St. Francis Music Center

St. Francis Music Center named 2019 Outstanding Arts Organization of the year by the Five Arts Council! 

St. Francis Music Center opened its doors in 1979 with a dream to provide central Minnesota with a school for music and the performing arts. For 45 years, our excellent faculty and staff have worked to offer a top-quality arts education in Little Falls and the surrounding rural areas—a place where students at all levels of ability can come together to learn and experience the arts. We strive to make the Music Center a safe haven for children and adults alike where each person is welcome and valued.

Over 250 students come to the Music Center each week for all sorts of lessons: piano, organ, voice, guitar, percussion, all band and bowed string instruments and composition. Dance, music theory, preschool classes, percussion and brass ensembles are available as well. We offer enrichment programs to engage our 55+ population. Ukulele and watercolor painting classes are among the favorites. The Center sponsors the St. Francis Community Chorale and a children’s choir. Add the members of these groups to the weekly lessons and over 450 people come to the Music Center to participate in the arts each week. The Music Center has four string orchestras (even a ukulele orchestra!) in a county with no strings programs in any of the schools. The orchestras are free and open to any string player interested in playing in a group setting.

The Music Center is constantly expanding. This year we started a recording studio. This new resource is in the beginning stages and needs additional equipment. Plans are also in the works to add a bell choir to the music enrichment curriculum. Funds from this year’s Give to the Max donations makes these dreams come true. Thank you for your donation.

The Music Center’s excellent curriculum contributes to a vibrant arts community and is considered by many to be one of greater Minnesota's jewels. Our financial aid program serves families with low incomes or living on the margins who would not otherwise be able to participate in the Center's programs and benefit from music and the arts. Our ability to provide financial assistance is truly a gift to people in need—students with special needs, the unemployed, the underemployed and families struggling to make ends meet. Your Give to the Max donation supports our financial aid program. Thank you!