Senate panel hears request for $300,000 Legacy grant to Walker West Music Academy

Senate File 1504, a proposal to appropriate $300,000 from the Legacy Fund to the Walker West Music Academy, was presented during the Minnesota Senate Committee on Environment, Climate and Legacy meeting and laid over for possible inclusion.

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Pappas, introduced testimony in support of the appropriation and called Braxton Halsey, executive director of Walker West Music Academy, to describe how the funds would be used. Halsey said Walker West serves about 6,000 people annually, including tuition assistance for roughly 30% of participants, and that the requested funding would support the academy’s early childhood music program, a dementia‑friendly gospel choir for people 55 and older, professional development for music educators and the Rondo Community Music Series. He described Walker West’s “Walker West Without Walls” outreach model that brings programs into multiple community locations in the Twin Cities and beyond.

Senator Pappas also offered a personal account of music’s role in dementia care, which she cited as part of her reason for sponsoring the appropriation. Committee Chair Hur thanked the witnesses and recorded that Senate File 1504 would be labeled for possible inclusion on a future legacy bill.

The testimony described the programs as free and available both in person and virtually; Halsey noted the organization’s expansion of residencies and community performances and said the Rondo series is streamed broadly. The committee did not vote on the bill at the hearing; committee staff recorded the item as laid over for possible inclusion.

If included in final legislation, the appropriation would be administered under the Legacy Fund appropriation process and any grant reporting or oversight requirements would be set by the bill and administrative guidance at that time.