Restoration Highlight
The highly anticipated restoration and renovation of the McGaffin Carillon is complete. We are deeply grateful to the more than 225 donors who made this possible. A list of donors is available on the Friends of the McGaffin Carillon website: https://www.ucbells.org/friends.
In this series of highlights, the Friends of the McGaffin Carillon would like to recognize some of the major gifts as well as notable upgrades to the instrument.
Community Engagement
The renovation process began in 2008 when Royal Eijsbouts visited the tower, evaluated the condition of the 40-year-old carillon, and made a proposal for its restoration and expansion. This proposal—updated along the way—became the basis for the recent work.
At the same time, the Church of the Covenant was undertaking a major restoration of the landmark building. This included replacing all the slate roofing from 1911, tuckpointing the stonework, and replacing decorative stone features that had been lost. The sanctuary also underwent significant restoration, including new flooring, refinished pews, replicated original light fixtures, and other enhancements to restore its historic finishes and improve acoustics for the new gallery organ gifted to the church.
Needless to say, securing funding for a carillon restoration costing more than half a million dollars was a challenge. A task force was formed to address the issue. Their recommendation was to engage the Greater Cleveland community, recognizing that the carillon was an underutilized unique public music venue.
Young Montessori School students had a picnic on the lawn during a lunchtime concert.
With the church’s blessing, the Friends of the McGaffin Carillon was established in 2015 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit to share in the upkeep of the instrument and expand programming beyond Sundays and holidays. This allowed us to seek funding from public sources that could not provide direct support to a church.
We are thrilled with the results. Over the ten years of FMC’s existence, we have provided more than 50 concerts annually, welcomed soloists from North America and Europe, and brought thousands of listeners to experience the carillon—many of whom have toured the tower. With the current restoration, we now have one of the finest instruments anywhere.
Of the 261 donors who have supported the past ten years of activity and the recent renovation, 61% have no other connection to The Church of the Covenant. This group includes contributors such as state and county arts foundations, as well as early startup support from The Cleveland Foundation. The Church of the Covenant and its members have been especially generous, providing 63% of the total funding, while 37% has come from the Greater Cleveland community and beyond.
We look forward to continuing this spirit of community collaboration as we expand our concert programming to highlight the carillon’s capabilities and enrich the cultural life of the region.