Music school in £300k funding bid

The Music Room currently operates from one small section of The Bakehouse in Globe Close, but repeated flooding has raised the threat of temporary closure.
Founder Carol Brotherston said: “We have a building which actually belongs to our family – it’s 2000sq ft and it used to be a bakery.”
Carol says only one room can be used at present, which she opened last year to teach piano as The Music Room.
However, The Music Room now hosts eight music teachers delivering a wide range of instrumental tuition, hosts live lounges, ran the recent Maidens of Music and Wee Burns Supper festivals, and has a slot on Alive Radio showcasing emerging talent.
Plans are in place to obtain charitable status and raise the £300,000 required to renovate the whole building over a five-year period.
Carol said: “What we’re aiming to do is create a centre for the performing arts, by using the whole building.
“It’ll be a sort of school for the performing arts.”
The building will be gifted rent free to the charity, with units rented to people offering services related to the performing arts.
Carol said: “We might rent out a studio to people doing dance, or to somebody as a recording studio, or we might rent out a unit to piano and drum teachers, and maybe another unit to a theatre, so eventually the whole building will be providing services in the performing arts.”
However, the roof’s condition means water occasionally seeps into the one room currently in use.
Carol said: “It smells of damp all the time, and when I’m actually in The Music Room I can hear debris falling off the walls and ceiling next door.”
It was visiting MSP Emma Harper who suggested crowdfunding to raise the £2000 needed to fix the roof.
Hoping for support for the project, with fundraising also taking place in supermarkets, Carol said: “It’s building up momentum, and if we have to shut it down at the moment it’s going to hinder us.”
To contribute, visit www.gofundme.com/2gvu93tg