Downtown South Bend, Inc. Helps Launch a Community Musical Arts Alliance
May 31, 2012 — Downtown South Bend, Inc. (DTSB) welcomes The Village: A Community Musical Arts Alliance, Inc. to be housed in the JMS building, 108 N. Main Street. Accelerated by DTSB, the vision of this new musical school is to inspire a vibrant, thriving community of creativity, innovation, and fellowship.
Through a focused mission to offer classes taught by local artists and to host local artist’s musical and dance performance events, the stepping stones of The Village’s vision are to promote cooperative learning, foster collaboration, provide a venue for local artists to teach their craft, and to attract people to new educational and cultural opportunities in downtown South Bend.
The first eight-week session of classes begins on June 12. Children’s classes will be taught by Ms. Jetta of Jetta and the Jellybeans. Classes open to children two to eight years of age include Meet the Instruments, Rhythm and Movement, and Make Believe/Improv. Beginner, intermediate and advanced group guitar lessons will be taught by Dave Denlinger for students ages 12 to adult. Classes are offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Registration is now open at www.TheVillageSouthBend.org.
Efforts towards bringing The Village to life began in October 2011, when Bau Graves, executive director of Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music, spoke to 40 members of the South Bend music community about the Old Town School’s mission and impact within the community of Chicago’s upper-north side. During follow-up discussion, the collective interest of the South Bend musicians was high and their attitudes encouraging. Since then, The Village has incorporated as an Indiana not-for-profit with an 11 person board of directors; applied for tax exempt status; appointed Kellirae Boann as executive director; and worked with Tamara Nicholl-Smith, DTSB’s director of business recruitment, to align space for the alliance and funding for their initiatives.
To assist in the organization’s launch, John Freidline, the owner of the JMS building, generously provided classroom space at greatly reduced rent along with significant improvements. This agreement is what allowed The Village to begin offering classes so quickly.
“This space is ideal for a number of reasons including easy student drop-off from Woodward Court, ample parking at the garage at Main and Colfax, and potential collaboration with the restaurants already located in the building,” said Boann.
Currently The Village is funded by private donors and revenue generated through classes. Moving forward the organization will seek funding through their capital campaign and grants. The Village welcomes partnership opportunities with the greater music community. Donations of working, gently used instruments of all types are now being sought. To donate, contact Kellirae Boann at 574.309.3022 or kboann@thevillagesouthbend.org.
Incorporated in January 2002, Downtown South Bend, Inc. is a not-for-profit 501C(6) organization dedicated to the continued growth and prosperity of Downtown South Bend in partnership with the City of South Bend. DTSB continually works to improve our community’s quality of life through creative marketing and promotion, coordinated public/private initiatives, effective economic development and business recruitment.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Tamara Nicholl-Smith
Director of Downtown Business Recruitment
Downtown South Bend, Inc.
217 S. Michigan St.
South Bend, IN 46601
P: 574.631.1451
tamara@downtownsouthbend.com
Kellirae Boann
Executive Director
The Village: A Community Musical Arts Alliance, Inc.
P.O. Box 11004
South Bend, IN 46634
P: 574.309.3022
kboann@thevillagesouthbend.org
