15 Jun 2026 AVS Educator Mini-Grants Announced
Congratulations to recipients of 2026 AVS Educator Mini-Grants! Each awardee received $500 to work on the following projects:
Sara Maria Blanton will use her mini-grant funding to attend the National Bornoff Workshop (July 11–17, 2026) at Duquesne University, where she will pursue Level I certification in Bornoff String Pedagogy.
Peijun Xu’s mini-grant funding will support development of original teaching materials, including professionally notated exercises, instructional handouts, and short demonstration videos that seek to create an efficient pedagogy for switching from violin to viola.
Molly Wilkens Reed‘s project is called “The Setup Library.” Her mini-grant funds will be used to purchase a wide variety of student-size should pads, rests, and chin rests for the Virginia Tech String Project.
Elizabeth Pulju-Owen’s mini-grant will help to support students with financial need enrolled at Access Music Education, with extra strings, bow rehairs, and other supplies to help them to continue their studies.
Katherine Lewis will use the funding to develop and publish a viola adaptation of Resonance: A Multicultural Cello Method (2025), a beginning method book that centers repertoire from historically underrepresented cultures and communities.