Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Representatives from Atura Power dropped by Napanee’s St. Mary Magdalene Church on Tuesday to make an announcement that was music to the ears of the Harmony Lounge and Music Club.
Using dollars from their Community Development Fund, Atura delivered a cheque for $25,000 for the after school music program.
“This is a very, very happy day for us,” said Michelle Hauser, program director for the Harmony Lounge and Music Club. “An investment of this size will fund all of our group classes for 2023, it will fund our paid student internship program, which is hugely innovative, there aren’t many community music schools in Ontario that are doing this, it will fund new equipment. Making music requires equipment that works and it’s expensive.”
Hauser has been working behind the scenes for almost a year now on the not-for-profit program, which offers free music lessons for children age 11-16. Officially launched in the basement of St. Mary Magdalene Anglican Church in September, the club is an all-inclusive space meant to give students a chance to learn music-be it guitar, flute, ukulele, piano, singing, drums, trumpet, trombone or music theory. Currently there are 60 students enrolled in their winter program, which is double from their initial fall session.
A collection of the musical equipment purchased courtesy of the grant was on display. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
Chris Yeomans, St. Mary’s organist who also played a vital role in establishing the program, knows firsthand the importance of providing an outlet for musically gifted youth, while also providing a space that is welcoming to all.
“These kids that are going to come to the church are going to come to a safe location and they’re going to receive that great gift of music and that wouldn’t be possible without Atura,” said Yeomans.
Funding was made possible through Atura’s Community Development Fund, which invites community groups to submit a proposal.
“It’s been a very easy process for us to make this decision when the grant proposal, the product and everything worked very well with the needs of the community. We seek out these partnerships for further grants and this would be a model of what we would seek out,” said Kevin Hillman, manager of Atura’s Napanee Generating Station, who was on hand to present the cheque. “We expect the program to be sustainable for many years and successful for many years.”
Greater Napanee CAO John Pinsent echoed that sentiment.
“I think the interesting thing about this, and I’ll speak on behalf of Atura and the Town of Greater Napanee, I don’t think we would have done this on our own within our core mandates of what we do,” said Pinsent. “But coming together with a fund like this and working in partnership made it easy to do. I think at the end of the day, especially for the Town of Greater Napanee, this is what it’s all about, making the community a good place to live in. Examples of doing things like this are ways that we make a community a good place to live.”
One of the benefactors of the program is local musician Jade Peter, who made the trip from nearby Napanee District Secondary School on her lunch break to share what the program has meant to her.
“The last two years have been difficult,” said Peter. “With COVID there’s been so many things going on, but for young musicians especially, we have not had anywhere to go for any music type of things because of all the closures and everything. Once I heard about (the Harmony Lounge and Music Club), it was amazing, I felt like we were finally getting back from it.”
Hauser says the funding sends a positive message not only to the organizers who help found the club, but to young musicians in Greater Napanee as well. As the interest in the club has grown in its first few months, Hauser says it’s about so much more than that. Providing a space not only to practice but to perform as well is an important factor that will encourage students to stick with music. Without a venue she likened it to a sports team that only practiced but never played.
They’ll have an opportunity to showcase their hard work during a ‘pay-what-you-can’ performance known as Youth Gonna Rock on Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.
St. Mary Magdalene is located at 137 Robinson St.
For those interested in learning more about the club, they can visit www.HarmonyMusicClub.com.