Donate to the Lute Society of America!
The Lute Society of America is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and relies on our members and contributors to sustain our efforts to promote the lute and its music.
If you would like to specify how your donation is used, this page is where you can learn about our different funds and programs. When you are ready to donate, clicking the “I am ready to donate button” anywhere on this page will take you to where you can choose where your donation should be applied, be it to the General Fund or as many other areas as have meaning for you.
General Fund
Donations to the General Fund will be used where most needed.
Scholarship Funds
Through our scholarship funds, you can provide the means for students of the lute to learn from world-renowned faculty at LSA events, such as the biennial Cleveland Lute Fest. Here, you can choose to support the General Scholarship Fund or to a specific scholarship fund below.
General Scholarship Fund
Donations supporting the General Scholarship Fund will be used where most needed.
Lute Fest: Voice Program Scholarship Fund
Donations supporting the Voice Program Scholarship will be used to support students attending the Lute Society of America’s annual Lute Festival and participating in the vocal program for singers.
Robert Crim Scholarship Fund
The Robert Crim Scholarship is given to a promising student of the baroque lute, theorbo or other plucked baroque instrument. This scholarship was started by his wife Suzanne Schwartz to honor his devotion to the baroque lute.
Pat O’Brien Scholarship Fund
The Pat O’Brien Scholarship is given in honor of his contributions to the field of lute pedagogy, his wisdom and generosity as a teacher and his spirit of collaboration.
Douglas Alton Smith Scholarship Fund
The Douglas Alton Smith Scholarship is given in honor of the tremendous contribution Doug made to so many aspects of lute research. The funds in this scholarship help to support the attendance at the seminar of a player with a strong bent toward musicology as pertains to the lute.
Lute Rental Program
The Lute Rental Program is one of the major offerings of the Lute Society of America, enabling those just starting out to try the lute for a year or more before committing to purchasing a lute. Instruments are available for rental in both Canada and the US. Donations to the Lute Rental Program will help to keep the instruments in good repair, enable us to replace travel-weary cases with new ones able to protect our instruments.
If you would like to donate an instrument to the LSA Lute Rental Program, please contact the program director James Louder at lrp@lutesocietyofamerica.org
If you are interested in passing on your love of the lute to future generations, consider a Legacy Instrument Donation to the LSA Lute Rental Program. For more details, review the Lute Donation Legacy Directive form.
Digital Lute Music Library
The Digital Lute Music Library is a collection of facsimiles and a valuable resource for students and researchers alike. Donations in this area would enable us to acquire more items for our library.
Local Chapters Initiative
The Local Chapters Initiative was established to fulfill our mission to both broaden exposure to the lute and to create and support communities of interest. There are now 9 local chapters organizing events around the country. They need help renting spaces to meet; paying to have music arranged for the playing level of their members; organizing teaching weekends; hiring a professional to give a concert and workshop. Note: If this donation is intended for a performer/teacher/presenter that is not a US citizen, please indicate this by checking the relevant box when completing the donation form. The donation form will be reviewed by the Treasurer and more information may be necessary in order to comply with tax law before the individual can be paid. If payment is not possible, you will be notified and you may choose to donate to other aspects of the event (space rental, food, recording, etc.).
To review details about each local chapter, visit the Local Chapters page.
Mini-Grants Program
Mini-Grants Program is a brand-new initiative that seeks to offer grants for a wide range of projects and educational endeavors, be they research- or performance-related; lessons or lute rental assistance for a new player with limited means; lute rental assistance for a college/university collegium, etc. Donations to this program could help make the difference between being able to pursue an ambitious project or not; of being able to start learning from a teacher or not.
Lute Fest
This week-long event is where learning, exchanging ideas, playing, listening, takes place in person. As we learned during the pandemic, while it’s possible to do all of this on line to some extent, there is no substitute for face-to-face interactions. For all levels of playing, on all kinds of lutes and other historical plucked instruments, there is nothing quite like Lute Fest to fire up a person’s interest, plying them with information to last until the next one rolls around! Donations to this area enables us to hire more faculty, to defray travel expenses for faculty, and to pay the exorbitant visa fees to bring over players from Europe.
Gerbode Fund
The LSA is pleased to act as a fiscal sponsor of Dr. Frank Gerbode’s website, Accessible Lute Music.com. This is a collection of more than 17,000 settings of lute pieces (70,000 files) in French tablature (the most widely read style of tablature) in the Fronimo (ft3) format, also provided in midi, PDF and Wayne Cripp TAB formats. A facsimile of the MS or book source is included, facilitating comparison between the modern edition and the original.