We asked Ron Stein, Board President of the Friends of the Coltrane Home in Dix Hills New York, what is needed next to help transform the home into a museum and cultural site to advance the musical, cultural and spiritual legacies of John and Alice Coltrane. Here is what he told us:
The specific ask is seeking to raise approximately $250K to secure the remainder of a $172K NY Matching Grant to complete the exterior stabilization. We are also looking for $50K for staffing and program funding. The Home will cost us approximately $1.4 million to complete and open to the public (hopefully within 3 years).
We have made considerable progress on the Home. Over the last 2 years, the mold has been completely remediated, with the next phases being the repairs to the foundation and brick façade. Working with the Town of Huntington for repairs of the wrought iron fence and gate – the Town has earmarked approximately $40,000 and is currently soliciting bids. Additional site cleanup is about to be underway, and the walkways and porches will be repaired once the Home’s foundation and façade is properly repaired. We are about to launch a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the façade work.
We just completed our fourth annual, and highly successful Coltrane Day. We had record daytime crowds, and aside from wrestling with the weather, performances were well-attended, the first beer garden added a new and desirable element to the event, and workshops and community jams were outstanding throughout.
We continue our pilot work both in Hempstead schools and Wyandanch library – minority areas which have seen terrible cutbacks to music programs. We are working to establish a multi-week residency program in Hempstead this Fall, and will continue with library programs. A program for seniors is also being developed which will debut at the Wyandanch Public Library in October.
We have received a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation for our first significant hire – project manager, who will help oversee some of the next phases of the Home’s restoration, assist with fundraising, programming and other aspects of the overall project.
We have an Education Committee that is becoming quite active, and which we are looking to expand. It is led by Carol Brown, and anyone interested is welcome to participate.
Thanks again for all your photo work this past event – great stuff as always!!
Hope this is helpful,
Ron
