Guitar Foundation of America
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Abbreviation | GFA |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1973 |
| Type | 501(c)(3) |
| Purpose | "The Guitar Foundation of America inspires artistry, builds community, and promotes the classical guitar internationally through excellence in performance, literature, education and research." |
| Location |
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| Services | Guitar lessons, guitar shop, competitions, concerts |
Key people | Martha Masters (president) Brian Head (artistic director) Sherwin Servande (vice president) Pam Gerken (vice president, treasurer) Robert Lane (vice president, secretary) |
| Website | guitarfoundation |
The Guitar Foundation of America (GFA) is an American classical guitar nonprofit organization that was founded in 1973 at the National Guitar Convention sponsored by the American String Teachers Association.[1][2][3] The foundation offers various services ranging from guitar lessons to a guitar shop, competitions, and events. The foundation relies on donations, events, and advertising on its web site for funding.[4] The foundation publishes Soundboard Scholar, a peer-reviewed journal, and Prodigies, a magazine for children.
In 1968 the foundation's founder, Thomas Heck, was living in Vienna, Austria, collecting rare sheet music for guitar. His collection included first editions by Mauro Giuliani. In 1973, Heck wrote the foundation's articles of incorporation in Santa Barbara, California, creating a non-profit foundation to which he could give his archive of sheet music.[5][6] Along with Heck, others were interested in forming the first national classical guitar association in the United States, including Vahdah Olcott-Bickford, who served on the first GFA Board of Directors,[2][3] and Ron Purcell, the GFA's first president.[7]
Heck created the GFA archive in 1977 in Milwaukee while teaching at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. A catalog of the inventory was assembled and mailed to interested buyers, who could receive photocopies of sheet music on request.[8] A second edition of the catalog was published four years later. During the 1980s, while Heck taught at Ohio State University in Columbus, the archive grew to include more sheet music, periodicals, and other materials related to classical guitar. In the 1990s the archive moved to the University of Akron, and in 2015 it was transferred to California State University, Northridge.[9][10]