Dear Detroit Sound Conservancy Ally,
On the week of our 5th birthday, I come with my hat in my hands.
I’m writing you because I know you care deeply about our collections and our mission and that we must maintain and protect these collections.
Last year, we made the tough decision to pull our collections from our first proper home, and get them into a safe, temperature controlled, set of U-Haul spaces. The good news was that we did, and in the process protected, surveyed, reboxed, and then even expanded, our collections. We also received a major gift of 1,200 music reference books, and an historic sound system that we know when restored will become a great programming asset.
In addition, moving to that new space freed us to do some amazing programming, including celebrating John Lee Hooker’s 99th Birthday, holding our third annual sound conference, and perhaps most importantly, salvaging and rebuilding the Blue Bird Inn Jazz Stage, which just finished being exhibited in France for Saint-Étienne’s Design Biennale.
However, a year later the cost of that decision has become too much to bear. In addition, funds we thought might have come by now through our monthly Patreon campaign and regular payments via Paypal have not amounted to our rising overhead costs.
The result is a perfect storm that puts five years of work at risk.
What’s most frustrating is that we have tons on the horizon: the Blue Bird Stage returns to Detroit this summer, we are planning two exhibitions of items from our collections this summer and in the fall, and we are so very close to a long term vision and plan for a permanent home which would include a museum, hall of fame, and a preservation factory.
So here’s the ask: I need you to donate what you can now, to stabilize our ship. We need time to move our collections into more affordable space, expand our donor base, and establish our vision for a home that we can pound the pavement for. And after that, I need you to refer us personally to others who you think can help us during this time of need.
We are weathering our first proper crisis, and we know if we can get through this year, our best times are ahead of us. But we need a shot in the arm to close the hole in our operating budget now. Help us keep the lights on. We ain’t too proud to beg.
Sincerely,
Carleton
Executive Director