New home for Niagara Conservatory of Music
After more than 35 years of teaching children the value of music, Niagara Conservatory of Music has a new St. Catharines home.
“We’re pretty excited,” said conservatory director Greg Wierzcholski.
“In time, it’s going to be a great space for kids to gather and get inspired to create great music together.”
Wierzcholski said the conservatory took over the new space, across the hall from its previous location within the Masonic Lodge at 22 Court St., on April 1 and spent the weeks since then renovating it.
“We have an additional 2,000 square feet, and we turned it into an open concept area … The goal is to have it ready for Friday. We have an open house scheduled for Friday, so it’s definitely going to be ready.”
The previous location, across the hall from the new home, was broken up into individual lesson rooms making it impossible to hold larger gatherings.
“This new space is going to allow us to run larger based programs. We’re going to running camps throughout the year in the summer, winter and March break,” Wierzcholski said.
It will also let the organization expand it’s program working with Niagara Region’s ProKids program to provide subsidized music lessons for children from low income homes, with more room to accommodate larger classes.
A stage was also added to the new location, giving music students an opportunity to perform together.
“We have rock bands and glee club programs that we run throughout the year, and just having these kids being able to practice on a weekly basis on a stage and it gives them more of a feel for how that performance is going to be when they have to compete in one of our competitions or concerts,” he said.
“It’s going to be really cool for them and a lot of fun for sure.”
The conservatory will be showing off its new digs, along with the talent of its students during the open house, from 3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
“We’re going to have a number of teachers and students performing on the stage along with a couple local acts, throughout the day,” Wierzcholski said.
“We’re inviting people to come down and check out the new space and pick up some literature about what’s going to be offered.
“We’re just excited to share the space with the public and get a lot of kids in there.”