2023-557-E-Arts Commission-Sisters' Voices -2023-24 Arts Grants

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Request Summary For the coming 2023-24 season, SV plans to continue renting a room for rehearsals at Binkley Church in Chapel Hill. W hile we are working to eventually move into a more permanent space that will allow us to grow more in both numbers of singers and programming, we have found that both the space and the location of Binkley Church has worked very well for us. In addition to rehearsal space, when we have concerts and other special programs, Binkley Church has performance space and other rooms available to rent for these purposes, making it efficient and logistically simple for these events. This past year, we budgeted $12,320 for space which included $9,000 for the rehearsal room. W e were grateful to receive funding from OCAC last year to help cover much of this rental fee. Operational support from OCAC again this year would allow SV to continue to offset much of these costs as we to build our high school program and grow the size of our ensembles. Organizational Goals This past year, SV was able to build back our level of programming that we had created prior to the COVID-19 pandemic with regular concerts, festivals and special collaborations. Our programming goal for 2023-24 is to add an SV-Five ensemble comprised of singers in high school and to grow our younger ensembles. W e feel we now have a strong group of older singers who are committed to continue singing with SV. Our Artistic Director will work on offering challenging music and opportunities for them to further their musical development. W e have committed to participating in the opening performance of the NC American Choral Directors Association fall conference in October as part of a collaboration of several Triangle Area children and youth choral organizations. A new opportunity that we are exploring for our SV-Four and Five ensembles (middle and high school singers) is to attend the San Diego Youth Choral Festival, hosted by the San Diego Children's Choir in late June and early July of 2024. W e also plan to continue seeking opportunities to collaborate with other local artists and groups including choral ensembles, dancers, poets, songwriters, and musicians. Our top organizational goal for the Fall of 2023 is to hire a new staff person to be our Community Coordinator. The job of the Community Coordinator will be to help us maintain better internal communication, cultivate a stronger connection with our families, and enable SV to always have another adult staff person present during rehearsals to support the work of the Artistic Director. This will help us create capacity for a future Executive Director. Over the next few years, we plan to hire an Executive Director who could takeover the responsibilities of the Community Coordinator, and, in addition, oversee financial responsibilities, community outreach, and fundraising. As SV continues to grow, this level of infrastructure will be crucial to the functioning, integrity and strength of the organization. Furthermore, this will allow the Artistic Director to focus on programming and providing quality music and leadership education for the singers. Another important goal for SV this year is to increase our Scholarship Fund by 50% so that we can more effectively serve children from underserved communities. DocuSign Envelope ID: 200AB7AA-A897-4845-886C-92CE8C1C9EF5