The Tetra String Quartet has been named the Fall 2025 winner of the Paul R Judy Center for Innovation and Research Grant for their project, Songs of Change: Empowering Incarcerated Youth Through Music. The Tetra String Quartet began working with incarcerated populations in 2011 when they performed for the Prison Entrepreneurship Program in Cleveland, Texas. In 2015, Tetra launched a partnership with Maricopa County’s Durango Juvenile Detention Center (DJDC) by providing educational concerts for their community. Tetra worked closely with Durango’s leadership and staff to cultivate a curriculum that meets their needs. In 2021, Tetra expanded their residency by joining forces with local changemaker rapper Colby Jeffers to present three hour song/rap writing workshops for DJDC youth six times a year.
Tetra’s educational concerts have expanded to include DJDC’s Guitar Club. Tetra joins them on three songs each concert, helping to give the youth confidence to perform in front of their peers. The residency will expand again in 2026 with the addition of recording days, giving youth the opportunity to professionally record the raps they create in the songwriting workshops.
Tetra String Quartet is an Arizona nonprofit organization that serves the community and empowers the next generation through performing and teaching chamber music. Tetra believes access to the arts is an essential human right, which inspires them to create performance and educational opportunities for diverse students and audiences. Formed in 2010, they chose the name “tetra”, from the prefix meaning four, imagining the power of four individuals uniting in the spirit of change, creativity, and collaboration.
For more about Tetra String Quartet, visit tetraquartet.org
Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, changemaker rapper, Colby Jeffers, has a mission to uplift, educate, and inspire others to contribute to the betterment of the world. Colby’s discography includes an impressive collection of 7 albums, all channeling his powerful messages of oneness, unity, justice, love, spirituality, and service to humanity.
Beyond his music, Colby is deeply devoted to his family, as a husband and father of 3, Colby also has served as a mentor for a number of youth and junior youth in his local community through the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program. He also regularly facilitates rap writing workshops for youth as a teaching artist. In 2020, his dedication to both art and community service was recognized with the prestigious Martin Luther King “Living The Dream” award by the City of Phoenix. Colby Jeffers’ music provides a guiding light toward unity, justice, and service to humanity, offering an uplifting soundtrack for all on their journey to a better world.
The Paul R. Judy Center for Innovation and Research is a division of the Institute for Music Leadership (IML) at the Eastman School of Music. The Paul R. Judy Center grant supports proposals for research and projects that foster greater access, engagement, and enrichment within musical communities. This grant supports efforts to understand or dismantle institutional patterns that limit musical participation. Priority will be given to proposals that promote sustainable music-making practices, demonstrate meaningful community impact, and create opportunities for engagement in both professional and nonprofessional music settings. The next deadline to apply is February 1, 2026 and is reserved for Eastman students, alumni, faculty and staff, and the organizations they represent. Learn more here.