Musical Instruments for Social Change

Many musicians around the world use strings and other instrument parts made by the D’Addario company, based in the Long Island suburbs of New York City. (The D’Addario Foundation has been a good friend and supporter to El Sistema programs in the U.S.) In March, they were mandated to shut down, to protect their workers against the risk of catching the coronavirus. But before shutting down, their engineers designed a way to turn the equipment that created Evans G2 drumheads into machines that produce safety shields for medical workers. The U.S. Federal Drug Administration approved their shield, and the state allowed them to stay open to manufacture this safety equipment. Their goal is to be producing 100,000 Dynatomy face shields a week by the end of April. Yes, from drumhead materials!