FILM star and musician Johnny Depp has donated 65,000 US dollars (€56,282) to the Massanassa Music Centre in Valencia which was destroyed in last year’s October 29 floods.
The money will be transferred from the actor’s charitable foundation in early November.
A computer scientist involved with the centre reached out to the charity to get some help.
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It had been operating from a basement area of the Lluis Vives Insitute before the floods struck.
The Centre Instructiu Musical (CIM) of Massanassa has nearly 500 members, two bands/orchestras, and a school for over 100 students in the town of 10,146 residents.
Music centre president, Jesus Mateo, told the Efe news agency that its headquarters were ‘totally destroyed’ by the floods.
“It absolutely destroyed us, we lost everything: headquarters, archives, instruments…”
Material losses were estimated to be in the region of €200,000.
Johnny Depp has visited Spain many times before in official and unofficial capacities, and was in the country last November amidst the aftermath of the floods.
The singer Placido Domingo via his foundation sent musical instruments earlier this year to replace those that had been lost.
He also visited the area in March to get a personal briefing on the damage caused.
They are now rehearsing in the stalls of the municipal auditorium for their Christmas concert- the stage is still unusable due to the floods.
The school has a temporary HQ in the upper part of Massanassa church.
Jesus Matero said: “With the donations we have been collecting we have been able to buy premises for the headquarters and we need the money to refurbish it, because it has to be soundproofed and adapted and that costs a lot of money.”
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