cannot thank the Engelstad Foundation and Mr. Keith Urban enough for their support of this class that we so strongly believe in! The impact of this donation will be felt for decades and will impact 100’s of students, “said Brad Sherwood (Red River HS) and Steve Carriere (Grand Forks Central HS).

“Keith Urban knew exactly where he wanted the donation to go when we first approached him,” said Garth Wiedrich, Marketing Manager at Ralph Engelstad Arena. “He’s obviously very passionate about music and he wanted to make sure the next generation of aspiring local musicians had access to guitars.”