Covenant House Renovates Music Studio With $200,000 Garden of Dreams Grant
The MSG Entertainment-linked charity partnered with Republic Records to help the Chelsea nonprofit–which provides services to homeless youth–with the makeover.
Garden of Dreams Foundation, a charity linked to Madison Square Garden, has spearheaded a $200,000 makeover of the Chelsea nonprofit Covenant House’s music studio. Covenant House provides services for 1,500 homeless youth in the area. Garden of Dreams got some help with the revamp from the major music label Republic Records.
A celebratory Feb. 4 ribbon-cutting ceremony held in Covenant House’s gymnasium was kicked off by City Council Member Erik Bottcher, who represents the district that contains Covenant House.
“The work that is happening at Covenant House has set a new standard for all of New York City, and the entire country,” he said. “The young people who reside here, they’re my constituents. We’re fighting for them to make sure that they have everything that they need, and this music studio—made possible by the Garden of Dreams Foundation—is just another example of how our community is coming through for our young people.”
Bottcher added that helping the residents of Covenant House achieve their musical dreams would strike a blow against the forces of “intergenerational poverty,” before joking that he’d be “cutting an album” of his own later.
David Bocchi, a Covenant House board member who co-founded the wealth management firm Alliance Global Partners, spoke next: “Our covenant to these young people is to love unconditionally, respect absolutely, and support relentlessly. Today is about their dreams, as all of you are here today to celebrate artistic expression and personal development.”
Stacey-Ann Easy, the Executive Director of the Garden of Dreams Foundation, gave the broader picture of the charity’s work; they’ve distributed $12.5 million in grants to date, she said. The Covenant House music studio grant is specifically part of its “Community Projects” program.
Covenant House, she noted, takes part in the foundation’s annual talent show at Radio City Music Hall. She expressed hope that the music studio would “exponentially multiply” the amount of participants in these events.
“I’m creative, and music studios like this changed my life,” Easy concluded. “No matter what was going on in the world, they were my safe space.”
The final speaker was Upper West Side City Council Member Gale Brewer. “I’m not creative, but I love music studios,” she began. “When I was Manhattan Borough President, I tried to get a lot of music studios in as many high schools as I possibly could. I bet yours went a lot faster than me, dealing with the NYC Department of Education! So, congratulations on so many fronts.”
Before the ribbon-cutting went forward, however, Covenant House member Shanai regaled the audience with a gorgeous (and original) ballad that blew everybody out of their seats. Straus News witnessed at least one person brought to intense tears. She prefaced the performance by explaining that spaces such as Covenant House’s music studio had changed her self-perception, as she is now considering a career as a musician.
The speakers then walked down the hall to the renovated music studio, which features an immense television and state-of-the-art mixing equipment. Cameras crammed the doorway, the ribbon was cut, and Shanai basked in the glow of a space that will hopefully make her into a superstar.