Wolfgang Van Halen and the Van Halen family have made a $100,000 donation to the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation to benefit music programs in schools. The financial contribution kickstarts the nonprofit’s “Adopt a School” campaign.
The donation will be spread across 100 schools across the country, with each school receiving $1,000 toward its music program.
“Music has been a huge part of my life, and it is our family’s great pleasure to help support music education programs and bring the gift of music to students across the country,” said Wolfgang. “Music education has proven to be a huge contributor toward a student’s success in school and in life.”
Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation CEO Tricia Williams added, “Our mission is to make sure there is an instrument in the hands of every student who needs and wants one. By increasing schools’ inventories of quality, playable instruments, music teachers will have the tools they need to deliver a quality music education to students who want to learn.”
The foundation was founded in 1996 and thus far has donated more than $33 million worth of instruments to over 1,800 schools. The nonprofit organization was inspired by the 1995 movie Mr. Holland’s Opus starring Richard Dreyfuss, and was started by the film’s composer, Michael Kamen.
Wolfgang’s late father, legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen, was a longtime supporter of the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, and left a “transformative” financial donation to the organization in his will. Those who would like to support the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation’s “Adopt a School” campaign can do so at the nonprofit’s official website.
Meanwhile, fans can catch Wolfgang on the road with his band Mammoth WVH for most of 2024. A headlining US tour featuring from Nita Strauss is currently finishing up, and a UK/European jaunt will kick off in a couple weeks. The band will then embark on another US jaunt featuring Intervals beginning in May. The road show will keep going when Mammoth WVH support Metallica once again this summer, and open for Creed in the fall. Tickets to the upcoming shows are available here.
See Wolfgang’s recent video chat with Nita Strauss for Consequence‘s “Two for the Road” series below.