Founder’s Story
by Whitney Kroenke, Executive Director

In August of 2001, I was introduced to Mark Johnson. Mark and I had a great deal in common, and believed there was potential to work together on an idea for a documentary film that would be called “Playing For Change.” Mark’s idea was to travel around the United States with a mobile recording studio (powered by golf cart batteries) and capture moments on the streets of America that normally “slipped through the cracks” of our society. I was instantly intrigued, and by the end of that meeting we had formed a partnership and Playing For Change was born!


By September we had set out to discover music on the streets and in the hearts of Americans. As we traveled, it quickly became apparent that these extraordinary musicians should connect to one another. The question became: how to do this? In these early days we didn’t have the infrastructure or budget to bring all of the musicians together in one place. So, we decided to connect them to one another through the best way that we knew how: through music!

We would start a song in one location, and then take the recording studio and the partially completed song on to the next musician. Through this process it became apparent that as a human race, we all have music in common. Stereotypes fell apart, minds were expanded, and great music was created as we brought each song to another musician, and then another.

As we continued to travel and meet more and more extraordinary musicians in the United States, it became apparent that this project was bigger than any one country. We decided that we needed to continue our travels around the world, meet and record new musicians, and continue to grow our songs along the way.

It was during one of these trips that we met a gentleman by the name of Pokie Klass in a Township just outside of Cape Town, South Africa. As we spent time with Pokie he slowly shared his dream of opening a music school in his community. He wanted to contribute to the youth through the strong tradition of Jazz Music, and give them an alternative to the idleness and violence they faced daily in Gugulethu Township. Pokie’s vision was such an inspiration to us that we decided right then to help him realize his dream, and thus the Playing For Change Foundation was born. We broke ground the following year on our very first music school in the exact spot where we first spoke to Pokie. Today, the Ntonga Music School is now open and hosting music classes and Life Workshops seven days a week.

PFCF is the continuation of a lifelong partnership and friendship, and we look forward to continuing our journey around the world, making new friends, hearing new music, and creating new opportunities to inspire the youth in every corner of the globe.