As Reed Caldwell made his way around the completed and partially completed display cases inside the old Songbirds Guitar Museum on Station Street, he described how the foundation he runs with the mission of teaching children to play guitar has continued to grow and thrive over the past almost six years, and how moving into the space makes so much sense.
While it might be confusing to some because the names are so similar and it is essentially the same space, the new Songbirds, which will open for business Sept. 18 after undergoing about $350,000 in renovation work, is now home to the Songbirds Foundation, which always has been connected but separate from the museum and is focused on education and its nonprofit mission.
“This is the next logical step, and I think it has worked out extremely well,” Caldwell said.
Caldwell is executive director of the Songbirds Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose main mission is a program called Guitars for Kids.
For every $100 it raises, it can provide a guitar and free lessons for a student. To date it has done so for almost 5,000 kids across Tennessee and other parts of the South.