Five-year plan · 2026–2031

Nepal is only the beginning.

GMI starts with one chapter and one field project. Over the next five years, we're building a global network of university chapters, students, musicians, and partner communities, connected through music.

2027First field project in Nepal
2028GMI Student Program begins
2029–30Five chapters worldwide
2031Independent global network
The vision

A network, not a single project.

A student at Vanderbilt might work with a school in Nepal. A student at another university might build a relationship with a rural community somewhere else. Together, they share resources, make music, and learn from one another.

That's the network GMI is building: university chapters paired with partner communities, able to work wherever the need is greatest rather than in one fixed place. Each chapter adds students, skills, and relationships, and each community brings its own music, knowledge, and traditions.

Our goal is a global network where every young musician has the opportunity to learn, create, collaborate, and be heard, regardless of geography or circumstance.

Where we're growing

Five chapters around the world.

Through the Keegan Fellowship, GMI plans to establish chapters in four new places, joining the founding chapter in Nashville. From there, we'll visit universities to begin new campus chapters.

  • North America

    Nashville

    The founding chapter at Vanderbilt University, where GMI began.

    Founding chapter
  • Pacific

    Hawaiʻi

    Makoa is Native Hawaiian, and his family connections in Hawaiʻi will ground a chapter in the Pacific.

    Keegan year
  • South America

    Paraguay

    Where Makoa performed with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Paraguay.

    Keegan year
  • Asia

    Nepal

    Home of GMI's first field project, with The Initiatives Foundation.

    Keegan year
  • Europe

    Portugal

    Where Makoa toured with the Vanderbilt Percussion Group in spring 2026, performing a joint concert with ESART percussion in Castelo Branco and building the connections behind GMI's first chapter in Europe. Watch

    Keegan year

Next: a university tour to start GMI chapters on new campuses, each paired with communities in the network.

The roadmap

Five years, step by step.

Dates are goals. The plan will grow as we learn from the communities we work with.

  1. Year 12026–27

    Lay the foundation. Go to Nepal.

    Build the founding chapter at Vanderbilt and carry out GMI's first field project.

    • Register GMI as an official Vanderbilt student organization and grow the founding chapter
    • Recruit the 2027 Nepal cohort from many schools, backgrounds, and fields, with needs-based funding
    • Open a Vanderbilt giving fund and apply for university and humanitarian travel grants
    • Sign a formal partnership agreement with The Initiatives Foundation
    • Fieldwork in Nepal, May to mid-June 2027: recording, interviews, and a community showcase in the village
  2. Year 22027–28

    Share the story. Start at home.

    Turn the fieldwork into lasting work, and launch GMI's program for rural students.

    • Finish the documentary and archive, premiere at Vanderbilt in fall 2027, and submit to film festivals
    • Return recordings to the Gandharva community and direct part of our funding to the community's own music
    • Launch the GMI Student Program for rural, low-income students in Tennessee and surrounding states: instruments, private lessons, mentorship, and help reaching college
    • Bring in a fiscal sponsor so foundations and larger donors can support GMI
    • Start conversations with students at other universities about launching chapters
    Keegan Fellowship

    In summer 2028, pursue the Summer Keegan Traveling Fellowship for eight or more weeks of international research, deepening GMI's relationships in Nepal and exploring partnerships across the surrounding region.

  3. Year 32028–29

    Build the network.

    Grow the student program and welcome the first partner chapters.

    • Grow the Student Program to 15 to 20 students, with goals each student sets for themselves and regular check-ins
    • Publish the GMI chapter model and welcome the first partner chapters at other universities
    • Form an advisory board of musicians, educators, and partners
    • Train the next generation of Vanderbilt chapter leaders so the chapter thrives after its founder graduates
    • Build GMI's digital platform: learning resources, mentorship connections, and portals for students, chapters, and partners
    • Lay the groundwork for chapters in Hawaiʻi, Paraguay, Nepal, and Portugal, including a lasting partnership with The Initiatives Foundation in Nepal
    Keegan Fellowship

    Apply for the Full Keegan Traveling Fellowship, Vanderbilt's $25,000 fellowship for a graduating senior to travel the world, with a plan to establish GMI chapters in Hawaiʻi, Paraguay, Nepal, and Portugal.

  4. Year 42029–30

    Go global.

    Establish chapters around the world and bring new universities into the network.

    • Establish GMI chapters in Hawaiʻi, Paraguay, Nepal, and Portugal, joining the founding chapter in Nashville
    • Visit universities to begin building new GMI chapters on campuses
    • Hand the Vanderbilt chapter to a new generation of student leaders
    • Collect and distribute used instruments, and explore 3D-printed instruments for communities that need them
    • Prepare GMI to become an independent nonprofit organization
    Keegan Fellowship

    As a Keegan Fellow, spend the year traveling to Hawaiʻi, Paraguay, Nepal, and Portugal to establish GMI's first chapters beyond Nashville, meeting musicians, schools, and communities and listening first. Then travel to universities to start conversations about new campus chapters.

  5. Year 52030–31

    An independent, growing network.

    GMI stands on its own, larger than any one campus or person.

    • Incorporate as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit, built on a multi-year track record
    • Grow from five chapters to a wider network of university chapters, each connected to partner communities abroad
    • Expand the Student Program to new regions through local chapters
    • Create international exchanges where young musicians learn and perform together across countries
    • Pursue larger state and national arts funding open to established organizations
How we'll fund it

Funding that grows with GMI.

Now

Vanderbilt support

Gifts through a Vanderbilt fund, university and student-organization grants, and humanitarian travel funding for the Nepal project.

Next

Foundations and partners

A fiscal sponsor lets national music-education foundations, arts funders, and community foundations support GMI's programs.

Fellowships

Keegan and founder fellowships

Traveling and founder fellowships fund the research and relationship-building that extend the network worldwide.

Long term

An independent nonprofit

With a multi-year record, GMI becomes its own 501(c)(3), opening the door to larger state and national grants and recurring donors.

What guides us

How we'll grow.

Listen before we lead

We never assume what a community needs. Our first job is to listen and learn.

Exchange goes both ways

Communities are teachers as much as partners, and their music shapes GMI's direction.

Students define success

Each student sets their own goals, and we help build a realistic path toward them.

Relationships last

Success is measured in lasting relationships, not in instruments handed out or miles traveled.

Built to outlast its founder

Chapters are designed to be inherited and improved by the students who come next.

Wherever the need is

The network goes where young musicians lack opportunity, not to a fixed map.

Help build the network from the start.

Early supporters, partners, and students shape what GMI becomes. Give, partner, start a chapter at your school, or apply to the first cohort.

Support GMI Start a chapter