Vega Productions is dedicated to providing students with equal access to art and music education. After fielding numerous instrument donation inquiries, the Vega Productions team had an idea: find a way to match unused instruments with the students who need them.
Software for Good partnered with Vega Productions to develop Instruments in the Cloud, a free, cloud-based musical instrument inventory management platform that connects a nationwide network of schools, music educators, and instrument donors.
In addition to allowing schools to manage their own musical instrument inventory—from checking instruments in and out to marking them for repair—administrators can search for and share instruments with other schools.
A tab on the home page makes it easy for instrument donors to connect directly with nearby schools, while a public search function lets parents check to see if a certain instrument is available in their district. In early 2016, we added a wish list feature that allows music educators to ask for specific instruments and gives donors the opportunity to find—and fill—a need.
The mobile app offers barcode scanning capabilities using a smartphone camera — making the inventory entry process as streamlined and efficient as possible for busy educators and administrators.
Since its launch, Instruments in the Cloud has been adopted by schools worldwide, and is currently home to over 10,000 instruments.