Verizon announced on Friday a partnership with Pharrell Williams to launch a tech-infused music curriculum in nationwide Verizon Innovative Learning schools. The education organization under the Verizon Foundation works toward providing free technology, internet access, technology-focused curriculum to under-resourced middle schools. The partnership also includes the building of a Verizon Innovative Learning Lab, which will feature cutting-edge technology such as augmented reality, virtual reality, robotics and machine learning. The lab will be located in a middle school in Pharrell’s hometown of Virginia Beach.
“I want all children to have access to that kind of creative growth, access and support. All kids, not just my own,” the producer recently told Billboard of how art can impact lives. “There’s a lot of variables in a situation as to why something falls apart, but there’s only one scenario where it holds together, and that’s when all the variables are there. The environment, the family, the school, the system — there’s so many things. We just want to do what we can to balance the odds so that as many kids as we can afford, or help and assist in whatever ways, get this access and support.”