Join Halladay in Empowering Montana's Youth

Hi There! My name is Halladay Quist and I am raising funds to start an online learning center for music and the performing arts called Starlight Academy.

Starlight Academy will be a place where you can learn any instrument, learn singing and dance, study music theory, learn about building a business in the music industry and even dive into performance mastery through lifestyle and mindset coaching. We are recruiting the best in the industry to give us a backstage look at what a life in the arts really looks like.

We are also recruiting licensed teachers that have a reputation for inspiring their students to find a love of music and a passion for learning. It will be a hobby learning center, a supplement for public school and a road map to musical success for home school students of all ages.

Currently in Montana there are around 50 schools that don't have a music teacher. That's hundreds of children that don't get access to music education each year. Studies show that music education is an important part of a well rounded education affecting other areas of learning like social emotional connections, mathematics and more! A recent study from the National Association for Music Education found "Schools with music programs have an estimated 90.2 percent graduation rate compared to schools without music education at 72.9 percent."

It is Starlight Academy's mission to give scholarships to every school in Montana. Especially the schools that do not have a music teacher.

Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I grew up in a very musical family. My father was recently inducted into the Montana Music Hall of Fame. I can remember singing with my father from a very young age. As I grew up, I studied different instruments at different times including piano, guitar, bass, banjo and ukulele. I had my first professional tour by the time I was 18 and that year we ended up opening for the Doobie Brothers. Throughout the years, I continued to tour professionally, recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles and then ultimately decided to come back to Montana to make my living as an artist for many years, opening for Jewel, Korb Lund, Colter Wall, The Shook Twins, Michael Martin Murphey, Collin Raye, Dennis Quaid, Tim Montana and many more.

Also during this time I was very involved in music education. I taught a course at University of Montana called Artist Development as part of the UM Entertainment Management program. I was President of Share Your Voice Foundation, an organization working with young adults to find confidence through arts based programs. I also toured the state to different schools teaching song writing workshops and putting on cultural musical programs with students of all ages.

When live music was shut down in 2020 I ended up teaching elementary music K-8th at a little country school. One day looking at open teaching listings in Montana, I noticed how many schools didn't have music teachers and I began to contemplate how we could solve this problem.

Starlight Academy will be an affordable way that anyone can achieve their dreams of becoming an artist. Want to learn how to play banjo or saxophone? Want to learn how to build a following or write your first contract? We plan to cover it all in a way that is fun and easy and shouldn't take more than 18 minutes a day.

Some of our first courses lined up are Vocal lessons with Trans Siberian Orchestra's Dustin Brayley, Dance and Stage Presence with Broadway Star and TV/Film Actress Meredith Patterson, Banjo 101 with MT Music Hall of Fame Inductee Rob Quist, as well as Guitar 101, Intro to Guitar soloing, Intro to Sight Reading (Music Theory) and Intro to Music Business.

All money raised will go to funding this project and hiring talent to come teach on the site.

Another part of Starlight Academy will be developing community events and retreats.

Montana's Got Talent is our first event this year to showcase new emerging talent at a prestigious venue, The Wachholz College Center, to give new acts a leg up in the music industry by producing a professional recording/demo, lining them up to open for a national touring act and of course giving them capitol of $5,000 to jumpstart their career.

I am so grateful and appreciative of any and every dollar I receive to fund Starlight Academy. I feel like I have found my passion and love waking up every day to work on this new venture. I know Starlight Academy will have an amazing positive effect on Montana and the world.

Here are a couple of mile markers to give you an idea of where your donation will go to.

$1200 - A scholarship for one student for one year($100 a month)

$2500 - Recording and Editing costs for one 3 month course.

Thank you for the love!

Halladay Quist

www.StarlightAcademy.org

www.MontanasGotTalent.com