2015-643-E Arts - Women's Voices Chorus, Inc. Arts Grant

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DocuSign Envelope ID:9BA93BOD-53A5-4EDO-804C-461 F45131 FF65 Application Narrative 2015-16 Arts Program Application Women's Voices Chorus - December 2015 1. Concert Season. The chorus performs ticketed programs in January and April/May. Most vocal soloists are drawn from the chorus, but we hire professional vocalists for the more demanding pieces. We also hire professional instrumentalists to accompany us in repertoire. 2. Benefit Concerts. Since 2009 our summer program has been a benefit concert: No tickets are sold,and all donations are awarded to a local charity.Recipients have been Paws4Ever in Orange County, the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, CASTLE (the Center for Acquisition of Spoken Language Through Listening Enrichment), the Durham Chapter of Arts for Life, the Arthritis Foundation, the Inter-Faith Council, and the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. 3. Short programs.As a service to community members who may not be able to attend our regular performances,we have sung midi-concerts at Carol Woods and Carolina Meadows in Chapel Hill, and at House of Healing(Duke)and the Regent in Durham. We also have performed at the Orange County Women First award ceremonies and for the NC Music Teachers Association conference. 4. Collaborative programs. We have performed concerts with area high school choral students, with Vox Virorum men's chorus,and in the Strobilus Arts Series. 5. Commissions. We have commissioned 14 pieces over the last 16 years from the following composers: Katherine Dienes, Lana Walker, Eleanor Epstein, Caroline Mallonee, Paul Leary, Thom Limbert, Sidney Boquiren,Eleanor Daley,Nina Gilbert,and our own Dr. Allan Friedman, 5. Enrichment. We hold a Saturday retreat twice a year for members to work on choral techniques, vocal health, choral history, and repertoire. We often hire clinicians to enhance those workshops. PROPOSED USE OF GRANT FUNDS Women's Voices Chorus is proud of the high level of excellence that we have risen to under the leadership of Artistic Director Allan Friedman and Accompanist Nancy Whelan. It is our desire to provide them with the musical equipment that they need to enable even better performances for our community. We are requesting $1,500 to purchase four pieces of equipment that will benefit Dr. Friedman, Ms. Whelan, and the chorus itself. These items are: 1) a portable conductor's podium, 2) a conductor's music stand, 3) a good piano lamp, and 4) a small amplification system for use in various rehearsal and concert spaces. These items would become the property of WVC for use in any future locations as needed. The details of each item are shown on the itemized budget. Our concerts and rehearsals are held in several locations in Chapel Hill, including University United Methodist Church, United Church of Chapel Hill, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, and New Hope Camp and Conference Center. In each of these locales, our conductor and accompanist have sometimes struggled to see, handle music, and be heard. At our recent day-long choral retreats in Chapel Hill, the spaces were not well-lit, nor was it possible for all chorus members to hear Dr. Friedman. An amplification system was especially needed, for example,when we shared our retreat with local high school girls' choruses in October 2014. The requested equipment would provide immediate relief for these issues.