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MUSIC IS CULTURE INC
New York, NY · EIN 332181107 · Form 990EZ · FY2025 · NTEE A24 · Arts, Culture & Humanities · Micro (<$100K) · musicisculture.org
revenue
$87K
expenses
$4K
net assets
$83K
employees
—
mission · from form 990

Charitable

profile · synthesized from sources

Music is Culture Inc (MiC) supports the preservation and revitalization of endangered musical traditions through documentation, digitization, and community-centered dissemination. The organization partners with cultural custodians to produce scholarly publications, digital archives, and educational materials focused on historically marginalized music practices. Projects include discographies, cassette conservation, instrument revival, and oral history, with free distribution to affected communities.

named programs · 3 · from sources

What they call their work

Armenian 78s in America: A Discography
Comprehensive documentation of Armenian-American 78-rpm recordings from the early 1900s to late 1950s, including over 1,800 recordings and 200 artist entries, published as a book and online database
Ezidi Home Cassettes in the House of Singers
Digitization, restoration, and archiving of over 500 rescued Ezidi home cassettes from Sinjar, Iraq, with plans to establish the Mala Dengbêjan (House of Singers) as a community cultural center
Ngoma dzaVaNdau (The Music of the Ndau People)
Documentation of traditional Ndau musical instruments, compositions, and dances in Zimbabwe, including audiovisual recordings and educational materials for community workshops
activities · 6 groups

What they do

  • Indigenous and Diaspora Cultural Preservation 2 activities
    • Collaborative media creation with underrepresented communities
      Creates media publications in partnership with members of threatened and underrepresented communities, focusing on culturally significant music at risk of being lost, including both production and dissemination components.
    • Revival and public engagement of VaNdau cultural identity
      Supports Anesu Ndoro’s efforts to promote VaNdau cultural identity through public performances, community engagement across Zimbabwe, and teaching activities that transmit music, language, and traditions—especially to youth.
  • Archival Digitization and Preservation 2 activities
    • Digitization and preservation of Ezidi home recordings in Iraq
      Digitizes, catalogs, repairs, and archives rescued Ezidi home cassettes from Shingal, Sinjar, and Iraq in collaboration with Fehed Herbo and Rênas Babekir. Hosts the recordings in a freely accessible global digital archive to preserve oral traditions and support healing from genocide.
    • Distribution of Armenian music discography to community institutions
      Distributes free physical copies of the published discography on Armenian musicians to Armenian churches, community centers, museums, and other cultural institutions to ensure broad community access and recognition of historical contributions.
  • Traditional & Cultural Performing Arts 1 activity
    • Promotion of contemporary traditional music
      Encourages the release and circulation of contemporary music by artists and authors who continue endangered musical traditions, supporting cultural continuity through modern expression.
  • Digital Music and Performance Archiving 1 activity
    • Public release of curated Ezidi musical recordings
      Releases selected musical recordings from the digitized Ezidi cassette collection as purchasable albums through MiC’s record label, making culturally significant music accessible to broader audiences.
  • Musicological Research and Scholarly Editions 1 activity
    • Research and publication of Armenian musicians' sound recordings
      Conducts scholarly research and publishes comprehensive discographies on Armenian musicians’ contributions to the American recording industry, including the first book-length work on Armenian 78-rpm era recordings. Documents over 200 artists and more than 1,800 recordings, with outputs released as physical books, online databases, and digital resources.
  • Uncategorized 4 activities
    • Distribution of educational and cultural materials on Ndau music
      Distributes free copies of published materials (CDs, DVDs, booklets) on Ndau music to schools, libraries, and community centers in Zimbabwe as part of a workshop series to reconnect the VaNdau people with their musical heritage and support intergenerational transmission.
    • Distribution of restored Ezidi audio recordings
      Converts restored audio from Ezidi home cassettes into CDs and distributes them at no cost to the Ezidi community in Shingal, ensuring access for individuals without reliable internet or mobile service.
    • Preservation and revitalization of Ndau musical heritage in Zimbabwe
      Supports the documentation of traditional Ndau music, instrument-building processes, rhythms, and melodies in collaboration with cultural practitioners Anesu Ndoro and elder Solomon Madhinga. Develops educational tools using audiovisual recordings and contextual documentation on the historical and social significance of Ndau music, and hosts this knowledge in a digital database while publishing it on CDs, DVDs, and booklets.
    • Support for Mala Dengbêjan community archive and cultural center
      Provides capacity-building support for Fehed Herbo and Rênas Babekir to establish “Mala Dengbêjan” (“House of Singers”) as a community archive and cultural center for the Ezidi people in Shingal, Iraq, to restore oral traditions and build community spaces.
financials · form 990EZ · fy2025
revenue
Total revenue$87K
Contributions & grants$87K100%
Program service revenue$00%
Investment income$00%
Other revenue$0
expenses
Total expenses$4K
Program expenses—
Admin / overhead—
Fundraising—
Salaries & benefits$0
Grants paid out$4K
balance sheet
Total assets$87K
Cash—
Investments—
Liabilities—
Net assets$83K
1 years on record · 2025–2025
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2025

Who runs it

board members · 4
  • Ara Dinkjian — Vice President of Board
  • Daniel Elias — Secretary and Treasurer of Board
  • John Passacantando — President of Board
  • Zachary Youcha — Executive Director (Volunteer) and Board Member
relationships · 23

Who they work with

  • Anesu Ndoro Partner — Collaborates with MiC as a musician, educator, and cultural practitioner to document, preserve, and teach VaNdau music and traditions.
  • Anesu Ndoro Partner — Cultural practitioner and educator collaborating with MUSIC IS CULTURE INC to document and teach VaNdau music traditions.
  • Anesu Ndoro Partner — Zimbabwean musician, educator, and community historian collaborating with MiC on documenting and teaching Ndau music and instrument building.
  • Anesu Ndoro Partner — Zimbabwean musician, educator, and community historian collaborating with MiC to document and teach Ndau music and instrument building.
  • Ara Dinkjian Partner — Collaborator on the Armenian 78s in America project
  • Armenian Institute in London Partner — Shares expertise through presentations on Armenian music history.
  • Armenian Museum of America Partner — Collaborates through contributions of monthly musician profiles from the 78-rpm era and presentations launching the museum's Sound Archive.
  • Fahad Harbo Partner — Collaborates with MiC to digitize and preserve Ezidi home cassettes and co-develop the Mala Dengbêjan community archive.
  • Fahad Harbo Kheder Partner — Co-lead of the Ezidi Home Cassettes project
  • Fahad Harbo Kheder Partner — Collaborator on the Ezidi Home Cassettes project
  • Fehed Herbo Partner — Collaborates with MiC on the digitalization, cataloging, and preservation of rescued Ezidi home cassettes and the establishment of a community archive and cultural center.
  • Harout Arakelian Partner — Collaborator on the Armenian 78s in America project
  • Rênas Babekir Partner — Co-lead of the Ezidi Home Cassettes project
  • Rênas Babekir Partner — Collaborator on the Ezidi Home Cassettes project
  • Rênas Babekir Partner — Works with MiC and Fahad Harbo to archive, restore, and share Ezidi oral traditions through the House of Singers initiative.
  • Rênas Babekir Partner — Works with MiC and Fehed Herbo to digitize, catalog, and preserve Ezidi audio recordings and support the creation of a community cultural center.
  • Sekuru Solomon Madhinga Partner — Elder and cultural knowledge keeper working with MUSIC IS CULTURE INC to preserve and transmit VaNdau music and traditions.
  • Solomon Madhinga Partner — Works with MiC and Anesu Ndoro as a cultural elder and knowledge keeper to preserve and transmit VaNdau music, language, and traditions.
  • UCLA Partner — Engages in knowledge sharing through guest lectures on Armenian music history.
  • United Nations Partner — Collaborates with the United Nations on music preservation projects.
  • United States Library of Congress Partner — Partnering to acquire and preserve Ara Dinkjian's archive of over 6,000 Armenian and Turkish 78rpm records for permanent conservatorship.
  • sekuru Solomon Madhinga Partner — Custodian of Ngoma dzaVaNdau and expert builder of traditional Ndau instruments, working with MiC and Anesu Ndoro to preserve and transmit Ndau musical knowledge.
  • sekuru Solomon Madhinga Partner — Custodian of Ngoma dzaVaNdau and traditional instrument builder working with MiC and Anesu Ndoro to document and teach Ndau musical practices.
strategies · 5

How they approach the work

Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.

  • Archival Healing and Trauma Recovery
    methodology: archival_healing
    By conserving and providing community access to personal audio archives—especially from survivors of genocide—we support trauma healing and social rebuilding, because listening to ancestral and familial recordings restores disrupted oral traditions and fosters collective recovery.
  • Community-Led Cultural Stewardship
    methodology: community-led_preservation
    By empowering community members to lead preservation efforts, we ensure cultural relevance and sustainability, because local ownership strengthens authenticity, intergenerational engagement, and long-term continuity of musical traditions.
  • Cultural Revival Through Reconnection
    methodology: cultural_revival_through_reconnection
    By restoring endangered musical instruments and practices and reconnecting them to their source communities, we revive cultural identity and ensure intergenerational continuity, because direct community re-engagement transforms archival recovery into living tradition.
  • Decentralized Cultural Representation
    methodology: decentralized_cultural_representation
    By centering marginalized musical traditions from border regions and challenging dominant national narratives, we promote equitable cultural representation, because inclusive scholarship and programming affirm ethnic diversity and counter historical erasure.
  • Intergenerational Knowledge Transmission
    methodology: intergenerational_knowledge_transfer
    By connecting elders with youth to teach traditional music and practices, we sustain endangered cultures, because structured knowledge transfer within communities ensures linguistic, spiritual, and artistic continuity across generations.