Guitars Over Guns Organization

Guitars Over Guns is on a mission to empower young people from vulnerable communities with a powerful combination of high quality arts instruction and mentoring relationships with local, professional artists and musicians. Founded in Miami in 2008, the organization has grown to hire over 100 professional teaching artists and serve 1,250 students annually in the nation's four largest school districts (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami-Dade).

In Chicago, our team of 35 teaching artists connects with nearly 500 young people per year across 18 unique program sites from Altgeld Gardens to Waukegan. We also operate 'Haven Studios', a community recording studio in Bronzeville which serves youth pursuing educational and vocational options in the music industry beyond high school. In May 2023, we were honored to host former President Barack Obama for a very special visit to this space!