GRAMMY Museum® Mississippi has been named a 2025 grant recipient from the Nissan Foundation. The Nissan Foundation grant will help support the Museum’s ongoing Exploring the Soul of the Movement education program, which seeks to address the need to build a foundation of historical context among today’s youth, using music to help them better address and analyze the critical social issues we are still facing today. The Nissan Foundation supports educational programs that promote a greater appreciation and understanding of America’s diverse cultural heritage.
“Thanks to the continued generosity of the Nissan Foundation, we’re able to deepen our commitment to educating students about the powerful intersection of music and social change,” said Emily Havens, Executive Director of GRAMMY Museum Mississippi. “Exploring the Soul of the Movement gives young people a deeper understanding of how music became a unifying force and a catalyst for progress during the Civil Rights Movement which are lessons that remain deeply relevant today.”
“Since the genesis of the Nissan Foundation, we’ve seen how powerful it can be to invest in organizations that make cultural understanding a priority,” said Andrew Tavi, Senior Vice President of Corporate and External Affairs for Nissan Americas and President of the Nissan Foundation. “This year’s grantees reflect the innovative thinking, compassionate empathy and deep community roots that are forging real progress in our country. We’re incredibly proud to play a role in fueling their important work.”
“The most meaningful change often starts at the local level—with people listening, learning and lifting one another up,” said Ali Tonn, senior manager of philanthropy at Nissan North America and Executive Director of the Nissan Foundation. “Our 2025 grantees create spaces where cultural curiosity thrives, and community bonds are strengthened. It’s a privilege to support organizations that are not only educating and inspiring, but also helping to bond and unite.”
During the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called songs “the soul of the movement.” Seeking racial equality in the United States, music played a critical role in inspiring, uplifting, unifying, and even mobilizing Americans during the late 1950s and beyond. Exploring the Soul of the Movement seeks to address the need to build a foundation of historical context among today’s youth, using music to help them better address and analyze the critical social issues we are still facing today.
For the last six years, GRAMMY Museum Mississippi’sExploring the Soul of the Movement program, with support from the Nissan Foundation, has provided elementary school students with educational workshops that teach them about the history of the Civil Rights Movement and the artists and songs that helped shape various other musical stylings for years to come.
This year’s program, conducted by GRAMMY Museum Mississippi’s education department, aims to use this critical period in our nation’s history to raise awareness and introduce meaningful discussion about current issues of diversity, inclusion and social equity, with a focus on how music can act as a catalyst for communication, healing, and effecting change.
Celebrating the power of identity, inclusion and belonging, the Nissan Foundation continues its commitment to community and cultural connection with grants to 37 nonprofits across the U.S. this year. This funding reflects the Foundation’s enduring mission: to honor in equal measure that which makes us different and also what brings us together.
With this year’s contributions, the Nissan Foundation reaches a milestone of $17.7 million in grants since its founding in 1992. The program has impacted millions across the country, helping to build more spaces of acceptance and support programming rooted in education, representation and shared humanity.
The 2025 grant recipients include a dynamic mix of nonprofits focused on multicultural education, inclusive arts programming, and more. Each organization is based in one of Nissan’s eight operational communities: Atlanta, Central Mississippi, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Middle Tennessee, New York City, Southeast Michigan, and Southern California.
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