Our New Home!

Can you name this Portland historic gem?

That's right, it's Mechanics' Hall, designed by John Calvin Stevens, restored and managed by the Maine Charitable Mechanic Association. Thanks to the generosity of Clorinda & Dick Noyes, we have a PIANO! And thanks to MCMA, we have a beautiful place to house it and show it off to the public.

Please join 240 Strings, the Portland Piano Trio, and MCMA for our "piano-warming" inaugural concert on Wednesday, March 7: Mingling at 5pm, PPT at 6pm, with a 240 Strings student showcase video thrown in during the concert. Bring your friends!

We're also pleased to announce that in December, we were awarded three grants: one from the Maine Community Foundation Performing Arts Fund, one from the Morton Kelly Charitable Trust, and one from the Margaret E. Burnham Chartitable Trust.

Other important dates:
*Feb. 2 concert at First Parish Church, 7:30pm.
*Feb. 20 benefit night at Flatbread Pizza, 5-9pm.
*Many other concerts scheduled across Maine between March and September, as listed on our website.

And save the dates for the rest of our 2018 series at Mechanics' Hall:
Sunday, June 3
Thursday, September 20 

Looking forward to sharing music, pizza & ideas with you!
Annie, Tracey, & Ben

Grant Announcement!

We are proud to announce that 240 Strings has been awarded grants from the Maine Community Foundation, the Morton Kelly Charitable Trust and the Margaret E. Burnham Trust! We thank them for their support and belief in our mission. 

Video Fun

Our bid for recognition in Benchmark Realty's "4 a Cause" competition almost won! We missed it by only 1 vote!! Here is the video we had on Facebook:)

Coffee By Design's Rebel Blend Fund

We were recently awarded $3600 from Coffee By Design's Rebel Blend Fund! You can read about it here. With this grant money, we will be adding 3 new students to our program! Each of them will receive private lessons, instruments, supplies, workshops and concert tickets, all free of charge. Thank you, Coffee By Design! You are helping us make a difference.

We've gotten some press...

Article in the June 28, 2016 The Forecaster:

http://www.theforecaster.net/musical-trio-offers-portland-children-subsidized-lessons/

Thank you!

Our fundraiser house concert yesterday was amazing! The support we received is incredible, and we are excited to launch our program this fall. Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen, especially Ari Solotoff, our hosts, Maddy and Joe Vertenten, our board of directors, and all of our donors, large and small.  Thanks to all the people who said, "Yes, you should do this!!" (you know who you are!) And thank you to the audience who played their part in the magical concert. We are feeling the love!

This week's fundraiser!

3 Days until the big event!  We hope you will join us for this beautiful house concert and celebration of our new organization. 

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Exciting News!

This week we unveiled our new nonprofit idea, 240 Strings. As musicians, we are constantly frustrated with the near-impossibility of private music lessons for the vast majority of Mainers and Americans, as well as high ticket prices for many classical music events. How has this happened? The music that used to be the popular music of the day has become largely inaccessible, to the point of seeming elitist. 

I don't think I know any musicians who actually ARE elitist. As a whole, we are pretty down-to-earth and realistic.  We often don't go hear classical music concerts because they are too expensive! Classical music has outpriced the musicians who play it. How bizarre.

The benefits of learning to play classical music, as well as going to hear it, are well-documented.  We don't want to deny any child the right to the important benefits of learning to play an instrument. Not only that, we want them to learn to play WELL! We also want everyone to have the opportunity to go hear classical music without breaking the bank.  OFTEN!! Our goal is a whole series of affordable concerts.

Impossible? That's what we've heard. But we are pretty sure that with hard work and pluck (and courage!) we are going to make this thing happen.

Stay tuned!