Please see our website www.sonnypugar.org for more information and for details on how to contribute. Embracing these beliefs, we develop performance opportunities for regional musicians and spotlight their talents and contributions to the local culture. Founded July 7, 2006
OUR MISSION
The Sonny Pugar Memorial, Inc. strengthens the region's cultural workforce and economy by ensuring a vibrant cont
emporary music scene. To further our mission, we underwrite local professional musicians’ live performances in area health facilities, sponsor showcases to spotlight original music and creative interpretation, and pursue opportunities that encourage a sense of community among local musicians.
In support of our mission, we:
--Educate the region on the importance of contemporary music in building a sense of community, in strengthening the social fabric, and in growing the economy.
--Encourage musicians in their professional growth and in their connections and contributions to the general community. OUR VISION
We believe that a strong contemporary music community helps expand a region's population, economy and cultural diversity. The Memorial encourages the entire Pittsburgh community to recognize the musicians who affect their community in ways no other artists can, yet have been truly "unsung." Culture doesn't always wear silk and pearls--sometimes it sports denim and metal. We identify contemporary music as current grassroots: rock, blues, r&b, jazz, country, soul, pop, and all those genres both related and derivative. Our vision of contemporary music is the song that both defines the current population and speaks to their memories. Ever changing, it is the voice of the present day and a reminder of days not so long ago.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Bob Banerjee, President
Jon Tryc, Vice President
Jace Wingard, Treasurer
Kelly Vennare Tryc, Secretary
Kay Bey
Evan Dean, LCSW
Shelley Duff, Esq. Joey Granati
Timothy Johns
Dustin Lebau
Byron Nash
Patrick K. David Oleniacz
Danny Rectenwald
Juli Strang-Tryc
Stevee Wellons
Emeritus Members:
Scott Anderson
Sean McDowell
Annie Pugar, Founder and Executive Director
Ben Tryc, Music Consultant
Todd DePastino, Ph.D., History Consultant
OUR MAJOR PROGRAMS--
“MUSIC SMILES”
For over ten years, Sonny Pugar played for the region’s schoolchildren with Etta Cox in a Gateway to the Arts school assembly program. Etta’s show for the kids was one of his favorite gigs, so it seemed fitting that when he died, The Memorial continued to focus on music for children. This was how we decided that our initial effort would be supporting the existing music therapy program at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Now as a public charity, we offer the “Music Smiles” project, which will both continue and expand those efforts with live performances that we hope will merge with music therapy programs in hospitals and other institutions. "CODA"
Our belief that contemporary music serves the well-being of a community underlies our design of this primary source archive of Pittsburgh's established and legacy artists' personal narratives. Through personal interviews, we relate the history of regional contemporary music to southwestern Pennsylvania's modern history, demonstrating music's ties to the economic and social fiber of our region from the 1950’s to the current day. With a wide and numerous array of the musicians in our community, who reflect the cultural diversity of our region, the interviews promise to be sometimes humorous, sometimes revealing and reflective, but always conversational and entertaining. To publish these interviews, we are partnering with iHeartRadio and Pittsburgh 3WS radio personality Jonny Hartwell, who conducts and manages the interviews and airs them on the iHeartRadio app under the title “The Coda Podcast.”
Over time, we will be continually adding interviews to this Pittsburgh Music Scene chronicle! DONORS
The Sonny Pugar Memorial thanks both past and current "Rhythms of Life" fundraising concert sponsors and "Music Smiles" contributors:
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation-- Family Life Fund
The Meadows Casino
BNY Mellon--Community Partnership Program
Shadyside Hospital Foundation
UPMC Rehabilitation Institute
Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC
Forbes Hospital, Allegheny Health Network
Healthcare@Home, Allegheny Health Network
Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield
The Children's Institute of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh North Optimist Club
Zanafest
2016 Dormont Dash, The Borough of Dormont
The Blues Society of Western Pennsylvania
31 Sports Bar-Grille
Monongahela Valley Hospital
First National Bank of Pennsylvania
CM Services
Disabled Musicians International
The Forbes Funds
GNC
National Physique Committee of the USA
Sam's Club
Social Venture Partners
Bastard Bearded Irishmen
Family of Jim Weber
Ricci A. Symons Capital Management
The Jack Buncher Foundation
McKeesport Hospital Foundation
Frankie I's Bar & Grille
Jefferson Hospital
Mike Zisman and Linda Gamble
The Better Institute
DAI Management Consultants, Inc. Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council (with pass through grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania)
The Linden Grove Nightclub and Restaurant
Light from the Woods
Flyspace Productions
Pittsburgh Guitars
Debbie Brandt via the BNY Mellon Community Partnership Program
Anonymous
Allegheny General Hospital Auxiliary
Tippins Foundation (in honor of Nancy Lackner)
Jack Buncher Foundation
Thanks also to our individual United Way supporters and individual donors. AWARDS
--Special Congressional Recognition presented to Executive Director Annie Pugar for "undertaking the mission of encouragement by providing the opportunity for local artists to realize their musical accomplishments." October 12, 2011
--Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC--2015 Community Partner of the Year
--Continuing Gold Seal of Transparency --2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023.
