Today we’d like to introduce you to April Hickey.
Hi April, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Bridgeport Music Collective (BMC) was founded in 2025 by three Bridgeport community members and musicians, Kelly Quesada, April Hickey and Dan Galat. BMC was founded with the mission of bringing community music offerings including music education, music therapy, music performances and community events to our wonderful neighborhood of Bridgeport, which is in a part of the city that doesn’t have very many spaces providing services like this. Since opening, we have been so grateful for all of the interest and support in our space, including securing grant funding from Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events to expand our education, performance, and music wellness programming. We’ve also been very grateful for interest from other musicians and music educators in utilizing our space to teach early childhood music classes, piano lessons, voice lessons, and even more music services for our community.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Our organization was started as a very DIY effort between 3 people trying to really pool our resources, use what we had and buy as much as we could second hand. Along with that is a huge learning curve for all of us in establishing and running a physical studio space! The community support we have recieved has made it all so worth it and so much easier.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We offer individual music therapy, individual music lessons for violin, viola, cello, piano and voice, early childhood group music classes for children ages 0-5, community music and wellness events, educational music lectures, musician open rehearsals, and many live music performance opportunities of new and experimental music, jazz, classical music, and more. What sets us apart is our mission to reach and provide opportunities to our neighbors and community members who are established professional musicians, music lovers, people who want to engage with music but don’t have prior music education and experience, and everyone in between.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
For BMC, collaboration and community is absolutely the most important aspect of our success. This organization comes from a collective mindset, where musicians and community members are coming together to support and build this service, and continues to evolve in unexpected and exciting ways due to collaboration with our wonderful community!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bridgeportmusiccollective.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bridgeport_music_collective/
