Music for Life 2024

Since 1978, Dixon Hall Music School has been offering a unique experience of the arts to young people from a particularly low-income area of Toronto. At that time, Dixon Hall Music School had about 45 students, taught by volunteer teachers.

Located in Regent Park in the basement of 58 Sumach Street, Dixon Hall Music School then moved to the Ada Slaight Studios on the 3rd and 4th floor of the newly built Bill Graham Youth Centre at 51 Wyatt Ave in 2020. The pandemic halted in person lessons and lessons moved online, only returning fully in person in Fall 2022.

The school is now home to over 300 students per week from numerous ethnic groups. Through fees carefully geared to each family’s income, students receive individual encouragement and attention from highly qualified and dedicated teachers, for as low as $4 per lesson. Students can also rent instruments (pianos, keyboards, violins, violas, guitars, clarinets etc.) for as little as $5 per month. We also offer free camp and concert experiences, often providing our newcomer families with their first cultural experiences in their new city.

The school’s profile in the community has grown by word of mouth, based on the positive reputation we have achieved. The excellence of our staff and the bridges we provide to cultural access mean a great deal to families who feel that music is and should be an essential part of their children’s lives.

For almost 50 years, the Dixon Hall Music School has been providing subsidized access to comprehensive music programming for the youngest residents of Toronto Downtown East. Most Dixon Hall music students are growing up in families and communities impacted by complex systemic issues including inequity, poverty, and violence.

Dixon Hall Music School offers a brave space for diverse students to express themselves creatively while building critical life skills. The Music School leverages the Arts as a catalyst to support holistic child development and social engagement.

Starting at a young age, students at the Dixon Hall Music School are encouraged to believe in and celebrate their uniqueness as individuals. Music School teachers help students to recognize beauty and to create it, which extends beyond just learning how to play an instrument; it is, in thousands of instances, a child’s gateway to learning trust, awe and belief in themselves.

Dixon Hall Music School students face innumerable barriers and challenges related to their identities, backgrounds, and lived experiences, but the Music School is a creative haven for them to grow, develop, play, and temporarily escape their daily burdens.