The past week has been an "emotional rollercoaster" for members of the Wallaceburg Concert Band.
The good news for the group is that it is set to receive approximately $25,000 in grant money from a couple of different sources to help cover some of their annual expenses.
The bad news is that in the near future, the band may not have a permanent place to practice and perform.
The group just learned this past Monday that they are set to receive just under $19,000 from the Municipality of Chatham-Kent from its Community Development fund. That was approved by CK Council after municipal staff recommended the group receive funding to cover up to 61 per cent of its annual expenses ($30,600).
The group has also been awarded some community grants -- one from the South Kent Wind/CK Community Foundation to the tune of $6,500 and another from WalMart for $1,000.
Because the group is run by volunteers, its largest expense isn't salaries -- it's instrument purchases. The band is aiming to spend $16,000 each year over the next five years to replace some instruments that members are currently using on loan from the Lambton-Kent District School Board.
A previously unanticipated expense, though, which wasn't factored into the municipality's funding determination, is a potentially significant increase in room rental costs.
Since its inception three years ago, the band has been using the music room at Wallaceburg District Secondary School at no cost to the group thanks to the province's Community Use of Schools program, but it appears that partnership is coming to an end.
Heather Hughes, Public Relations Officer with the Lambton-Kent District School Board, confirmed with Blackburn News Thursday morning that the board is currently considering "repurposing" the music room that is being used by the concert band.
"The board has not made any final decisions about the use of the classroom facility," said Hughes. "Any changes in the future would be communicated to the school community and any external organizations as appropriate as per our typical process."
Hughes said at this point, the group has not been evicted, adding the board does "appreciate community partnerships as they support the Ministry of Education's focus on supporting affordable access to school facilities to promote opportunities for community organizations to utilize available space within our schools during non-school hours." Hughes said one option the board has presented is to relocate the Wallaceburg Concert Band's space to the cafeteria.
Time may be ticking down for the band to find a new home, though, and the costs of finding an alternative space outside of the school could end up skyrocketing.
A letter that was posted by band director David Babbitt on the group's Facebook page recently said, "My position is this... regardless of when this re-purposing takes place, is that we will be required to leave the space at some point in the not too distant future."
Babbitt added the group has been searching for an alternative location that would also meet their budgetary restrictions, but so far, their search has come up empty.
He said the space they would use for rehearsals needs to include:
- enough floor space for 80 musicians, stands and equipment -- but not a huge space with hard surfaces because that's not good for acoustic reasons
- preferably a high ceiling
- enough space to store equipment including drum sets, sound equipment, 80 music stands, other instruments and equipment
- has access to 80 armless chairs
- has somewhere the group can use as office space and to store several filing cabinets of music
They're also committed to staying in Wallaceburg, which is limiting their options.
Babbit said, for now, the group has been offered some temporary space to store its equipment and rehearse, but added, "we'll be essentially homeless after June 14th so ideas are welcome."
You can contact the Wallaceburg Concert Band via their Facebook page by clicking here.
