The LAUSD Education Foundation is embarking on a major capital campaign to benefit the musical instrument repair operation documented in the Oscar-nominated film The Last Repair Shop.
The $15 million campaign, revealed at an event at Hollywood High School Tuesday night, will invest in the repair workshop’s skilled craftspeople and support staff, and fund “a student apprenticeship program that will build the next generation of instrument technicians.”
Filmmakers and Kris Bowers made the surprise announcement after a screening of their film in the school’s auditorium, located a short distance from where the Oscar ceremony will take place on March 10, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation on Hollywood & Highland.
The Hollywood High School auditorium exterior with banners featuring the cast of ‘The Last Repair Shop’
Matthew Carey
The documentary short, distributed by Searchlight Pictures and L.A. Times Studios, tells the moving life stories of four of the key professionals who maintain 80,000 musical instruments provided free of charge to any and all students of the L.A. Unified School District: Dana Atkinson, who repairs stringed instruments, Duane Michaels (woodwinds), Paty Moreno (brass), and Steve Bagmanyan, who rose from piano tuner to become supervisor of the shop. It also showcases the talents of young musicians who benefit from the LAUSD’s musical instrument program – kids on violin, piano, sousaphone, sax, and just about every other instrument imaginable. Almost the entire cast was on hand for Tuesday night’s event.
Young musicians featured in ‘The Last Repair Shop’ (L-R) Porché Brinker, Ismerai Calcaneo, and Amanda Nova, pose with co-directors Kris Bowers and Ben Proudfoot.
Photo by Todd Williamson
Bowers, a gifted pianist and leading Hollywood composer (Ava DuVernay’s Origin, Green Book, Bob Marley: One Love, The Color Purple) attended LAUSD schools and developed his talent on pianos maintained by Bagmanyan. “Bowers and Searchlight Pictures made the first gift of the campaign by giving restored 1913 Steinway & Sons K-52 upright piano to Third Street Elementary School, where Kris Bowers attended as a young man,” a release noted.
On Tuesday night, Bowers performed on that piano, joining an all-city marching band in several musical numbers, including a rendition of the film’s closing credits, which features a piece he composed called “The Alumni.”
“Ben and I can’t think of a better impact for our film to make,” Bowers said of the capital campaign. “I came up learning piano on an LAUSD upright. I know firsthand what having access to a working instrument can mean for a young kid who yearns to express themselves through music. And we are so excited that the LAUSD Education Foundation and The Broad Foundation have been inspired by our film to launch this worthy campaign that will change the lives of young Angelenos for generations to come.”
Proudfoot and Bowers earned Oscar nominations in 2021 for their short documentary A Concerto Is a Conversation, which centered on Bowers’ grandfather, Horace Bowers Sr. Proudfoot won the Oscar in 2022 for his short The Queen of Basketball, about hoops star Lucy Harris.
The Last Repair Shop, winner of the Critics’ Choice Documentary Award for best short among other honors, can be seen for free on L.A. Times’ YouTube channel, as well as streaming platforms Disney+ and Hulu.
The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation has come on board as an early supporter of the capital campaign. Public donations to The Last Repair Shop Fund can be made at thelastrepairshop.com.
In the video below, Bowers on piano joins an all-city marching band to perform his composition “The Alumni,” with Vince Womack conducting.