Cobscook Institute Instrument Auction

A Collection from Lynn Brown and Russell Warne

We’re excited to share news of a special online auction featuring a distinctive collection of musical instruments and gear generously given to Cobscook as part of a bequest from our cherished friends and longtime supporters, Lynn Brown and Russell Warne.

Many of these instruments have already enriched our Monday Night Music sessions, school programs, children’s activities, and more. Yet the full collection is simply too large for us to store and maintain all of them. To honor Lynn and Russell's legacy, and to ensure these instruments continue to inspire music and memories for years to come, we're inviting the community to bring some of them into their homes while supporting our youth programs.

Auction Details:
Dates: August 15, 8 AM – August 29, 5 PM

The collection features instruments from across the globe—some beautifully handcrafted—and offers something for everyone, whether you’re a student, hobbyist, educator, or professional musician. nAll funds raised will go toward the Lynn Brown and Russell Warne Memorial Fund, supporting Cobscook Experiential Programs.

Thank you for joining us in celebrating Lynn and Russell’s lasting legacy through the gift of music.

To deepen your connection to this extraordinary collection and the inspiring individuals behind it, we invite you to read a heartfelt letter from Alan Furth. In it, he beautifully reflects on Lynn and Russell’s lasting impact and the powerful role of music in bringing communities together.

The Gift of Music in Community: Lynn Brown and Russell Warne

From their hearts to your hands, so the spirit and gift of gathering and sharing, through music and dance, lives on.

Lynn Brown and Russell Warne shared a lifetime of gathering in and creating this extraordinary collection of musical equipment and instruments from around the world, and created spaces needed in order to share and experience music in the communities they knew and loved. Both Lynn and Russ had huge capacities to share and contribute. They lived their creativity and embraced the bigger questions for humanity, and were deeply committed to the well-being of Earth and all beings. Their generosity, care, and creativity are a resonance that lives on even though they have passed on.

Lynn and Russ followed the creation of Cobscook Institute from its beginning as an expression of community spirit, creativity, and capacity, through to the beautiful and vibrant community hub that it is today. That’s why their musical instruments and equipment were bequeathed to the learning center. Lynn and Russ wanted their lifetime collection to live on in a community that invited and inspired people to play, laugh, explore, and learn.  It is in honor of this vision that we invite you to bring an instrument or piece of equipment to life through your spirit and artistry – in your community.  All proceeds will be applied to the Lynn Brown and Russell Warne Memorial Fund that supports Cobscook Experiential Programs.
   
More about these two remarkable people: Lynn and Russ were always open to ideas, open to listening, open to dancing, open to learning, open to laughter, open to sharing, open - just really open - to living in this world and honoring experiences and the beauty of their surroundings and the human spirit. This was true in the thick of New York City, or in the quiet of their home nestled in the forest and fields of Cooper, Maine – they drank it all in.  Their studio for recording and dance housed this collection of vibrant expression. It was magic- pure magic.  One could move through time and space, free, float, just be, in the world they had built. 

Their musical instruments, built or bought: nothing was too small or too big for us to make sound and explore while drawing in others. Dancing in that space was charged, alive, and welcoming. Hours could pass without a break. The lights dim, and a random selection from their vast collection of music from around this Earth – music of every genre, culture, and community, moving us –  demanding nothing but an openness without limits. We shed our own limits and became the music and movement.  Sharing an abundance- overflowing abundance – and all the participants needed was openness and spirit to move, feel it, express it, nourish it in our own feet, hands, arms, legs, torso, neck, head- an abundance of being carried by sound and something so primal and connected to everything and everyone.  

Lynn and Russ invited the community in, and created a treasure trove of moments that allowed people to learn about their own musical sounds, their own capacities, and growth.  Nothing is lost, everything is gained by such exploration – it’s art, it’s music- it’s not restrained by perfection or judgment.  It’s about letting go.  And so, please accept this invitation to carry Lynn and Russ’s legacy on. 

With love and appreciation,

Alan Furth

On behalf of Lynn and Russ’s family and the Cobscook Institute board and staff.