About
Two missions.
One belief.
Music & Light is a nonprofit that brings live music to retirement communities in the Durham–Chapel Hill area, and creates musical opportunities for the next generation.
We believe loneliness is the quiet crisis of growing old. Across the Durham–Chapel Hill area, thousands of seniors spend their days in rooms without much company, without much music, without much of the world walking in.
Music & Light exists to change that, one afternoon, one room, one song at a time. Live music carried into a quiet common room does something a screen never will. It returns people to themselves. It restores something the world had quietly set aside.
Music has the power to make people feel remembered.
What we do
Two missions. One belief.
We hold one belief, that music belongs to everyone in the room. We pursue it in two ways.
Mission · 01
Live music for retirement communities.
We bring jazz, classical, and traditional performances into retirement communities across the Durham–Chapel Hill area. Not to entertain. To be present. To reduce loneliness, build intergenerational connection, and remind every resident that they are still part of the world outside their walls.
Mission · 02
Musical opportunities for the next generation.
We work to put music within reach of young people who might not otherwise find their way to it. Lessons, instruments, mentorship, rooms to play in. Music belongs to everyone, not only those who can pay for it. Every dollar we raise goes toward giving the next generation the chance to begin.
A founder's note
We didn't start a nonprofit. We started showing up.
Music & Light is a student-led organization bringing live music, and the light of Christ, into senior facilities where residents are too often forgotten.
It started with David Durham, one of our founders. A member of his church had just moved into an Alzheimer's care facility. One afternoon after cello practice, David's mom packed up some snacks and drinks and the family drove over to play for her. He was struck by how lonely the place felt, and by how much the music seemed to mean.
So he kept coming back. Every month. Soon he was recruiting friends who played instruments, and what began as one student playing for one resident grew into a small ensemble. In the summer of 2024, Music & Light was founded alongside Samuel Kim and Noah Kim and the early ensemble of student musicians from Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill.
In just two years, we have gone from one memory care facility to playing regularly at four partner communities across the Triangle. We bring jazz, classical, traditional pieces, sometimes a hymn requested by a resident in the front row. We're building this carefully, because the people we serve deserve an organization that takes itself as seriously as a concert hall: rehearsed sets, real instruments, real attention to the room.
We are still a small group of high-school and college students, but we try to be faithful in showing up because we see how much it matters. Every time we visit, the residents ask the same question: When are you coming back? That question is what keeps us going.
Our goal now is to expand by starting charter clubs at UNC, Duke, and high schools and middle schools across North Carolina, so that more people can experience what we do and no one has to feel forgotten.
With light,
The Music & Light team
Timeline
A short history of showing up.
Summer 2024
The first performance
Samuel Kim and David Durham, rising juniors at Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill, organize the first Music & Light performance at a retirement community.
Fall 2024
The Ensemble grows
More musicians from Trinity join. Performances expand to additional retirement communities across Durham and Chapel Hill.
2025
Two missions, one belief
The organization launches a parallel effort to create musical opportunities for the next generation of young musicians.
Now
Room by room, hand by hand
A small team, a growing community, and a clear mission: to bring music into the rooms, and the hands, that need it.
Future vision
Where we're going.
More communities
Expand from the Durham–Chapel Hill area into the broader Triangle, building lasting weekly relationships with care partners.
Wider musical range
Grow our musical palette, jazz, classical, traditional, and beyond, so every performance meets the room where it is.
Opportunities for the next generation
Grow the program so more young musicians have a way into music: lessons, instruments, mentorship, and rooms to play in.
Mentorship
Pair experienced student musicians with younger players, building the next generation of Music & Light.
Community partnerships
Deepen partnerships with retirement communities, music schools, and local nonprofits across the Triangle.
A sustainable model
Build the financial and operational foundation to ensure Music & Light continues beyond any single class of musicians.