The Richmond Standard: RYSE receives $500K Lewis Prize for Music Accelerator Award

By Kathy Chouteau

Richmond’s RYSE Youth Center has been named a recipient of The Lewis Prize for Music’s 2022 Accelerator Award. RYSE joins three fellow recipients of the $500,000 awards, which are given to organizations nationwide that are creating positive change through music programs for youth.

RYSE’s Media, Arts & Culture department, which is aligned with the Accelerator Awards’ mission, empowers youth to express themselves through artistic expression “to promote personal healing and dismantle an often dismissive narrative about young people,” according to The Lewis Prize for Music. Located at 3939 Bissell Ave. in Richmond, RYSE is on the cusp of opening RYSE Commons in spring 2022, a 45,000 sq. ft. youth-designed campus for music, arts, culture and healing, per its website.