In 1938 a group of Madison businessmen, after hearing the Racine Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps perform at the Stock Pavilion on the campus of the University of Wisconsin decided that Madison should have its own drum and bugle corps. These men, E. J. Hess, Robert Gerry, Tom Jones, Arthur May and Robert Hesse, decided to create this new corps also as a unit of the Boy Scouts. The first rehearsal was held on February 8, 1938 in the basement of the Christ Presbyterian Church with equipment borrowed from the Masons. The instruments were bass, snare and tenor drums along with brass G-bugles. The drum major's baton was a broom stick and only three scouts had uniforms.  Still the spirit was there and the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps was born. Mr. E. J. Hess was the first director and Mr. C. H. Beebe, Scoutmaster of Troop 20, was appointed quartermaster.  C. H. Beebe became the Executive Director shortly thereafter.  The Madison Scouts remain one of the oldest operating corps in the country today.

In 1977 two supporters of the corps left bequests to the Madison Scouts in their wills.  This became the impetus to create The Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps Foundation, Inc in July,1977.

For many years the foundation solely supported the Madison Scouts and their mother organization, the Madison Drum and Bugle Corps Association.  As the Association added more marching units, the Foundation was renamed the Madison Drum and Bugle Corps Foundation, Inc.  This occurred in July, 1994.

Today’s drum corps activity has evolved to become a preeminent youth performing arts activity, drawing members from all over the world.  The Madison Scouts have had members from Asia (Japan and Thailand) Europe (England, France, Germany and the Netherlands) , Canada and even South Africa.  This globalization of the activity has been a wonderful blessing, but it has also moved the corps away from its original purpose of creating a performing arts group for youth from the greater Madison, WI area.

In March 2005, the Foundation went through another evolution, becoming the Madison Youth Performing Arts Foundation, Inc.  This allowed us to extend our impact to all youth and performing arts groups in the greater Madison, WI area. We are also able to find and fill niches through the creation of new performing arts groups, such as the D.R.U.M. Program which includes the Black Star Drumline and Music Makers.

In 2010, MYPAF extended its influence through the creation of Richland Rejuvenates. Richland Rejuvenates is designed to bring together business, community and city leaders for the “purpose of making our community (Richland Center, WI) the ‘Center of it all.’”

In 2011, MYPAF moved south with the creation of Rockton Rejuvenescence. Building on our success in Richland Center, Rockton Rejuvenescence is headquartered in Rockton IL.