The Drake gets ‘game-changing’ gift

AMHERST — A $250,00 gift will allow The Drake, the downtown live performance and music venue that opened in April 2022 at 44 North Pleasant St., to hire and endow a director position for the first time.

Gabrielle Gould, board president and founder, said in a statement Tuesday that the new director will oversee the budget and focus on development, donor relationships and strategic growth.

“This incredible, generous, and game-changing support makes this possible,” Gould said.

Until this time, the volunteers on the board of directors for The Drake have managed the finances and development.

The donation came from Amherst residents who have supported The Drake’s capital campaign and annual giving efforts since its founding.

In the more than four years The Drake has been open, Gould said that two professionals, Lincoln Allen and Sam Leonard, have run the day-to-day operations and production, alongside volunteers.

“We brought The Drake to life. We’ve learned to toddle and then to walk,” Gould said. “Now we are ready for someone with the skills, passion and determination to take this amazing venue to the next level.”

Gould said the search for the director would start immediately.

Founded by the nonprofit The Downtown Amherst Foundation, The Drake was created to foster economic viability, sustainability and vibrancy in downtown Amherst through arts and culture. It has collaborations with Amherst College’s Music Department and faculty, the University of Massachusetts Amherst Fine Arts Center and Music Department, and Amherst Regional Public Schools Performing Arts programs.

The venue also hosts monthly jazz concerts followed by jam sessions with The Green Street Trio and continues to expand its Classical Chamber Series.

Its full bar opens an hour before each show and closes when the music ends, with the intent to have those in attendance dine and gather at local establishments before and after performances.

The Drake’s opening was part of a recovery plan from the pandemic, with the foundation providing $1 million into a $1.3 million capital campaign, after the initial seed money came in summer 2021 from a $175,000 Massachusetts Office of Business Development’s Regional Pilot Project Grant.

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