Hopewell Music needs to raise $50,000 or else it will be closed. The music cooperative, which offers accessible educational opportunities for the north Minneapolis community, posted a fundraiser and, as of this writing, is about $10,000 short of its $50,000 goal with only two days remaining.
The page lists the “several unsustainable and negligent management practices that came to light” when Hopewell changed leadership in May 2019 as the reason it needs the emergency funding.
Open for seven years, Hopewell is the only full-service music school in north Minneapolis, and its closing would be an especially unfortunate loss for the students and families that depend on it. At Hopewell, 68 percent of its students require a partial or full scholarship to attend, and without the scholarships the school offers, they likely wouldn’t be able to participate in a music program like it.
Hopewell’s website states that the money raised will be used to continue private lessons through the end of the school year, after which programming will be suspended while it develops a better business model so that it can offer living-wage employment to its employees.
Hopewell employs 16 staff and faculty members, and organizes 20 community concerts and events each year. The school conducted a study in 2015 that found just how much of a difference it can make in its student’s lives. Hopewell students have reported feeling more confident and a higher willingness to attempt new things after attending.
Visit the fundraiser to consider making a donation.