A letter to all who visit (or have visited) this site!
Hi Everyone! Sorry we’ve been out of contact on this site for so long. We try to put as much support (staff, volunteer and financial) as possible into our Kids Rock Free© educational programs and we kind of left the website behind… not enough hours in the day. Our sincerest apologies… it won’t happen again! We have a new group of people helping us out and a re-invigorated commitment to reaching people worldwide! We will be updating this site every week if not more. So please stick with us… we’re back and stronger than ever!
Here’s the latest… We are under construction of our new 33,000 square foot museum and education facility!!! It’s been a lot of work, but thanks to the dedication of our volunteers, board members, Community members and staff… we’re finally doing it! Due to the fact that the new facility is on the same site as our Preview center, we had to move. We shut down the Preview Center in February of this year so we could pack up. We spent a couple of months looking for an affordable interim location for our offices and classrooms. The City of Corona Redevelopment Agency came through for us (as they have done many times before) with a small house that they offered to us free of charge (we could afford that!). We moved into the “museum house” at the end of April. Scores of volunteers made this move possible and extremely cost effective. In fact on the last day we had planned on moving the “big stuff”, all the heavy cabinetry and stage sections. Of course, wouldn’t you know it, the forklift that was loaned to us broke down. Although I know most of us wanted to say “oh well, let’s do it another day”, that didn’t happen. Everyone huffed and puffed and became human forklifts… the ancient Egyptians had nothing on us! The volunteers were great! From helping us pack, to bringing home made enchiladas and egg rolls for lunch… this Community put their backs and souls into our move… we cannot even come close to thanking them enough!
Since the first of May, a lot has happened with the construction. As of October 1st, the walls are up and the roof structure is on! If everything goes as planned (which it seldom does) we should be able to open our doors to the public during the first couple of months of 2002! We will be opening the Museum in phases. This first phase, we will build out 10,000 square feet of the interiors and the amphitheater. As funding allows, we will build out additional classrooms and exhibit galleries. This first phase will house a very cool exhibit about Fender Guitars, their history and their impact on the music world. As the Museum expands, these exhibits will delve into other musical instruments and performing arts. The designs are very exciting and we can’t wait to turn them into physical reality!
Well that’s about it for now. Check out the link on this page to see the Museum as it looks right now. Please come back and visit our NEW site often! We are planning some really interesting things for this site and ways that you can get involved with the Museum. Don’t be strangers… we never will be again!
Yours in the Arts,
John Page
Executive Director