Our New Home - The Arts Exchange

After years of trying to fit 100 young men into a small (and non-air-conditioned) room, the choir was forced to vacate even that space, due to lease termination. True to their motto of “No Excuses,” the choir’s programs have continued.

A local businesswoman recently stepped up, offering to temporarily rent her beautiful conference room to the boys on a limited basis. With rows of fixed tables, the new space is used for study hall, problematic for music rehearsals, and completely unsuitable for dance, sectional rehearsals, and counseling sessions. The choir has no access on weekends and limited access during the week. All parts of the program, including the number of boys able to participate, have been severely curtailed.

Room to Grow

The new Boys’ Choir Center will be a part of The Arts Exchange, a unique development led by the Council on Culture & Arts (COCA), a non-profit agency and long-time partner with the Boys’ Choir.

The Arts Exchange will have three components: affordable housing built to the highest standards; a Creative Work Center in which the Boys’ Choir Center will be located along with other non-profit theatre, dance, and music organizations to create new opportunities for each other; and a black box theatre space to produce performances in a state-of-the-art facility.

The Boys’ Choir Center will not only be large enough to accommodate their current needs, but the projected growth as well. No child will ever have to be turned away due to lack of space.

The Right Space for the Program

• Classrooms, counseling rooms, a library, and computer lab, along with a cafeteria/game room, and locker room.
• A professionally-equipped dance studio, with barres, mirrors, sprung floors, a sound system.
• Soundproofed ensemble rooms for sectional rehearsals and small group music instruction.
• A large rehearsal hall, complete with recording and playback equipment.
• Access to the facility’s professionally-equipped black  box theatre for performances

A Community of Artists, Teachers, and Collaborators

The Arts Exchange will also be home to major cultural organizations such as the Tallahassee Ballet and the Council on Culture & Arts. In addition, more than 20 arts organizations and hundreds of individual artists and educators will rehearse, perform, and hold workshops there on a regular basis, providing the choir members the opportunity to meet and learn from professional artists in all disciplines of all ages and backgrounds. These professionals will provide solid role models for choir members in need of them. The choir, in turn, will inspire them all.

To learn more about or donate to
The Arts.Exchange, please visit:

www.the-arts-exchange.com