Changing an Orchestra Program to Meet the Needs of All Students, Part III: Insights from Members of the Chamber Orchestra

In Part I and Part II, I examined the circumstances under which the Richmond County Orchestra (RCO) was expanded with the addition of a Chamber Orchestra, comprised of the top 20 students in the program. In my own voice, I discussed how it was conceived by Trent Henderson and Philip Rhodes and how they, along with the current Symphony Orchestra Director Amy Ellington, shaped the program over the years. Now I will step aside and allow the members of the orchestra themselves to explain how being a part of it made a difference, if any, in their lives after high school. In a sort of round-table discussion (thank goodness for the internet, as these young adults and I cover at least three cities in two states), I asked them to be completely honest with me about their experiences. On a personal note, I was thrilled to hear from these former students of mine and am delighted to share their observations with you.

Philanthropists to the Rescue: Should We Save European Arts the American Way?

I was somewhat surprised to see the New York Times article this week examining how the global recession has created a significant decline in public financing for arts in Eurozone countries. Maybe I should clarify; it’s not surprising to see this cause and effect scenario played out, rather that the American media all of a sudden realized that this is worthy of our attention. But can the American arts funding model be an answer to European woes?

Changing an Orchestra Program to Meet the Needs of All Students Part II: Birth of a Chamber Orchestra

In my last post, I addressed the circumstances facing the Richmond County Orchestra (RCO) high school directors Trent Henderson and Philip Rhodes in the spring of 2003. Directing a large orchestra with a wide gap between the most accomplished musicians (who were ready to master music on GMEA* level V and beyond) and the less experienced ones (who may have been struggling to play GMEA* level IV) inspired them to try something unprecedented; they created a new orchestra on a temporary, invitation-only basis for the remaining couple of months of the school year. Eventually this group became the Richmond County High School Chamber Orchestra.

“Create a new orchestra? Is there room for that? Do we have the time to carve out of our already hectic schedules for that? What will the other faculty members think?”

Ideas and Trends that are Changing our Lives

Innovation around the web: Creative insights combining business and spirituality…

Click for video from the Wisdom 2.0 Conference.   Latest Fast Company list of 50 most innovative companies, Economist Article: Jeff Bezos and long term innovation, Forbes Article: Your Mental Model of Innovation, 

For more on creativity from Adam, use search field (top left) or click on keywords (bottom right) on his Innovation on my Mind blog.

A recent issue of Time Magazine explored the breakthrough, game-changing phenomenon of YouTube, where 60 hours of video are now uploaded every single minute.  That’s 10 years of video every day. We all have a sense that new technology is changing us as people–both as individual beings and how we connect with others, but we’re not sure how.  Is it okay that we talk with and see each other less despite having more “friends”?  Is it good that we have so much information–some of it outdated or biased or amateurish–at our fingertips? Are we happier and are our lives more fulfilling compared to life before YouTube or smart phones or the Internet or answering machines or word processors?

Fundraising and Development

Going through my Google reader this morning I came across this gem from Arts Enterprise:

I was thoroughly inspired by class and decided to research different fundraising and development styles. I came across this website from the Texas Commission on the Arts - Fundraising. It lists links to articles on the fundamentals of fundraising and development, the ten principles of fundraising, as well as links to sample donor letters, thank you letters, sample budgets and many other fantastic tools.

If you are looking for a good resource on fundraising and it aspects, this is a good place to start and bookmark!  Being someone who enjoys lists (and the satisfaction of checking things off that list) what I thoroughly enjoyed about this website are the Mistakes to Avoid, Basics, 10 Principles and ESPECIALLY the templates.  You can tell me something all day, but until I see it, it’s difficult for me to visualize.

The Fundraising Website is here.

Changing an Orchestra Program to Meet the Needs of All Students, Part I: When Teaching to the Middle No Longer Works

            Imagine you are back in your high school orchestra. (Or band. Or chorus.)

I know, I know. I shouldn’t put you through that again. If you’re like me you’d rather not revisit your high school self. Just bear with me. You’re back in the orchestra and you are bored out of your mind, frustrated with the music selections, the rehearsal process, and even your fellow orchestra members.

Audience Development Specialists presents Working with Mobile Technology to Develop your Audience

On Friday, March 16 at Noon ET, Audience Development Webinars will present the workshop, Working with Mobile Technology to Develop your Audience.

This is the second webinar in the series. The information is below and feel free to forward this to anyone that you think would be interested. ADS is bringing in David Dombrosky from InstantEncore to give us all a point by point about using mobile technology to build our audience. He knows his stuff!

March 16th – Noon ET
Working with Mobile Technology to Develop Your Audience
With the rapid adoption of web-enabled cell phones, smartphones and tablet computers, what options are available to arts professionals who want to engage their audiences via mobile devices? How can artists and organizations implement these options cost effectively without taking focus away from the art?

If you have any questions, please contact Shoshana Fanizza at sfanizza@buildmyaudience.com. Hope to “see” you there!

Sunday Soup: Food-based micro-granting projects around the world

Thanks to Keith Hampton at UW-Madison for passing this along.   Sunday Soup funds creative projects through community meals.  Read on!

From sundaysoup.org:

What is Sunday Soup?

The Soup Grant is a grassroots model for funding small to medium sized creative projects through community meals. The basic formula is that a group of people come together to share a meal and that meal is sold for an affordable price. All the income from that meal is given as a grant to support a creative project. Grant applications are accepted up until the meal, everyone who purchases the meal gets one vote to determine who receives the grant. The grants are completely unrestricted and will be awarded at the discretion of the customers. Granting projects affiliated with Sunday Soup in different cities operate based on their own needs and context. The meals are more or less elaborate in different places and some people have presentations by potential grantees or past grantees as part of the event. Please check the individual profiles for more information.

Janice Whaley’s New Model of Music-Making (Annual Reflections Part 2 of 2)

(for those you whose devices are not flash enabled, the above music can be heard here)
(for those of you unfamiliar with the music of the Smiths, a brief overview can be found here)

Keeping in mind Monday’s thoughts regarding the need to honor the talents, skills, and resources we already have at our disposal, I’d like to share with you the music of Janice Whaley, a new artist who, I think, presents a powerful model of music making that will be of interest to many of us here in the IPAP community. To my mind, it is a blueprint for what classically-informed performance can be in the twenty-first century.

Set Your Goals, Set Your Life

“In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it.”

– Robert Heinlein

I think this is a brilliant quote – so obvious and yet, how many of us get caught up in the minutiae of day-to-day living saying we wish we could do this or that or go here or there or get this or that done, but it never happens?  Then we look around and suddenly 5 years have gone by?