WHITEFISH - The North Valley Music School has been a staple in Flathead County for the last 25 years, teaching a variety of music lessons to all ages.
And as the Flathead continues to grow, so does the number of enrollees at the school, serving more than 300 students a week.
“We’re the only non-profit music school in the entire State of Montana and we have been around for a long time, we’ve had a 25 continuous year history,” said North Valley Music School Board Chair Christine Rossi.
The school in Whitefish has seen exponential growth over the last quarter of a century, "we’re bursting at the seams, so a new facility is kind of desperately needed and warranted at this moment in time,” explained Rossi.
Currently operating out of a 100-year-old house in Whitefish, Rossi said it’s time to find a new home.
“Our new building is really going to be the way that we can continue serving students [for] years to come, and make sure that music education really thrives in the valley.”
North Valley Music School is currently in the middle of a fundraising campaign. They have already raised $4 million of a $6.5 million goal to break ground on a new facility. Land for the new building has been donated from Project Whitefish Kids, including a partnership with the City of Whitefish to sublease for only $10 a year.
“We’ve got 15 private studios in this new building, group classroom and a multi-purpose recital space that will allow us not only to serve our own student population but also the community, so it’s a community space as well," said Rossi.
The new 8,500-square-foot facility will provide valuable space for music lessons and safe and secure parking. Executive Director Deidre Corson said that’s a welcome sight compared to busy Spokane Avenue, steps outside their current home.
“The new facility will have a great, safe parking lot, will have a great, safe drop off zone, so families that are coming in with infants and toddlers, their hands full, can safely get inside the building,” said Corson.
Rossi expects the future home to keep building on traditions made over the last 25 years, serving music lovers in the Flathead for generations to come.
“Honestly think that this will go 50, 100 years into the future, that’s why we’re working so hard in this planning stage to make sure that we set this up right, we build the perfect building, and we have an awesome opportunity right now.”
She said a final push for community funding will help make this dream a reality, "and all we need is help, we just need to get to our goal line, we’re anticipating breaking ground late summer this year and being fully open, operational in 2024.”
Those who would like to help fund the new building can do so here.
