By Josephine Sollitto / The Jambar
Youngstown State University’s Dana School of Music is raising money in a crescendo to reach a $20 million total goal for scholarships, school improvements and programming, with benefits to the community.
Joseph Carucci, director of Dana and University Theatre, said the Crescendo Campaign began with a $5 million donation from Bruce Zoldan, founder of Phantom Fireworks. This donation led to an initial goal of raising $15 million more for the school.
“About two years ago, Bruce Zolden generously donated $5 million to the Dana School of Music. It’s $5 million in installments over the course of seven years, so as it comes, we’ll be building up a budget,” Carucci said. “We will be launching a campaign to try and raise $15 million for the Dana School of Music.”
Carucci said the money from the campaign would go to community projects, scholarships and other resources at the school for generations to come.
“$15 million for the Dana School of Music [will be used for] all sorts of community projects, programming, as well as scholarships and the general operation of the Dana School of Music to help us be more sustainable and last well into the future,” Carucci said.
After the initial goal, Carucci said the school hopes to generate another $5 million in additional funding, for a total of $20 million. He said this will impact the community and overall view of the school.
“The biggest thing that is changing actually is that the narrative around the Dana School of Music and to see that there is true value in the arts and in the contributions that the Dana School of Music makes to both the regional society and national conversations,” Carucci said. “This sort of campaign and donation really speak to the importance of the arts in society… this doesn’t even get to the amount of investment that we’re going to be able to make in our community.”
The Crescendo Campaign held an event Sept. 14 to welcome donors, staff members and performing YSU students.
Carucci said those interested in donating to the campaign will soon be able to visit the YSU Foundation online.
“We’re going to be making a website that will be launched very soon,” Carucci said. “[The community] can reach out to the YSU Foundation if they would like to donate or seek more information. They could also reach out to the Dana School of Music office.”