Lynn music program renovates studio space

LYNN – To increase participation in its arts programs for adults and youths, Lynn nonprofit Building Bridges Through Music is currently performing renovations in its space on the third floor of the Lynn Arts building.During a tour of the location at 25 Exchange St. on Friday, nonprofit co-founder and artistic programs director Doreen Murray said three rooms – and an open area that takes up half the third floor – will be converted into rehearsal, instruction and storage space for its music and dance classes. Prior to the construction, Building Bridges only used the open area and the building?s first-floor theater.Building Bridges, which opened in 2000, serves Lynn and the surrounding communities through programs that present music as a multicultural and educational tool. Murray founded the organization with her mother, Ginny Makkers, the nonprofit?s executive director and the minister of music at Zion Baptist Church in Lynn.?Music is the universal language and the glue that binds people, so we bring everybody together through education using music,” Murray said.The renovations are scheduled to be completed by Jan. 23, when the nonprofit will rename its space to the New School of Music Education and Cultural Enrichment. It will also introduce additional group and private music classes for a fee. Most of the programs that Building Bridges offers are free, Murray said.?We?re hoping to get enough adult classes filled so that it will help to augment the cost for those kids who really can?t afford it and need financial aid assistance,” she said, adding that the nonprofit also provides aid through donations and sponsors.The goal of Building Bridges? youth programs is to supplement the in-school arts instruction children receive with after-school and Saturday activities. Murray said the renovated spaces will be able to teach at least three times the current 60 participants.?Music and performance, a lot of kids want it,” she said. “It?s not available after school. It?s just not. Not on a regular basis. So that?s what we do. We don?t do swim and gym, but we do performance, music, dance, acting, all of that.”Down the hall from the nonprofit?s office is a small room filled with guitars, keyboards, amplifiers and other equipment still in their boxes. Murray said it was all donated by Ernie Boch Jr.?s foundation, Music Drives Us. The room will soon become a place to house the instruments and conduct small instruction, as will one other small room.Farther down the hall is a bigger room with a “Groove School” sign on the door. That program promotes teamwork through group instruction and the formation of a band that culminates in a performance at the end of a six- to 10-week session. The room is mostly empty, but Murray said it will end up being the space for larger music classes and the adult Follow Hymn Interfaith Community Choir, among other uses.On the opposite side of the floor is an ample space that Murray said will become a multi-purpose classroom and, possibly in the future, the home of a recording and production studio.Among the programs offered by Building Bridges is Project No Limits, a performance and expressive arts class for developmentally disabled adults that Murray said was a longtime goal of the nonprofit. The adults will also interact with the other Building Bridges participants.?We will not keep them separated,” she said. “They will be mainstreamed into every event that we do.”To raise money for scholarships and collect winter clothing donations for the children?s seasonal service project “Gift of Warmth,” Building Bridges will hold a fundraiser on the evening of Sunday, Dec. 4 at the theater in the Lynn Arts building, with performances from Building Bridges instructors and the community choir.Murray said that the nonprofit?s longevity and expansion means that its future will be bright.?Twelve years and we?re still standing,” she said, “so it can only get bigger and better.”Sarah Mupo can be reached at [email protected].