i agree with you judy.
with respect to "choral enrichment"...well, that's up for personal interpretation.
i see it differently.
for me, anytime i get to rehearse and perform with the HSC is choral enrichment!
adding yet another musical work (such as the Mendelssohn "St Paul") to my repertiore
is choral enrichment...it serves me, it serves the organization. i'm in.

for me, being a member of this chorus is a privelege, not a right. having served on the
council was indeeed an honor. we should have a reasonable expectation that our interests
are being served and addressed by our own council...and speaking of the council,
i also would like to hear from the current council members.
ja

judithia2000 wrote:

Well, I DO question how the money is to be used and I do not agree
that it should be at the sole discretion of the director, either.I
never thought that was a good idea, even when I served on the council.
The earnings from the fund that are designated for use were to be used
for "choral enrichment " activities, as I understood it. To my mind
that would mean workshops or other such similar activities that would
indeed benefit the entire chorus. I did agree that using funds for the
a capella cd "Voices of the Symphony" project was a good idea, for
example because it has lasting value in a recording which showcases
the chorus in an excellent way. I must confess, that I am not so sure
that I think a single performance of the Mendelssohn "St Paul" next
April really qualifies as choral enrichment and I am surprised to see
the funds being utilized in this way. It is also surprising to see it
announced as a 'done deal' in the latest Chorus Chronicles.

I think that it might be time for us to re-evaluate how we are using
this money and who is making the choices. We (the chorus) are the main
ones putting money into this each year and it is our fund, after all.
We are also supposed to be the beneficiaries of the 'enrichment'
provided by these funds. Perhaps a more democratic way would be for
the council to survey the chorus to find out what is desired by the
majority and possibly offer several options each year on ways to use
the funds and put it to a vote of the chorus.

By the way, what did we do last year??

Council...what say you???

Judy Hill
A1

--- In HSChorus@yahoogroups.com, "Joe A. Anzaldua, M.D." <drjoe@...>
wrote:
>
> sadly, at my first meeting on the council, i also raised this question.
> for me, it was an issue of accountability to the HSC but more
> importantly to its
> members. i too, never got a straight answer. my concerns obviously fell
> on deaf ears.
>
> the real question is this: how can we as an organization continue to
ask
> for money from
> its members year after year to support the endowment, when we really
> don't hold
> ourselves accountable on how money is being spent (or allocated)?
>
> i don't question how the money is to be used. i leave that up to our
> director. but
> i do think that this organization needs to disclose to its members (and
> council) what are the policies
> that govern endowment expenditures, how the funds are being allocated
> and a reasonable explanation
> as to why and how this happens.
>
> on this point, it is incumbent on the council to insist on being
> involved at every step how this is carried out.
> if not, why even have a council? just to fulfill some requirement from

> the HSO? I think not. We have
> some really intelligent and reasonable people on this council. They
need
> to stay involved. They need to be
> the voice and advocate of our choral members.
>
> my opinion...
> ja
>
>
> Linda Peters wrote:
>
> > When I was on the council, it became abundantly clear that we really
> > had no voice in any of these matters. It was the symphony's money to
> > use as they saw fit. If they approved whatever it was that we asked
> > for, we could get it, but no one really asked us what WE (the chorus
> > grunts) wanted. At any level. L
> >
> >
> >
> >
----------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > If there isn't a written mission statement, policy, and procedures
> > document, there should be, don't you think? Especially since we do
> > solicit and receive donations from non-chorus members as well. We
owe
> > it to them--and ourselves--to be using the funds the way they were
> > intended.
> >
> >
> > Pat B
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> >
> > From: judithia2000 <mailto:judithia2000@...>
> >
> > To: HSChorus@yahoogroups.com <mailto:HSChorus@yahoogroups.com>
> >
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 12:34 PM
> >
> > Subject: [HSChorus] Re: Question re Chorus Endowment Funds
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I would like to know the answer to that as well and... I would like to
> > see a financial report on the financial history of the endowment
> > presented to the chorus that includes the following information:
> >
> > The total current balance of the Endowment fund
> > Earnings available for use this current year
> > Earnings available for use in prior years
> > How those earnings were used
> > What the proposed use is for this year
> > Who decides?
> >
> > I should probably know this as well, but time goes by and sometimes
> > recall gets garbled.
> >
> > It is our fund and our money that we are encouraged to contribute each
> > year and we do have a right to know these answers
> >
> > Judy Hill
> >
> > --- In HSChorus@yahoogroups.com <mailto:HSChorus%40yahoogroups.com>,
> > "Suzanne Mitchell"
> > <smitchell1979@> wrote:
> >>
> >> Hello all. Hope you're enjoying your summer! I don't want to stir
up any
> >> kind of hornet's nest, but I do have a question that I hope
someone can
> >> answer.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Re the statement in the most recent HSC Chronicles about the Chorus
> >> Endowment making possible the performance of the Mendelssohn St
Paul.are
> >> there any kind of written guidelines about what the Endowment $$ can
> > be used
> >> for? Is it completely up to the discretion of the conductor? Does
> > the Chorus
> >> Council have any input into those kinds of decisions and, if so, is
> > there a
> >> process for chorus members to give input to the Chorus Council
prior to
> >> these discussions?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I ask from the standpoint of someone who has contributed a decent
> > amount of
> >> $$ every year to the endowment (and I suppose that due diligence
> > would have
> >> suggested I should know the answers to the questions I have asked
before
> >> donating $$, so I am sorry for my own lapse either in knowledge or
> > memory!
> >> :-)).and although of course it's nice to sing another piece (and was
> > nice to
> >> do the CD, which as I recall was also supported by the Endowment), I
> > also
> >> think there might be other uses for that $$ that might benefit the
> > chorus in
> >> different ways (eg some of the "Western Wind' ensemble kinds of
training
> >> that Roger Cutler has talked about in the past.).
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Thanks for your help - - inquiring minds want to know!
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Cheers. suzanne
> >
> >
> > __,_._
>

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