• Create an Access tier for students to attend lessons at a more accessible rate that is currently helping 15% of students.
• Invest over $12,500 of funds into subsidized lessons since April 2025.
• Reduce costs for attendees by over $2,000 at this summer’s musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, by offering Pay-What-You-Can (PWYC) options.
• Ensure at least 10% of tickets for public concerts and events are PWYC.

That’s just a few highlights. Ekko has grown steadily in students, programming, and our place in the Haligonian music community since becoming a non-profit. In fact, our subscription base has grown by 26% since transitioning to a non-profit 18 months ago, which makes this next part especially hard to share: despite that growth, we’re still short of what we need to operate.

It’s with humility and optimism that we turn to the community for help support Ekko’s sustainability.

While Ekko has operated since 2021, Ekko Performing Arts Society is only a year and a half old, which limits our eligibility for many non-profit grants and makes it harder to attract major sponsors and donors. At the same time, we have faced significant and unexpected cost increases, including much higher utility costs and a roughly 30% increase in the property taxes passed on through our lease after learning that, as tenants, we do not qualify for the municipal non-profit tax reduction. These pressures have left us without the level of funding needed to sustainably cover our growing operating costs.

We are looking to raise $25,000 by December 31, 2026

This would help us cover these unforeseen costs and bridge the gap left by grants we don’t yet qualify for and sponsorships we haven’t yet secured.