Donor’s Den

There are many ways to show your support of Brooklyn Music School. For some, this means volunteering their time; for others, this can mean spreading the news about BMS programming, or making a donation. Board member François Leininger prefers to spread his donations out, contributing on the same day each month to ensure BMS has support all year round. This is a wonderful way to contribute, and those who set up monthly giving can customize their donation to their specific needs and budgets. If you are able to donate even $5 a month for the rest of this year, it can make a huge difference.

François is a French architect and a Princeton alum. He has served on the Board of Directors at Brooklyn Music School since 2021. We sat down with him to understand why our organization is so meaningful to him.

What about BMS’ mission excites you?

Where to start? For me, the first important aspect is to be found in the mission statement of the school: “Making high quality performing arts instruction approachable and affordable to a wide range of students.”  Why is it so important? Our cities have become less inclusive and more elitist than ever. When the cost of living in New York increases uncontrollably, cultural education, music, museums, and theatre become a luxury. Being an architect, I believe that access to culture and the arts is essential to one’s development and happiness. It should be a public service! BMS is the next best thing. 

Additionally, I find BMS to be a beautiful, warm, charming, and totally unique educational environment. The building has a soul! BMS is a little bubble of diversity, of inclusion and culture, in the middle of a city that does not have enough of it. We need to nurture it and to support it.

Growing up, what was your relationship with performing arts?

Performing Arts have been central to my life. I have enjoyed attending live performances (opera, dance, rock concerts, theatre…) for most of my life. I was lucky enough to grow up with parents very fond of classical music and opera, and they had acquired a piano. None of us in the family were particularly skilled at playing it, but my parents had met a young man in the neighborhood who wanted to become a professional pianist. He was talented, but he was living in an apartment building with poor acoustic insulation (kind of like BMS!) and had issues with his neighbors. My parents moved the piano to a small room adjacent to our garage (still not acoustically insulated) and told him he could come and play whenever he wanted. He came to our home for many years. It was like having access to in-house live performances every day! He would sometimes practice Liszt or Rachmaninoff for 8 hours straight, including when I was trying to do my homework… He became a professional pianist and composer eventually, and we attended many of his concerts. This experience was foundational to me!

What’s the best way for someone to show their support for BMS?

Donating – When possible, is very important of course. But money is not the only way! I’d like to think that participation is essential too. Participation in the life of the school, via the many events and gatherings BMS organizes, at St Felix and beyond the walls. Attend the events and bring your friends with you! When they walk through this front door, chances are they will want to come back! 

In fact, this is how it all started for me. I was invited by a friend to attend a school show at the Playhouse, six or seven years ago. My friend suggested a quick tour of the school beforehand, and soon enough, we found ourselves stuck in a tight stairwell crowded with kids and instruments coming from both ends! It reminded me of Alan Parker’s Fame. I was hooked! Now my daughter is a student at the school, and taking her to her class is a great part of my week. I sometimes sneak into the theatre with our younger son when the place is empty. We sit somewhere in the back. We talk about the theatre, the stage, the sets, the lights, the instruments, the clapping, and how wonderful it must be to perform in a place such as this one… Magical!