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Request Summary VOICES requests $8,000 to support the salary of our Artistic Director, Dr. <br />Stephen Futrell, and/or to pay <br />for our accompanist and/or guest musicians at our winter 2023 and spring <br />2024 concerts. If our request <br />is granted, grant funds will be matched one for one with money from <br />VOICES' operating funds. <br />Dr. Futrell is the creative force behind VOICES and has expanded our <br />repertoire widely, introducing <br />works from many cultures around the world. An educator as well as artist, <br />he often introduces vocal <br />techniques and music theory concepts during practice that nurture and <br />enhance the choir's skillset, <br />developing stronger musicians over time. <br />Our accompanist attends weekly rehearsals as well as usually being part of <br />our performances and is <br />compensated appropriately for this significant commitment. <br />VOICES almost always hires local guest musicians to perform with us at <br />each of our major <br />performances, and sometimes Summer Voices as well. The ensembles <br />and/or soloists vary at each <br />performance, ranging from single instrumentalists or vocalists to small <br />ensembles to chamber <br />orchestras. At this point, we have not determined who will be performing <br />with VOICES during the <br />upcoming year. During this past year, we had a guest vocalist with Summer <br />Voices, a guest rhythm <br />section (bass and drumset) plus African percussionist for our winter <br />concert, and Triangle String <br />Quartet played with us at our spring concert. W e expect similar groupings <br />in the upcoming year, <br />except that we have not planned to have a guest musician for Summer <br />Voices this year. <br />Organizational Goals VOICES' goals are to provide an opportunity for members of our community <br />to experience the joy of <br />choral singing in a welcoming organization that strives for excellence; and <br />to maximize our community <br />impact with thoughtful and beautifully organized and performed concerts for <br />our audience. <br />In FY 23-24, similar to this and last year, the most important strategy for <br />VOICES is to grow <br />membership and increase our audience, particularly from underrepresented <br />and/or under-resourced <br />populations, with accessibility for all. The benefit from a larger membership <br />is not just the education <br />and enrichment of more singers (which is substantial and important), but <br />that it leads to larger <br />audiences and greater community impact as well. <br />Membership in Voices and Cantari collectively had historically, pre-COVID, <br />averaged about 120-150 <br />total singers. Of course, that dropped precipitously when COVID hit, but we <br />held on as an <br />DocuSign Envelope ID: A1431915-7C4E-420D-8962-502090AC2D53