Building Bridges with visionary leaders at Chorus America in Atlanta

Today, Choral Arts Synergy met with two very helpful buttonhole consultants about audience engagement, collaborations, and establishing nonprofit boards. We created such a buzz that one consultant asked to have a second meeting and volunteered to help us! We are so grateful to Chorus America and the many expert volunteers that make opportunities like this possible for us.

Jeremiah and I have talked to numerous artistic directors,   board members, and arts management specialists in choral organization about Choral Arts Synergy (CAS). They echo the desire to see an organization like CAS develop a leading role in the re-formation of choral music and its communities. The arrival of such a service organization is timely. Inspired by the support and with a clearer idea of the needs in the choral community, we sat down and formulated a preliminary 20-year dream plan.  How do you see yourself becoming a part of that dream? How are you advancing the choral art in your own community right now?

Enlarging the Circle

View fullsize

Jeremiah and Wendy have been invited to present a session at the 2011 Biennial Northwest Music Educators Conference to be held in Bellevue, Washington. Choral programs across the nation are facing many challenges such as shrinking enrollment, rapidly changing musical tastes, and the demand for multi-sensory stimulation. We spend countless hours towards building, sustaining, and revitalizing our programs, but are we really effective? We propose that the majority of trends for revitalizing programs are reactionary and not permanent.  This interest session will explore long-term investments in the choral arts by methods of collaboration among research/academia, performers, education, and communities. We will explore some of the ideas that are currently being proposed by field leaders and current research, help you to engage in further dialogue, and share resources that may be adaptable to your specific context. 

By joining our efforts, we can enlarge the circle, expand the choral arts community, and change the world, one singer at a time!

Chorus America in Atlanta

Jeremiah and Wendy are meeting leaders making a difference in the world of music in Atlanta, Georgia.  We had the privilege of having dinner with Anton Armstrong and Andre Thomas, who were very excited about our vision for advancing choral music.  They look forward to our upcoming projects and to the ways in which we change the chorus in America as a result . We have some crazy ideas about how we will change choral music. What do you think choral music will look like in the next 20 years?

American Orchestras Summit

Ms. Moy and Mr. Selvey attended the American Orchestra Summit (AOS), a landmark conference concerning the American orchestra, with the hopes of creating a similar summit for the choral community.   The AOS examined the wide-reaching cultural impact that the orchestra has had in America, and explored how orchestras and academia might partner effectively to extend this import. From this summit, Ms. Moy and Mr. Selvey learned about innovative community engagement collaborative strategies being employed in the orchestral world that have possible value in the choral community; and connected with many inspiring leaders in the world of music, psychology, and business.

The beginnings...

It’s hard to determine how chorosynthesis first became a thought.  Mr. Selvey and Ms. Moy recognized early on in the academic year that they had similar passions for research.  Mr. Selvey was interested in audience engagement, particularly by connecting with the internal motivation of attenders and Ms. Moy was interested in motivation and retention of students in choral ensembles.  At the heart of both points of research was the desire to advance the choral arts in a sustainable fashion.

Ms. Moy received an email from Ken Kiesler, University of Michigan to attend the American Orchestra Summit.  Inspired by the invitation, she sent it to Mr. Selvey and asked rhetorically why there wasn’t such an event for the choral community. Mr. Selvey boldy replied that they both should attend the summit in order to glean from the experience what would be necessary to put on  a similar choral summit! In typical Seattle fashion, Mr. Selvey and Ms. Moy discussed over coffee their vision for advancing the choral art. And that’s where it all started.