Musical Arts Institute

Introduction: The Musical Arts Institute was incorporated in January 2010. The founder and executive director is a bassist and a music educator, Michael Manson. Having enjoyed 35 years of career success with artists, such as George Duke, Al Jareau, Kirk Whallum, and many others, Mike felt a need to give back to his Chicago home, where role models were not accessible for many of our youth. Working together with co-founder and co-executive director, Lana Manson, the couple has organized an amazing team of professional musicians/educators to provide outstanding music instruction in Chicago's under-served areas. Both Mike and Lana are graduates of Northwestern University (Bienen School of Music) and have a cumulative total of more than 30 years of experience in music education. The team established the school's home office on March 20, 2010 at 9244 South Lafayette in Chicago, Illinois. Noting that students within CPS and other highly populated African-American communities lacked access to the advanced music instruction, the founders sought to establish an organization to equip students to compete for college scholarships and/or for sustainable professional careers in music.