Guitars for Hope the public arts project created by Kelly for Kids, Hunter’s Hope and the WNED Buffalo Niagara Guitar Festival, is looking for artists to participate in this community effort designed to celebrate music, art and hope in Western New York. Event organizers are seeking local artists and national celebrities to create and inventively transform fifty fiberglass guitar molds into works of art.

Guitars for Hope will culminate with a gala auction event on June 16, 2006, during the sixth annual WNED Buffalo Niagara Guitar Festival. Guitars for Hope is modeled after Buffalo’s highly successful “Herd About Buffalo” project and Cleveland’s “Guitarmania.” Proceeds from the project will benefit Kelly for Kids, Hunter’s Hope and the WNED Buffalo Niagara Guitar Festival .

Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame Quarterback Jim Kelly will serve as the honorary chair of Guitars for Hope . Ann Brooker, Executive Director for Kelly for Kids and Wendy Ceppaglia , WNED Director of Special Events will be co-coordinators of the project.

C.F. Martin & Co. has helped to design the six-foot fiberglass acoustic guitar mold, fashioned after their Martin D-28 guitar. Models are being constructed by Merlinworks of Etobicoke, Ontario. BlueCross and BlueShield of Western New York and Rite Aid are the first sponsors of the project.

Artists interested in creating art for a guitar and those interested in corporate sponsorships are asked to contact Wendy Ceppaglia at 716.845.7000, ext. 371 or fill out our Contact Us form located here.

The Kelly for Kids Foundation is committed to providing funding and support to children's charities throughout Western New York. These charities operate for the benefit of disadvantaged and handicapped youths and focus on children's needs and issues.

Hunter’s Hope Foundation is dedicated to increasing public awareness of Krabbe Leukodystrophy, and to helping support research, new therapies and a cure for the inherited, fatal nervous system disease that affected Hunter Kelly.