When Drake won the annual Allan Slaight Award last week for being a young Canadian making a positive impact in the arts, he knew immediately where the $10,000 prize money would go: the Dixon Hall Music School.
The school, located in Regent Park, provides affordable music lessons and practice instruments to kids from low-income families in downtown east-side neighbourhoods Moss Park, St. Lawrence and Regent Park. Offering private lessons in piano, guitar, drums, voice and more for as low as $3 per half-hour session, the school has over 230 students and another 100 names on its waiting list.
Securing funding in order to keep the school running and the prices low has been the fundamental challenge since it opened in 1978. So what does a $10,000 donation mean to the Dixon Hall?
“Any number of great things,” says music school director Bob McKitrick. “It means we can expand our programming so that we can get more kids off our waiting lists. It means we can fix instruments or buy new ones. Most importantly, it means we can maintain our commitment to the community by providing affordable music lessons.”
The school is currently undergoing extensive renovations thanks to another generous funder and, once complete, will include a proper recording lab and jam space. McKitrick says Drake’s donation will help outfit the rooms and upgrade equipment.
This isn’t the first time the musician has donated to Dixon Hall. Last year he also gave $10,000. So what’s the Degrassi-actor-turned-rap-
Turns out Drake’s attorney, Chris Taylor, is on Dixon Hall’s Music for Life committee, which organizes the annual fundraising concert. (This year’s is set for late November at the Arcadian Court.)
“Drake’s also donated to the SickKids Music Therapy program, MS Society and an autism-related charity,” says McKitrick. “He’s really chosen to give back to his city quite a bit.”
