Twenty celebrated Key West artists will offer their “HeArt Strings” artwork created on old instruments in support of Bahama Village Music Program’s online fundraiser. The online art sale will take place Sunday, Nov. 8, on the non-profit organization’s Facebook and Instagram platforms. The proceeds from the event will be split between the artists and the island’s only free music education school.
“BVMP is primarily funded by generous arts supporters and creative fundraisers,” said executive director Katchen Duncan. “Since March 2020, we’ve had to cancel over a dozen in-person fundraisers, including our 20th Birthday Bash, and many annual events like Fats Navarro Day and Sugarloaf Oktoberfest.”
Participating artists include Eric Anfinson, Kassie Burnette, Fran Decker, Cricket Desmarais, Kate Divoll, Kate Fago, Tony Gregory, Ben Harrison, Pam Hobbs, Marlene Koenig, Karen Luknis, Mike Marrero, Lauren P. McAloon, Jack McDonald, Bucky Montgomery, Jim Salem, Jimm Sherington, Emma Starr, B Lucy Stevens and Rick Worth. The artists were invited to transform a “retired” string instrument into a creative masterpiece to be sold at a price chosen by the artist.
“We are happy to have an ‘event’ that not only brings in money for our program, but for other artists, too,” Duncan said.
Bahama Village Music Program is a comprehensive music school that fosters important mentor relationships between local teenage musicians and their students and has taught over 20,000 lessons to more than 2,000 children since 1999. The program has grown to include free summer camps for BVMP students, free dance lessons with Dance Key West, yearly full-tuition scholarships and grants to student teachers to attend the Berklee College of Music’s Aspire: Five-Week Music Performance Intensive, and full-scale musical theater productions with Keys Kids Junior and House of Pan Steel Pan Band at Horace O’Bryant School — inspiring children island-wide to discover the musician within. For more information, email BVMP board member Cricket Desmarais at Cricket@bvmpkw.org or Duncan at Katchen@bvmpkw.org.
