Crescendo Awards
Roots of American Music
We celebrated our story and service to the community at our annual Fall 2024 event, the Crescendo Awards: Celebrating the Heartbeat of American Music at The Music Box Supper Club in The Flats.
Mark your calendar today and plan to attend the 2025 Crescendo Awards and Silent Auction
Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, from 5:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
1148 Main Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44113
Become a Sponsor of the 2025 Crescendo Awards. Sponsorships include tickets, parking, and sponsorship recognition in all marketing and at the event. Show your support of ROOTS music education and enrichment programs in northeast Ohio as a Blues, Jazz, Folk, Country, Gospel, or Rock ‘n’ Roll sponsor.
Roots of American Music Is Proud To Recognize The Following 2024 Award Recipients
Roots of American Music recognizes Charlie Mosbrook’s songwriting contribution to the 2024 Stop the Hate Youth Sing Out award winning student songs
Charlie’s work with the Stop the Hate Youth Sing Out program has shown his creativity and innovation with middle and high school students. He effectively wove the students’ lyrics into an inspiring song which shares the experiences of bias and hope of the students for a better community. His collaboration as a ROOTS Teaching Artist with the Maltz Museum’s Stop the Hate program celebrates Northeast Ohio students who are committed to creating a more accepting, inclusive society by standing up and singing out against bias and bigotry.
Roots of American Music recognizes Sam Hooper’s songwriting contribution to the 2024 Stop the Hate Youth Sing Out award winning student songs
Sam’s work with the Stop the Hate Youth Sing Out program has shown his creativity and innovation with middle and high school students. He effectively wove the students’ lyrics into an inspiring song which shares the experiences of bias and hope of the students for a better community. His collaboration as a ROOTS Teaching Artist with the Maltz Museum’s Stop the Hate program celebrates Northeast Ohio students who are committed to creating a more accepting, inclusive society by standing up and singing out against bias and bigotry.
Roots of American Music presents the William Woods Excellence in Teaching Award to
Mary Matisak
Mary’s teaching shows creativity and innovation in the classroom. She effectively addressed diverse learning styles and needs, creating an inclusive environment that values the array of cultures and experiences of today’s students. her collaboration with ROOTS Teaching Artists has significantly enhanced student learning and community engagement.
Mary shared a story of her experience with the Stop the Hate Youth Sing Out and working with ROOTS Artists:
I thought I’d share a little more info about the group who won the Middle School Youth Sing Out in 2022-23. I figured providing some more context would allow all of you to see just how special this program can be / is for some of us, and just how special it was what we created together. Esther [Fitz] was the backbone of it all, and we are so grateful to her for guiding us through and helping my guys create something so meaningful and special.
The group was 22 eighth grade boys. We went through a lot together that 9 weeks I had them. Shortly after the song was recorded, one of our 22 was killed by an act of gun violence. It felt serendipitous that they had created something so beautiful with Esther’s guidance and finesse that hit so close to home, especially in the wake of a tragedy.
The song became an anthem for us to process together what we were all feeling about losing our student/peer and helped us to uplift each other and bring much needed perspective not only to the 22 of us, but also the rest of the school who were grieving as well. My principal played the song daily on the announcements after it was released not only for the rest of that school year, but the following year (last year) and it really became such a powerful reminder and message as we navigated our grief and moved on with living. Of course, when we brainstormed, wrote, and recorded the song, we never anticipated it to become so much more than a song writing competition. Then once we found out that we won the competition, a whole new profundity came about in our lives.
By then I had a different set of kids, so I got my old class together one last time near the end of the year to celebrate our win and remember all that we had accomplished and lived through together. More tears were shed, both happy and sad, and it felt like a sense of closure for most of us, like the win was the period at the end of the sentence.
—Mary Matisak, Milkovich Middle School Teacher