By Peter Leggett, Walker West Music Academy

Walker West Music Academy is moving to a new home just across the street from its current location on Selby Ave. in St. Paul. The 25-year-old community music academy plans to create a vibrant new center for music education in a building owned by Mytana Corporation at 760 Selby Avenue. The Academy is pursuing a 10-year lease on the new space, which was previously occupied by the College of Visual Arts. The Academy is selling its existing building at 777 Selby Avenue which it hopes will be restored to its original commercial and residential use. Interested buyers are encouraged to contact the Academy at 651-224-2929 to schedule showings.

New Center Benefits the Academy and the Community The new space will support our vision for a strong future for the Academy by providing more lesson rooms, a music performance space, a conference room and an improved facility for students, faculty and staff. The facility will also serve as a community space, available for use by community groups for meetings, events and other gatherings.

The Academy has engaged a team of consultants led by Mary Kay Palmer of Milestone Real Estate Partners to plan and execute the development, which is projected to cost $550,000.  Along with the Academy’s executive director, Peter Leggett, the team has developed architectural plans, estimated construction costs and has started soliciting support from local foundations and individual donors.  To date, the Academy has identified support for nearly 91 percent of the project’s total cost.

About Walker West Music Academy Founded in 1988 by two African-American musicians, Reverend Carl Walker and Grant West, Walker West Music Academy is one of the nation’s oldest African American-founded music schools.  The Academy provides out-of-school music instruction for children, teens and adults. The non-profit organization’s robust scholarship program provides access to music education for students and families who could not otherwise afford tuition.

Programs include individual instruction, group instruction, jazz ensembles, workshops, a digital music program and a summer camp. The Academy serves more than 125 students each week. Students perform for more than 1,500 people annually at community, non-profit, corporate and government events throughout the metro area.