Lenawee Community Foundation Awards $20,000 to Music Park

Tecumseh, Michigan – The Lenawee Community Foundation recently awarded Tecumseh Center for the Arts (TCA) with $20,000 to support the creation and installation of the new TCA Music Park on the theater’s property.

Tecumseh Center for the Arts and Economic Development Director Kelly Jo Gilmore requested funding through the Lenawee Community Foundation, showing the design of the Music Park, benefits to the Lenawee County community, as well as listing the financial support received to date and the remaining funds needed to complete the project by summer.

“While researching funding opportunities, I felt the Lenawee Community Foundation was an excellent fit for this project,” stated Gilmore. “The Foundation supports projects that focus on the health, happiness and hope of its citizens. I truly believe the TCA Music Park will provide a unique quality-of-life opportunity for community members of all ages to enjoy interactive art and music while gathering outdoors in nature.”

With the $20,000 donation from the Lenawee Community Foundation through the Robert & Albert Ward Todd Endowment, the TCA Music Park has raised $95,000 from local foundations, individual donors, and funding through the City of Tecumseh’s Parks and Recreation Department. The project officially started last fall with excavation. Throughout the spring, the community will see more progress as landscaping begins, concrete is poured, and the first sound sculptures arrive. The funding from the Lenawee Community Foundation will allow the City of Tecumseh to purchase the second round of interactive sound sculptures. A ribbon cutting is being planned for summer 2023.

“For the past 25 years, the Lenawee Community Foundation has proven to be an important catalyst for enhancing the quality of life in Lenawee County. By partnering with donors and building permanent endowments like the Robert & Albert Ward Todd Endowment, we’re able to support transformational projects like the new TCA Music Park,” stated Lenawee Community Foundation President and CEO Bronna Kahle. “Special projects like the Music Park improve the lives of everyone who lives here—now and forever.”

Tecumseh Center for the Arts created an outdoor Art - Music - Sculpture Park during the summer of 2020. The three-phase project includes the TCA Street Art Trail unveiled in 2020, Mary Jo Mensing Sculpture Garden in 2021, and now the third phase, TCA Music Park, will connect Douglas Bird Kiwanis Memorial Park to the TCA property. The Music Park will feature outdoor, handicap accessible musical instruments, a trail through the woods, and decorative landscaping. The TCA Music Park is a collaboration between Tecumseh Center for the Arts, City of Tecumseh Parks and Recreation, and F & S Landscaping. Visitors of all ages will enjoy the “walk through the woods” as they encounter a large variety of sound sculptures from a harp to lily pad shaped cymbals. Musicians of all ages and skill levels will be able to create music surrounded by specifically designed landscaping that cohesively combines art, music, and nature.

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For more information, contact TCA Director Kelly Jo Gilmore
at kgilmore@tecumsehmi.gov.