Visible Music College to open branch in Dallas

Memphis-based Visible Music College is opening another campus in Dallas, Tex. Students in the Christian school’s Bachelors of Ministry program will soon be able to take an “experiential year” among the college’s campuses in Chicago, Downtown Memphis, Dallas, and its sister school in Germany.

“The reason for expansion is that we’re getting close to that number of students we believe is a small artist community,” said Geordy Wells, Vice President of Advancement. Ken Steorts, president and founder, believes that the campuses should max out at 140 students to promote an intimate environment.

The Memphis campus has around 120 students. The Chicago campus opened last fall with 15 students, and Wells said that number is expected to grow rapidly.

“We’ve had the largest number of applications we've experienced this year," said Wells. The college was receiving a large amount of applications from Texas and the West Coast, and these students indicated that they wanted a campus option closer to home, Steorts said.

Visible Music College is already actively recruiting for the campus’ opening in August of this year. The school will be housed in Highland Park Methodist Church’s branch in Munger Place Church.

“Overtime, our goal is to have campuses in a number of different markets,” said Wells.

Late last year, Kenneth King, founder of TOP RX, Inc., gifted Visible Music College with a 41,000-square foot building at 409 South Main. “That was a gift of property for tax reasons. . . .a tax benefit for our 501(c)(3) status,” Steorts said.

The building has continued to function as an events space and provided revenue for the college.  Repurposing or selling the building will be revisited at the May Board of Trustees meeting. “It’s a way of supporting the schools mission through money,” Steorts added.

In 2009, the college launched a $6 million capital campaign to relocate from Lakeland, Tennessee to the iconic C&I Bank Building at 200 Madison Ave.