Saturday Morning Breakout Sessions

Growing AUDIENCES: Creating Value, Meaning and Energy

Presenter: Anne Dunning, Principal Consultant, ARTS Action Research

The central premise of Growing AUDIENCES is that audience behaviors have changed more in the last 5 to 10 years than the last 30 to 40. This workshop will examine some of the complex causes driving these changes and will offer perspectives, concepts and new tools for reframing and understanding audience behaviors and relationships. In this three-hour session Anne Dunning will describe a new strategic framework for planning, setting goals and priorities, creating strategies and growing your audiences.

Geared to: mid and senior level but applicable to all levels.

Benefits:

1. Be able to 'map' and describe current audience relationships
2. Generate goals and strategies for deepening current audience relationships
3. Identify prospective audiences and create strategies to make attendance meaningful for them
4. Measure results against their goals for building and deepening audience relationships

Board Member Nominations and Education: Foundation for Excellence in Chorus Governance

Presenter: Sharon Heinlen, Professor Regis University, Masters of Nonprofit Management Program

Geared to: Entry and Mid-level

Sustaining excellence for governance requires your organization’s board of directors to focus intentionally on the nominating process for board membership, and then on your efforts to insure that they have the educational opportunities to understand their roles and functions. Managing this can be easy if you organize processes that guarantee optimum participation and commitment based on educational opportunities for board members. This session will present very practical practices to build your chorus board’s capacity for governance.

Benefits:

1. Understand key ideas and concepts that are fundamental to a high functioning and excellent board of directors for choruses.
2. Leave with practical applications of board education practices that other arts-focused nonprofits use for excellence.
3. Be able to improve the recruitment and education processes for their organization’s board of directors by utilizing materials they receive in this session.
4. Have reviewed case studies for governance excellence in chorus leadership and management.

To Play or Not to Play

Presenters: Will Varner, Principal Accompanist and Assistant Artistic Director, Women’s Chrous of Dallas; Timothy S. De Prey, Principal Accompanist, Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus

Geared toward: Entry and Mid level accompanists and directors

There can be a lot of distance between the downbeat and the first chord. Participants will address issues pertaining to the teamwork between the accompanist and the artistic director. Our discussion will cover how to build rapport between accompanist, director and chorus.

Benefits:

1. Become more aware of ways to communicate musical ideas during rehearsal and performance.
2. Explore ways accompanists can support the director besides from the piano bench.
3. Understand the practical requirements of playing for a chorus.

So You’re the Treasurer

Presenter: Kevin Carroll, Voices of Kentuckiana

Being treasurer of your chorus can be a thankless job, but you can help to strengthen your organization! This workshop will provide the foundational policies and procedures to effectively position your chorus as a business entity. Learn from model policies and procedures to help assist in the protection of chorus assets and better align the financial position of the organization.

Geared toward: Entry and Mid level

Benefits:

1. Review and understand basic accounting principles including policies and procedures.
2. Protect your chorus with internal auditing controls over checks, cash and credit.
3. Get tips for issues including forms maintenance, insurance, confidentiality, and HR issues
4. Gain an overview of using the popular accounting program QuickBooks

Youth Chorus Roundtable: A Look at the New GALA Youth Chorus Manual

Presenter: Casey Hayes, Musical Director, The New York City Ambassador Chorus; Founding Director, The Women’s Chorus of New York

Youth Choruses are one of the most exciting new developments in the glbt chorus movement. This session will take a look at the new GALA Youth Choruses Manual. Learn about some of the current best practices and cutting-edge thinking around youth choruses. In addition, we will be soliciting your thoughts and suggestions on improving the manual and learning from your experiences.

Benefits:

1. Get the latest information on the development of successful youth choruses
2. Learn from your peers about the benefits and challenges of glbt youth choruses.

Copyright. Copywrong. Copyconfusion. Dealing with Copyrights from Commissioning to Mechanicals

Presenters: Jennie Morette, Copyright Compliance Officer and Mark J. Morette, President, Mark Custom Recording Service Inc.

Geared to: all levels

Few issues confuse artistic and administrative leaders more than the complex web of issues related to copyright licensing for new music, arrangements, and recordings. Two industry experts will take you through the process of trying to commission music, locating copyright holders and dealing with the mechanical reproduction license process.

Benefits:

1. Know how to locate and contact a copyright holder.
2. Learn how to submit a request for mechanical reproduction licenses.
3. Have an understanding of the importance of following copyright laws.
4. Help eliminate confusion dealing with many different aspects of copyrights.