Video story | By Jacob Matthews, The 74 Million | L.A. Unified’s famed ‘Last Repair Shop’ for students’ musical instruments just got tuned up, with a $1 million donation and a visit from the world’s most famous cellist. The beloved shop, which was featured in an Oscar-winning short documentary last year, repairs students’ school instruments across the district: taking in, fixing up and and sending back school pianos, tubas and drum sets on a daily basis.
It’s been operating for 65 years, and now the shop needs to raise $15 million to ensure it keeps functioning well into the future, said Ben Proudfoot, who co-directed the Academy Award-winning documentary about the shop and co-chairs its fundraising campaign.
This month, the Chuck Lorre Family Foundation gave the shop a big start on its ambitious goal, with a $1 million gift.
And to celebrate, cellist Yo-Yo Ma visited and played a couple riffs at a party held in the shop’s slightly ramshackle, downtown L.A. warehouse digs.
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Go here to read the rest of this very inspiring story or to watch the video:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/lausd-s-oscar-winning-last-repair-shop-gets-1-million-and-yo-yo-ma-visit/
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Related:
Unsung LAUSD Workers Starring in Oscar Nominated “The Last Repair Shop” to Walk the Red Carpet With Directors
Co-directors Kris Bowers and Ben Proudfoot tell the story of LA Unified’s music repair shop that keeps thousands of instruments in shape for students.
By Sara Balanta , The 74 Million | When the directors of the Oscar nominated short documentary “The Last Repair Shop” walk the red carpet next month, the four LAUSD workers who keep thousands of musical instruments in good repair will be right by their side.
The four craftspeople who work in one of the nation’s last free instrument repair shops, are at the heart of the already celebrated documentary, out now via the Los Angeles Times YouTube Channel and Disney+. The film chronicles the lives and impact of the four unsung LAUSD heroes unlocking the possibility of music education in Los Angeles.
https://www.the74million.org/article/unsung-lausd-workers-starring-in-oscar-nominated-the-last-repair-shop-to-walk-the-red-carpet-with-directors/
Photo: Directors Kris Bowers (left) and Ben Proudfoot (right) | Breakwater Studios