Playathon is one of our most beloved traditions at New Jersey Youth Symphony.  We are thrilled to return to The Mills at Jersey Gardens Mall in Elizabeth. Playathon is also one of our largest fundraisers, raising $100,000 annually! 

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
Because NJYS tuition only covers 70% of our program costs, we need each musician to help us fundraise $295 to help us maintain our high-quality programming! Fundraising supports renting of professional-grade concerts halls for our performances, engaging professional coaches for sectional rehearsals, offering enrichment programs such as workshops, masterclasses, free concerts, extra performing opportunities, college application support, livestreaming for audiences near and far, and of course our scholarship and financial aid program to ensure that every talented youth musician can participate.

Fundraising is easy! Set up your individual fundraising page and share with your family and friends to support everything we do. 

Practice Minutes Challenge
We invite all NJYS musicians to participate in our annual Virtual Practice Minutes Challenge. Our goal is to log 50,000 practice minutes. That means that each musician needs to log 100 minutes from Friday February 13 through Friday March 20, 2026 at noon. Leaders will receive prizes each week! 

Fabulous Prizes
Playathon season also means prizes! We have even more prize categories this year:

·         Top individual fundraiser will win the honor of conducting Can-Can at Playathon. Runners up will also receive prizes (to be announced)! Deadline for fundraising is Friday, March 20, 2026 at noon.

·         The ensemble with highest participation in Playathon fundraising will win a pizza party!

·         For the Practice Minutes Challenge, we will announce weekly prizes and an overall winner Friday March 20, 2026.