PLATINUM2021

BRIDGING EDUCATION AND ART TOGETHER

Make a BEAT. Give a BEAT.

aka BEAT Global   |   Long Island City, NY   |  www.beatglobal.org

Mission

We believe in the transformative power of Hip Hop to uplift and heal our bodies and minds. Our mission is to empower our youth and communities through creative expression.

Ruling year info

2011

Executive Director

James Kim

Main address

44-02 23RD St Ste 414

Long Island City, NY 11101 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

27-4244192

NTEE code info

Music (A68)

Arts Education/Schools (A25)

Dance (A62)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2019, 2018 and 2017.
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Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

At BEAT, we recognize that adolescent years are a pivotal time in which students learn to express themselves creatively, advocate for their own interests and needs, and develop coping mechanisms to manage stress and anxiety in their daily lives. Yet, for many teens, especially those in under-resourced neighborhoods, healthy outlets -- such as art and music programs -- are often unavailable. The need is clear: students need a culturally responsive outlet to support their physical and mental wellbeing. While art and music programs are being cut from schools and remaining art programs fail to include Hip Hop culture in the cannons they present -- BEAT is the only arts education organization devoted to exploring Hip Hop arts with under-resourced youth and people with disabilities to support mental and physical well being, as well as professionals across sectors through programs, research, and professional training.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

BEAT Rockers

Music & Speech Program that teaches beatboxing, especially to those with physical and developmental disabilities. Rather than teaching students how to play an instrument, students become the instrument through their own voice and bodies. We have taught almost 900 students and have seen beatboxing be utilized as a powerful tool for speech therapy.

Population(s) Served
At-risk youth
People with disabilities

The BEAT Breakers program is a dance and wellness program that teaches the roots of Bboying/Bgirling. This program is particularly effective for younger students, from K-12.

Students learn the fundamentals of the toprock, downrock, power moves, and freezes that have made breakin’ and street dance iconic around the world. Each energetic, interactive workshop teaches the importance of body movement, awareness, and emotional wellbeing, while helping young people understand how to lead a healthier lifestyle. Students will also learn the history and significance of Hip Hop and feel empowered to express themselves through their own bodies.

Population(s) Served
Children and youth
At-risk youth

The BEAT Explorers program engages students in creative and technical aspects of storytelling through songwriting and original music production. This program is particularly effective for high school students.

Students will learn how to translate their stories into original verse. In each session, they will collectively brainstorm ideas for lyrics based on a theme, then learn how to turn those ideas into their own song verses!

Population(s) Served
Adolescents
At-risk youth

In the BEAT Letter Science program, participants will delve into the rich history of Hip Hop while creating visual art! As they learn the basic letter styles and techniques of Graf Writing, students will gain an insider’s understanding of visual "Street Art".

Population(s) Served
Children and youth
At-risk youth

Where we work

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of professional artists employed

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Adults, Ethnic and racial groups, Artists and performers

Type of Metric

Other - describing something else

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

This number describes the number of professional teaching artists employed at least once by BEAT. BEAT consistently employs 12-15 teaching artist.

Number of participants engaged in programs

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Children and youth, Adults, At-risk youth

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

This number describes participants served each year in BEAT programming. There was a considerable increase in participants served in 2019 due to aggressive outreach and receiving grants.

Number of program sites

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Children and youth, Adults, At-risk youth

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

This number represents how many sites BEAT served each year. There was an increase of program sites in 2019 due to an aggressive outreach approach.

Number of people on the organization's email list

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Adults, Academics, Artists and performers

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

This number represents the recipients on the BEAT newsletter. The increased number was due to an aggressive marketing approach.

Number of grants received

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Children and youth, Adults, Economically disadvantaged people

Type of Metric

Other - describing something else

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

This number describes how many grants BEAT received each year. This number does not include the number of individual and corporate donors.

Total dollars received in contributions

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Children and youth, Adults, Economically disadvantaged people

Type of Metric

Other - describing something else

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Due to aggressive grant research and submissions, BEAT has been able to significantly increase the amount of dollars received in contributions from 2016-2019.

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

A 501(c)3 nonprofit located in New York City, Bridging Education and Art Together (BEAT) champions Hip Hop as a dynamic tool in improving physical and mental wellbeing. Through their dynamic programs with youth, under-resourced communities, and people with disabilities, BEAT envisions a world where Hip Hop is embraced as an integral tool in educational, clinical, and therapeutic settings to unlock the proven benefits of creative self-expression.

In the service of the Hip Hop principle “Each One, Teach One” -- BEAT’s original mission was to preserve authentic Hip Hop culture and to teach young people how to leverage Hip Hop to give them the tools to better advocate for themselves and their needs.

After a decade of programming in public schools, libraries, therapeutic settings, hospitals, and even refugee camps, BEAT’s instructors began to realize the utility of Hip Hop went beyond self-advocacy. They watched as participants flourished—especially people with disabilities and youth in under-resourced communities. They saw Hip Hop as an effective pedagogical and therapeutic approach for improving health and wellness outcomes in the communities BEAT served.

While this was an unintended consequence, BEAT decided to follow the evidence and ask why were participants seeing such incredible benefits from Hip Hop?

In 2020, BEAT began partnering with clinical researchers to investigate what about beatboxing led to better speech development in young people with speech and communication difficulties. Since that time, BEAT has developed additional partnerships with researchers to investigate other realms of Hip Hop and its impact on health and wellness. Through this research, BEAT seeks to optimize the power of Hip Hop as a pathway to improving health and healing.

In 2020, BEAT began seeking accreditations to provide continuing education courses to teach professionals how to leverage Hip Hop’s proven benefits in clinical and therapeutic settings. The goal of these programs is to teach clinicians, educators, and caregivers how to incorporate Hip Hop into therapeutic and wellness settings.

Today, BEAT’s mission is to develop inclusive, accessible arts education rooted in Hip Hop culture. Through their programming, clinical research, and professional development, BEAT champions Hip Hop as a dynamic tool in improving physical and mental wellbeing.

To achieve this mission, the BEAT team works together to execute a 3-pronged program tunnel:
1) Arts Education: We offer arts education programs rooted in Hip Hop culture to youth in under-resourced communities and to people with disabilities.
2) Clinical Research: Informed by observations of our programs, we conduct clinical research on the efficacy of Hip Hop as a pathway to physical and mental wellbeing.
3) Training& Tools: Based on our research, we train professionals across industries to use Hip Hop as a tool to advance clinical and health practices.

BEAT regularly partners with schools, community organizations, and public institutions throughout the five boroughs to make our programs as accessible as possible: instead of requiring youth to come to us, we bring our programming to them -- to the community center, library branch, or school auditorium in their own neighborhood.

Moreover, we have also built a number of strategic partnerships with organizations so as to offer our programming on a sustained basis. For example, we have taught our BEAT Rockers (beatboxing) program at the Lavelle School for the Blind in Bronx, NY, for over ten years. The majority of the students at Lavelle are minority youth with multiple disabilities who are from low-income households -- precisely the population we’re so committed to empowering. We’ve fostered relationships with NYC’s Department of Youth and Community Development, Mayor’s Office for Persons with Disabilities, and multiple schools in NYC’s Department of Education, as well as independent organizations such as the Center for Community Alternatives, Quality Services for the Autism Community, and AHRC.

We have also begun fostering relationships with organizations who operate primarily in the virtual sphere. For instance, we currently offer our programs through Outschool, an online music education website, and are fostering relationships with both educational and nonprofit organizations in New York, Pennsylvania, and California to offer our programs using online platforms.

In addition, we’ve begun creating original content to freely share on our social media platforms. For instance, we recently launched our BEATbox Band video series which teaches learners aged 3-7 the basics of how to beatbox. All episodes of this series are available for free on our YouTube channel, and have been added to the virtual offerings at multiple children’s hospitals nationwide to heal their hearts as doctors care for their bodies. We hope to create more content to spark joy in the students we serve.

For youth who are unable to access our programming either in-person or in live virtual instruction, we’ve also developed pre-recorded boxsets of our most popular programs. Doing so grants our students the freedom to access our engaging and lively instruction at a time that works for them.

No matter the circumstances, BEAT remains committed to fulfilling the social, emotional, and creative potential of underserved youth and youth with disabilities. Hip Hop offers a safe haven for youth to work through their feelings of anger and grief. We are constantly innovating new ways to effectively engage with a broader swath of students to uplift their necessary voices.

BEAT is comprised of a multi-ethnic, diverse community of talented artists, musicians, and administrative personnel who share the vision of bridging the arts and creative self-expression to underserved communities. Currently, we have a roster of twenty (20) program instructors, four (4) full-time administrative staff members and two (2) volunteer Board members, who are 80% visible minority, 60% women, 40% foreign-born, 20% LGBT, and 20% with a speech-related disability.

All of our instructors are professional artists who are not only renowned in their field but also educators trained to teach special needs students. They know how to provide quality music instruction in a sensitive environment where each student has a unique need and ability. By creating a platform for award-winning artists to channel their talent into innovative instruction, BEAT’s working to ensure all students, regardless of ability, are empowered to creatively express themselves beyond their limitations.

BEAT’s in-depth reach, impact, and influence over the past decade has been widely recognized by a global audience. The United Nations nominated BEAT for the 2018 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Action Award for global impact. BEAT performed music showcases and conducted workshops at the 2018 Global Festival of Action in Bonn, Germany. BEAT also partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to conduct BEAT Breakers Workshops with over 500 youth in the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan in September 2018. We signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to expand international programming in Canada through partnerships with the School for Social Entrepreneurs and the nonprofit organization, Intervene, as well as to Germany through a partnership with the Berlin-based, BMW Foundation. We’re in the process of forming a partnership with the National Stuttering Association to bring our programming to their 179 active chapters, as well as forming BEAT Chapters around the world.

Our work was recently captured in a documentary-series titled “We Speak Music: When Art Meets Therapy,” presented by Nokia Bell Labs and featured on Swissbeatbox, the world’s largest beatbox platform. The 13-minute film poignantly highlights how beatboxing helps young people communicate beyond their visual and developmental challenges.

Moreover, in 2019 alone, we were awarded grants from the Laura B. Vogler Foundation, Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation, ARC Tank 3.0, and the prestigious New York City Community Trust to expand our programming and our capacity-building projects.

In 2020, we became an approved continuing education provider for the American Speech-Language Hearing Association. We offer courses that teach speech therapists and allied professionals how to beatbox, and how to use beatboxing as an intervention to improve engagement and achieve speech goals.

The most exciting of our capacity building projects is Alphabeat, which is based on our ten years of success in our BEAT Rockers program. It is currently in the beta stage of development. Alphabeat is is the first speech therapy tool designed to encourage regular, self-directed practice by teaching kids how to beatbox. It will be available for subscription purchase on the Teachable platform. Created in partnership with professional speech therapists and based on peer-reviewed clinical research, Alphabeat helps your child improve their speech, boost their self-confidence, and create a lifelong connection to music with the only instrument they’ll ever need: their voice.

We’re committed to making all our initiatives here at BEAT as astounding as the students we serve.

Financials

BRIDGING EDUCATION AND ART TOGETHER
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

BRIDGING EDUCATION AND ART TOGETHER

Board of directors
as of 11/08/2021
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Hannah Kim

Former Chief of Staff to US Congressman

Romon Yang

Rostarr

Heather Leavy Rusiewicz, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Department of Speech-Language Pathology at Duquesne University

Andrew Park

Alpine Securities, LLC

Jessica von-Farkas

BMW Foundation

Rosa Scott

Rosa Scott Consulting

Howard Cho

MicWreck

Kristin Gutekunst

Overview Collective

Yalda Ghods

Six Step GmbH

Chris Tucker

Oracle

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 11/8/2021

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
Asian/Asian American
Gender identity
Male, Not transgender (cisgender)
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

No data

Gender identity

No data

 

No data

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data