Interview With Nick Gaudreau, Director of Development, Church Street School for Music and Art

For almost two decades, the Church Street School for Music and Art has been a place where New York City kids can learn to strum a guitar, hit the high notes and build a gingerbread house.

The nonprofit community arts center’s enrollment grows every year, along with its need donation dollars.

To find out more about Church Street and its fundraising challenges and experiences, check out FundRaising Success’ interview with the school’s director of development, Nick Gaudreau.

FundRaising Success: Tell us a little about the organization.
Nick Gaudreau: Founded in 1990, Church Street School for Music and Art is a nonprofit community arts center dedicated to arts education in Lower Manhattan. When Church Street School first opened, the school was located in a second-floor loft, a block and a half below Canal [Street] on Church Street. It was a wonderful space with great light, high ceilings and painted plywood floors. Founding directors Lauri Bailey and Lisa Ecklund-Flores did all the teaching, along with two art teachers. About 150 students enrolled the first year.

Today, home is a newly renovated, ground floor loft on Warren Street between Greenwich and West Broadway. The space, uniquely designed by an affiliated parent, is full of space and light, with the sights and sounds of music and art everywhere. In just the few years that we have called this new facility home, it has become too small, as enrollment has grown to nearly 400 students annually. The school’s board of directors is planning another expansion into the lower level, forming our most imminent fundraising priority.

The community that Church Street School serves encompasses TriBeCa, Chinatown, SoHo, Battery Park City, as well as parts of the Villages and Chelsea. There is a growing number of students who travel from Brooklyn, the Upper West Side and New Jersey. Connection to the community is one of the things that makes Church Street School for Music and Art so beloved. Its board and donors are community based. Now 18 years old, Church Street School for Music and Art has built a dedicated board, a talented and stable roster of staff and faculty, and a director whose inclusive vision and skill excites a loyal following of students, alumni and friends.