Savvas Chamberlain Family Foundation gives $4 million to boost Laurier’s Making Space for Music campaign

Jan. 9, 2020
For Immediate Release

Waterloo – The Savvas Chamberlain Family Foundation has pledged a transformational gift of $4 million to Wilfrid Laurier University’s Making Space for Music campaign, which will expand its Faculty of Music building. The university will recognize the foundation’s visionary gift by naming Laurier’s renovated Faculty of Music building the “Savvas Chamberlain Music Building.”

“Dr. Savvas Chamberlain has played a leadership role in our community for many years and we are honoured to associate his name with our music building,” said Faculty of Music Dean Glen Carruthers. “A gift of this magnitude reflects tremendous confidence in the Faculty of Music – in its faculty, staff and students, as well as its sector-leading curriculum. We are now much closer to constructing a facility that truly reflects the excellence of all that we do. We are deeply grateful to the Savvas Chamberlain Family Foundation for its remarkable generosity.”

Savvas and Christine Chamberlain have a long history of friendship with Laurier, which includes philanthropy, leadership and engagement. Savvas is a member of Laurier’s Board of Governors and Christine is an alumna of the university’s Honours Bachelor of Music program.

“Christine Chamberlain, Maria Harper, the Board of Directors of our foundation and I all believe that our donation not only helps the advancement of the Laurier Faculty of Music, but it also helps our local and Ontario communities,” said Savvas Chamberlain. “I believe that music should be accessible to everybody, it brings people together and it leads them to a better understanding of each other. The Laurier Faculty of Music has excellent undergraduate and graduate music programs, music clinics and workshops at Ontario high schools and a significant community outreach mandate.”

The Making Space for Music campaign aims to raise $14 million to renovate and expand Laurier's Waterloo campus Faculty of Music building, transforming it into an improved space for teaching, practising, rehearsing and performing. An exceptional new campus entranceway, lobby and practice rooms will allow increased opportunities for music students to develop their craft and for the public to enjoy and participate in Faculty of Music programming.

“The Laurier community is incredibly grateful for the generosity of the Savvas Chamberlain Family Foundation,” said Laurier President and Vice-Chancellor Deborah MacLatchy. “This leadership gift will have a powerful impact on our ability to continue to deliver a unique student experience and world-class instruction within our celebrated Faculty of Music.”

Funds earmarked for the project to date from private and public sources exceed $9 million. Through the generosity of the Savvas Chamberlain Family Foundation, the Faculty of Music is now well positioned to reach its goal of $14 million. 

For more information about Laurier’s Making Space for Music campaign or to lend your support, visit give.wlu.ca/music.

About The Savvas Chamberlain Family Foundation

In 2011, Savvas Chamberlain founded The Savvas Chamberlain Family Foundation in order to support community causes and projects in and around Waterloo Region and Ontario. One of the goals of the Foundation is to help to create a more civilized, gentle and caring Canada. The Foundation funds Canadian initiatives in health and welfare, education, the arts, culture, music and the environment. In particular, it focuses on helping Canada’s underprivileged.

About Laurier’s Faculty of Music

Laurier’s renowned Faculty of Music fosters artistic and scholarly development of the highest calibre and provides a creative environment for student success. Students, faculty and guest artists present up to 100 concerts a year that are open to the public. The faculty offers several undergraduate programs: a Bachelor of Music, including Canada’s only Bachelor of Music in Community Music and Ontario’s only Bachelor of Music Therapy. Graduate programs include a Master of Music Therapy and Master of Arts in Community Music. A Chamber Music Diploma and Opera Diploma are also offered. About 580 music students are registered in Laurier degree programs and another 1,200 students are enrolled in lessons and classes at the Laurier Conservatory of Music, home to the Beckett School at Laurier.