Gui's Musician's Institute Studies

Go Fund Me project:  Tuition for Guilherme Ferreira Franca.

Guilherme Ferreira Franca (Gui) comes from the favelas of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Favelas are ghettos; slums ruled by drug lords and the police, neither of which seem too concerned about the poor inhabitants of the brightly colored neighborhoods. Gui grew up with little hope of moving beyond the favelas, and saw many of his friends become victims of the unchecked violence that is too often the way of life there.  

Then at the age of 12 he was given a guitar, and it represented, not just a way to make music, but a way out.  He fell in love with the instrument, and ignoring his friends’ initial pleas to “stop making those awful sounds”, he gave himself completely to mastering it.  He has never stopped. He was invited to participate in a joint program of Arts and Social Transformation and The British School in Rio. Through the connections made there he applied and was accepted into the summer Citizen Artist AmeriCorps Scholars Program (CAP) at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California.  

Robert and Ginny Burroughs met Gui on their visit to Brazil in summer of 2013, then connected again when Gui joined the Arts and Social Transformation tour of the United States later that same year.  Hearing Gui play is an awakening; it is to hear someone who does not merely play an instrument, but who makes the instrument his voice, his song, the very expression of his soul. Click here to see for yourself.

Robert and Ginny realized the special nature of Gui’s ability combined with his level of passion and dedication to the craft. In July 2016, they invited Gui to move in with them and enroll in an English course.  After a year and a half of intensive English at Stanislaus State University, his English language skills advanced enough to enable him to apply to a school of music here in the USA.

Musician’s Institute of Los Angeles (MI) began in 1977 as the Guitar Institute of Technology.  It has since expanded its curriculum, but it remains the premier school for budding guitarists on the West Coast.  Gui auditioned at MI in December and was immediately accepted into the two-year Associate of Arts degree program for guitar performance.  

Gui has already received one scholarship and hopefully more will be forthcoming, but they will fall far short of the total cost to complete the program. Gui is one who creates beauty in a way very few can.  And since there is never enough beauty in this world, please consider the part you might play in helping shape the future of a life with so much promise. Any amount you can donate will help to reach our goal of $25,000. No amount is too small.  Thank you for your consideration.