Thanks @axtremus and @jon-nyc
@jon-nyc said:
And awesome that they can afford a space in the mall.
The board is this big alliance of local people and I think there are some big donors in the background, I’m not really sure. Also, like many malls, this one is struggling and has lots of empty storefronts, so I have to wonder if they get a huge deal on their rent or something. The piano was donated as well.
They encourage people to become “members” to support the art alliance (it’s a small annual fee), so I did that, and I’ll try to attend their other events as well to get to know people connected to the shop.
It’s an amazing space, apparently it used to be a Victoria Secrets (which is kind of funny), so it’s huge and has two lovely arched entryways (the piano is near one), and a big event space at the back of the store. The artwork is all really cool so it’s quite inspiring to play there!
And the cool thing is that they actively encourage people to play, which is wonderful.
Do you ever have piano parties? Or is it just you playing at a gathering?
I don’t have a community of musicians here yet so usually it’s just me playing at a gathering. I make sure people are fed well in exchange for listening to me play!
Last year, we had a party and I played with a violinist, but she’s gone now (moved back to Japan). And in late July, I’m planning to play with a cellist, we’ll do three pieces together plus probably both of us will play some solo pieces. But he’s a student (doctorate of music) at the music school here so he won’t be here forever. But it’s a start.
What I really want is to meet people locally who play, hopefully being connected to the art shop will help.
We’ve lived in this town for almost three years now, so we’d like to start making more connections beyond work!
