2022-430-E-Arts Commission-Voices the Chapel Hill Chorus-2022-23 Arts grants

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Are you an entity of UNC- Chapel Hill or another unit of state government? No PROJECT/PROGRAM INFORMATION Tell us about your project or program Title of Grant Request Salary Support for Artistic Director, Accompanist, and Local Musicians Hired for Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 concerts Grant Amount Requested $8,000 Is the person in charge of this program or project different from the Authorizing Official? Yes Project Director Name Tamara Sheldon Project Director Title Board Member, Grants and Dev elopment Project Director Street Address 3301 Arthur Minnis Road, Hillsborough, NC 27278 Project Director Phone 6266441520 Project Director Email tamara.sheldon@v oiceschapelhill.org What are you requesting funding for? Operational expense (arts organizations ONLY) Request Summary Voices requests $8,000 to support the salary of our Artistic Director Dr. Stephen Futrell, Accompanist Dr. Shoko Abe, and to pay for the appearances of local musicians at both our Holiday 2022 and Spring 2023 concerts. If our request is granted, grant funds will be matched one for one with money from Voices' operating funds in FY2023. Dr. Futrell is Voices' fifth artistic director and joined the chorus in 2018. He is an Associate Professor of Music at Elon Univ ersity and holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting, Univ ersity of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music. Dr. Futrell is the creativ e force behind Voices and has expanded our repertoire widely introducing works from many cultures around the world. He often introduces v ocal techniques and music theory concepts during practice that nurture and enhance the choir's skillset, dev eloping stronger musicians over time. Dr. Abe holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Collaborative Piano (April 2018, Univ ersity of North Texas), and degrees earned with high honors in piano performance from Fukushima Univ ersity and Showa Univ ersity in Japan. She often leads sectionals (a subset of the chorus practicing separate parts) aiding the Chorus as both teacher and accompanist. For Voices' Holiday Concert, Voices will hire a string quartet to accompany the the large, combined chorus in performing holiday music from sev eral traditions and locations around the world. In Spring 2023 Voices will present 'Carmina Burana' accompanied by two pianos and a percussion ensemble. All musicians hired will be local, professional players. Organizational Goals Ev ery year Voices goals are to: prov ide an opportunity for members of our community to experience the joy of choral singing in a welcoming organization that striv es for excellence, and; to offer the opportunity to our community to come enjoy the fruits of our efforts at beautifully organized and performed concerts. In FY 23 Voices' has two particular goals: to grow membership and increase our audience particularly from underrepresented and/or under-resourced populations, and 2) to reincorporate our select ensemble group Cantari into programming both within the larger chorus and perhaps stand-alone concerts as financial considerations allow. As discussed earlier, Voices' repertoire for the last few performance years before and after Cov id hav e offered a breadth of selections from other cultures, countries, and ev en new music as represented by our commissioned piece performed at our May 2022 concert. Fiscal 2022 is our first full performance year since Cov id, and in both the Spring and Fall seasons we hav e had a reduced membership and smaller audiences at concerts. Membership in 2022 was 87 singers while our historical range is 120 to 150 singers. The audience for our Fall and Spring concerts numbered approximately 300 and 250 respectiv ely, while historically we hav e expected to attract 500+ total to our two Fall concerts, and 300+ to our Spring concert. W e attribute this to a Covid hangov er and continuing uncertainty as the v irus takes new forms. Part of Voices' effort to counter these trends is to bring back a repertoire in 2023 made up of old fav orites to entice both singers and listeners out of Covid lethargy and back into our chorus and audience. W e are very encouraged by the turnout for Summer Voices that started late May 2022. Historically our Summer Voices choir has averaged around sixty singers but this year we hav e attracted 82. Summer Voices concerts in the past hav e attracted 150+ audience members. Two underrepresented and under-resourced populations that Voices is well-equipped to serv e are seniors and youth. Our membership and audience consist in large part of indiv iduals aged 55-70+, and prov iding cultural enrichment for seniors is an important way that we provide v alue to the arts community. Our history of joint concerts with local youth choirs allows us to share meaningful choral music experiences with young singers in the Triangle. Prior to the pandemic, Voices arranged to distribute free tickets to our 40th anniv ersary concert to residents of Orange County Senior Centers and students of East Chapel Hill High School. As the board considers div ersification and inclusion strategies, we plan to rev iv e efforts like these that strengthen Voices’ relationships with underserv ed groups. DocuSign Envelope ID: 4B2B49D2-B4B4-4397-AE2C-5AA9D33F13C3