South Loop’s FAME Center started in 2018 in what founder Sheila Fortson called “a broom closet” with just a few students and a piano. The nonprofit is now looking to become a major music and arts education landmark in Chicago with the purchase of a 56,000-square-foot historic building. Matthew Thomas, 14, remembers that when he first began taking lessons, FAME Center was renting that tiny space at Daystar, a private school in the South Loop. Seeing how far the center has come since then is exciting, he said. Matthew said he’s been taking weekly piano lessons for about six years, which has allowed him to have “really picked up my piano skills and my love for music.” “I’ve stayed at FAME because Ms. Sheila made me feel welcome in her company and she’s always there for me,” Matthew said of Fortson, who is also the executive director of FAME, the Fortson Arts and Music Education Center. “Her teaching was also excelling me in piano and even other things outside of piano.” About three years ago, FAME began renting space at its current location at 1319 S. State St. after an expansion at Daystar made space there unavailable. The large State Street brick building is owned by a church and went up for sale in March. Fortson said the FAME team didn’t want to move again and decided it would be better to buy the entire building and create what would be called The South Loop Center for the Arts. Teacher Michelle Brooks works with Matthew Thomas, 14, during his piano lesson Dec. 11, 2024, at the FAME Center in the South Loop. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)Matthew Thomas, 14, prepares for his piano lesson on Dec. 11, 2024, at the FAME Center in the South Loop. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)Founder Sheila Fortson watches Matthew Thomas, 14, begin his piano lesson Dec. 11, 2024, at the FAME Center in the South Loop. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)Founder and Executive Director Sheila Fortson sits on the stage of their new auditorium, Dec. 11, 2024, at the FAME Center in the South Loop. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)The FAME Center, Dec. 11, 2024, in the South Loop. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)Matthew Thomas, 14, prepares for his piano lesson on Dec. 11, 2024, at the FAME Center in the South Loop. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)Matthew Thomas, 14, plays during his piano lesson Dec. 11, 2024, at the FAME Center in the South Loop. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)Show Caption1 of 7Teacher Michelle Brooks works with Matthew Thomas, 14, during his piano lesson Dec. 11, 2024, at the FAME Center in the South Loop. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)Expand “Our goal is to make this purchase,” Fortson said. “We’re under contract now and hoping to close on the building in April.” The team is deep into fundraising but still needs another $3 million to $5 million to cover the purchase price of the building. The cost of the building is about $7 million, and remodeling, permit and inspection costs and more bring the total to over $12.5 million for the project. Fortson said they hope to secure a city grant, part of which would go toward the purchase. FAME is a multidisciplinary nonprofit that focuses on art and music education and making that education accessible to young people in Chicago’s underresourced communities, Fortson said. The center provides programming in music, visual art, theater, creative writing and art therapy. It has about 100 participants right now, most of them around 4 to 14 years old. The location also serves students from the South and West sides and elsewhere around the city, Fortson said. “We’re right in the heart of Chicago, and we want to stay here because we want to give families easy access to us and to these opportunities to learn and grow,” Fortson said. “We want students who don’t think that they have a place or belong downtown to come and experience the joy of music and art and theater.” Mikayla Davis, 13, takes violin lessons once a week and does art therapy virtually through FAME once a week. She has been doing art therapy for about five years since the death of her father. “FAME has helped me through the process of grief, and it’s helped me a lot throughout life,” Davis said. Mikayla’s mother, Monica Brown, said her daughter is “extremely artistic and gifted” and that FAME and Fortson helped the teen stay enthusiastic about the arts even after their loss. “I think about all those other children that go through trauma and just having a different type of therapy that most people don’t even realize exists,” Brown said. “FAME has allowed her a place to put those feelings in an impactful and positive way, and now more and more kids will get the same thing.” Mikayla said she likes music and art equally and is excited to have more space and more programming available to her. She is interested in learning guitar, she said. “Music allows me to express myself just like drawing,” she said. “It’s kind of like your personal diary.” Serving about 1,500 students year-round, FAME Center also offers summer and spring break camps. Fortson said there are students on waitlists for some of the programs. “I see the changes that are happening in our kids every day,” she said. “I see the hope in their eyes and the excitement when they realize they’re really good at something and then as they grow in that skillset.” Students who are able to pay for lessons or classes are charged a fee, while those unable to pay get scholarships, Fortson said. Founder and executive director Sheila Fortson sits on the stage of their new auditorium, Dec. 11, 2024, at the FAME Center in the South Loop. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune) Fortson was a piano, vocals and violin teacher before starting the nonprofit. Having worked with many students, she realized that not all kids get the same opportunities, especially as arts programming is sometimes cut in public schools. “It’s extremely important to me that arts education is available and accessible to all (Chicago) students,” Fortson said. “Every kid is born with creativity inside of them, whether that comes out in math and science or in music and art, but what’s lacking is the opportunity to understand and develop their special skills and gifts they might not see in themselves.” Much of the building, which dates to the early 1900s, has been “really quite beautifully renovated” throughout the years but also retains some of its historic touches, Fortson said. There is a 750-seat, state-of-the-art auditorium that the church renovated, and Fortson said she intends to use it for concerts, theater performances and even open it up to the community for conferences, events and panel discussions about the arts. The building has a capacity of over 1,100, Fortson said. The mixed-use facility is made up of three smaller buildings that were built as separate structures and then combined over time. With the ongoing fundraising, Fortson said FAME is getting ready to expand its programming and reach in the new year. “We’re still tenants, but the owners have allowed us full use of the building while we’re under contract,” Fortson said. “We’ve even been able to host fundraising events here, inviting the community for tours. We want people to come and see what we’re doing and where we’re going, and how they can help.” FAME hosted a community pizza party and held a big Halloween event for the neighborhood, Fortson said. Ald. Pat Dowell, who represents the 3rd District, where FAME is, has toured the space and “been a huge support,” Fortson said. Dowell said Fortson and FAME have already had an effect on youth from all over Chicago by creating “a very nurturing, warm environment for kids to come and find their interests and passions in the arts and in music.” “I think that what she’s doing with these young people helps them to have confidence and develop their self-esteem so they can have really strong connections with the outside world, and I look forward to helping her with her vision,” Dowell said. Matthew said the center is like a second home for him and “a place where I can just be myself with my teachers, learn how to play piano and just let music calm me down.” He said he is excited for the opportunities other young people like him will have. “FAME helped me out a lot when I was younger,” Matthew said, “and seeing that other people are going to start coming to FAME and it’s going to be open to more people makes me excited because more kids get the same experiences that I had.” Meosha Maxwell, Matthew’s mother, said FAME offered her son an opportunity to experience and explore avenues that he otherwise may not have. FAME is using three rooms for music lessons, a room for theater and an art room in the old church building. The team has about 10 music and art teachers. FAME also will partner with Stages Theater Company and CodeAdvantage, which teaches online classes, beginning in January to offer theater and coding programs. “We’re constantly shifting and changing and bringing in new programming for kids,” Fortson said. “Once we take over the building entirely, I think we’ll be bursting at the seams with activities.” Fortson said she would love to have a FAME bus system to make it easier for kids to get to the center after school. She also hopes to have a grand-opening celebration once the purchase is complete. “We still have a heavy fundraising lift and a lot of students who are waiting for openings or scholarships, so we’re really trying to garner support and make this big dream come true,” Fortson said. “We’re not giving up, because I fully believe this building is meant to be a center for the arts.”