NORTHAMPTON — A few hours before the Academy of Music’s recent “Let’s Hear It!” campaign for a new assisted listening system was set to expire on April 30, the fund was $400 short of the $10,000 goal.
Then, mid-afternoon that day, Debra J’Anthony, executive director of the Academy of Music, opened the day’s mail. Inside it was a $500 check from the Northampton Lions Club.
“We did it!” J’Anthony told the Gazette. “Last-minute, but we did it!”
The “Let’s Hear It!” campaign, which will include at least 30 headsets, raised $10,396.11 as of Monday, May 4, with 379 individual contributions, most of which were under $20. The largest single contributor was Florence Hearing Health Care, who gave $1,000. Once the headsets are in place, the clinic will demonstrate how the assisted listening system works in a social media post and will be available to answer questions about it if the venue is unable to do so, according to Melanie Slabaugh, the Academy’s development and communications manager.
Other sizable donors include Florence Bank and the Lions Club, whose President Steve Richards said the organization was happy to help the Academy of Music, which he called a “community treasure.”
“To help make the Academy and its shows accessible for more of our neighbors to enjoy is a natural fit for the Lions, and we are thrilled to be able to contribute to the cause,” he waid in a statement. “That the project benefits the visually impaired, a group Lions Clubs everywhere have helped since their inception, is an added bonus.”
Now that the theater has the funding for the project, the next step is to install the assisted listening system and provide the headsets, which J’Anthony and Slabaugh said will most likely happen in June. The venue is still figuring out if they want to have the free headsets available with a ticket reservation or on a first-come, first-serve basis at the box office.
Guests will pick their headsets up from the box office before a show, then return them after the show ends. Box office staff will disinfect the headsets between uses.
The headsets will also facilitate audio-described performances through a partnership with Valley Eye Radio, a Springfield-based broadcasting service that uses volunteers to read local news publications to listeners with visual impairments or other disabilities that make reading difficult.
The Iron Horse is also running a capital campaign, “Playing It Forward,” to pay off its remaining construction debt from post-pandemic renovations. After receiving $550,000 from major gift donations, the venue kicked off the campaign in February to raise the remaining $250,000 of its $800,000 goal.
As of this writing, that campaign has reached about 85% of its goal and is projected to reach it in June.
J’Anthony said the fact that both capital campaigns have gotten so much funding is “a testament to the community, how they support the arts and how they recognize the importance of the arts.”
“Within one month — what a community we have,” she added. “What a good, supportive community.”
To follow updates on the installation of the Academy of Music’s assisted listening system, visit instagram.com/aomtheatre and facebook.com/academyofmusictheatre.
