North Valley Music School Awarded $500k Grant for New Facility
The recently announced $500,000 grant comes to NVMS through the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, which specializes in partnering with nonprofits serving the Pacific Northwest
By Mike Kordenbrock
After announcing this week that it has received a $500,000 grant from a Vancouver-based nonprofit, North Valley Music School leadership says the Whitefish institution is within $785,000 of its $7.5 million fundraising goal for financing the construction of a new facility and a $1 million operations endowment.
The new approximately 8,100-square-foot music school building at Smith Fields is expected to be a major upgrade from the roughly 100-year-old converted home on Spokane Avenue that NVMS has relied on since the early 2000s. Plans for the new facility include space for 15 private studios, a large group classroom, a multi-purpose recital room with seating for 100, instrument storage space, private staff offices, additional parking, and compliance with the Americans for Disabilities Act. NVMS has been raising money for the project through its Be Instrumental capital campaign, and a groundbreaking event was held for the building in April of this year.
The recently announced $500,000 grant comes to NVMS through the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, which specializes in partnering with nonprofits serving the Pacific Northwest, including in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington by providing funding that goes to support arts, culture and education, civic engagement and community service, health and environmental stewardship, nonprofit leadership and development, and scientific research. According to an impact report from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, in 2023 it distributed $96 million in grant money through 378 grants, including over $1.5 million in grants throughout Montana, with the money split between the Montana Food Bank Network in Missoula, the Montana Nonprofit Association, and the International Deaf Education Association in Billings.
“Over the past five years, student enrollment has grown 30%. With over 100 students currently on the waitlist, Montana’s only nonprofit community music school is in dire need of more space to continue meeting the explosive demand for music education,” said NVMS Executive Director Dierdre Corson in a press release statement. “We are deeply grateful to the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. They are an integral part of the village it’s taken to make this dream come to fruition. It’s exciting to watch this project grow and thrive.”
The announcement of the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust grant comes on the heels of another major grant announcement from NVMS earlier this summer. In late July, the Whitefish Community Foundation went public with the news that it had awarded the music school a $130,000 grant to go toward the construction of the new facility. The grant was put together through a $50,000 Major Community Project Grant, and $80,000 from multiple donors who are part of the community foundation’s Circle of Giving.
Later this month, NVMS will look to keep the fundraising momentum going. The school is one of 80 Flathead Valley nonprofits participating in this year’s Great Fish Community Challenge, which offers matching funds to further fundraising gains made over the course of the challenge. The challenge kicks off on Aug. 8. Last year, NVMS outraised all other participating nonprofits and brought in a total of $366,962 through the challenge.
On Aug. 11, NVMS is also hosting its eighth annual Montana Music Event at Stillwater Landing. The family friendly event features live music and food and drink. Performers this year include My Ideal Day, Jeremy Reinbolt and Tracy McDowell, Hilary O and Rachelle Klein, Tim Helnore, and Wild Wind.
General admission tickets for the Aug. 11 fundraiser start at $25. Gates open at 5:30 p.m., and music starts at 6 p.m.