RE: [HSChorus] Information on the Endowment Concert 30-Jul-2007 08:10:11

As I read all of these e-mails I am struck with profound sadness for our group. A number of truly valid questions have come up, but in an ugly, confrontational manner, that does nothing to elevate us. These kind of questions, when asked, need to be addressed at a time when respondants are available and able to answer fully. Negative innuendos and rumours will always abound in a group, but still, it saddens me that this list serve seems to serve negativity. It is not that discussion about any topic should not occur, and I am not advocating any kind of censorship. It is just that so often it is used to foster and encourage negativity.

The questions raised are actually reasonable and fair. I am sure the Council will take into consideration all of these concerns, as well as the biggest concern of all - communication. But the acidic negativity I have read still saddens me.

We are not meeting currently. Is this a correct forum and the time to challenge issues that require thoughtful effort on the part of the Council? If you had questions, why did you not ask them when we were in session? Why not hold them until that time? Why attack when perhaps the persons best able to answer may not be easily available? Why sound so ugly as to appear to be "attacking"? I do not know why, and actually I am not so interested in an answer as I am in seeing more sharing of culturally interesting comments and sharing of information.

The Houston Symphony Chorus is a wonderful group of divers people contributing to the elevation of humanity through musical art. I am proud and honored to be a member and to share creation of wonderful art with you.

I also look forward to singing the St. Paulus Oratorio again. It is wonderful. I prefer it vastly to Elijah. It will be an exciting event that I can be proud to be a part of.

This is an excellent explanation. And as I read, I was struck again by the value of openness and communication in any situation, and how misunderstandings and high feelings could all be avoided through stakeholders being permitted to be active observers (and maybe permitted some input, whether or not it is taken) in the process. Perhaps annual publication of what the available draw is, of expenditures, and of what is being considered for use, certainly would serve to make contributors--and potential contributors--feel some ownership in the process.

----- Original Message -----
From: cutvelvet_jung
To: HSChorus@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, July 27, 2007 11:09 AM
Subject: [HSChorus] Information on the Endowment Concert

There have been many comments on this group recently about the endowment fund and its' use for a concert this spring. I'd like to address those concerns and hopefully give you a little more information. While I cannot say much on the process used to decide on the spring concert of St. Paul as an endowment fund project, I can comment on why I think it is a good use of those funds.

First let me say that I am looking forward to the St. Paul concert in April. I've never done the work before but from people who performed it in London several years ago, I hear that it is a wonderful choral piece. This is an opportunity for us to perform a piece that might never be performed at Jones Hall. We will be performing St. Paul at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church with Charles conducting and with members of the Houston Symphony Orchestra. This church was selected because of its location, size of facility and staging to accommodate such a concert, their successful ongoing concert series, their invitation to the symphony and chorus to be on the series, and willingness to contribute to the costs of producing this concert.

To my knowledge, this is the first time we will have the opportunity to have Charles conduct both us and the orchestra in a major concert. This a joint venture between the Houston Symphony, HSC, and Memorial Drive. I understand that funds will come from all three organizations. Our portion will be the draw from the endowment fund for three seasons. (2005-2008) This year the symphony also had extra "services" available which allows the musicians to perform two "split" extra concerts. Our concert will be one of those and include half of the orchestra (about 50 players).

The symphony and church will be doing advertising for the concert. We will probably start rehearsing the work this fall in the long gap we have between September concerts and the Christmas concerts in a year that is fairly light for the chorus. I firmly believe that this concert could lead to other opportunities for the chorus.

I called David Nussman a few nights ago and talked to him about the concert to see what he thought. He said that this sort of concert was at the top of his list of an appropriate use of the endowment fund. The endowment was set up for "choral enrichment" activities. This was left very broad so it would not rule things out in the future. One thing it was not meant to cover is tours. A tour group is usually a subset of the chorus. The endowment was also set up so the Symphony management has final say on what activities the endowment will be used for. We fall into the family of the Houston Symphony and so our activities need to contribute to those artistic goals. Symphony management also approves anything we do outside normal symphony concerts, like tours. Several ideas were pitched to symphony management this year and this concert was the one they picked as an appropriate use of funds and as an activity that met the overall musical goals of the Houston Symphony.

Right now the yearly draw from the endowment is not enough to fund many things. However, taking the draw from several years does total a large sum that can be used for bigger projects. As the endowment continues to grow, so does the draw and at some point in the future I can see us using the endowment yearly. But right now, a multiyear draw project is the best way to use the funds. The last use of endowment funds was a several year contribution to the CD. Before that there were workshops. It's my understanding that the workshops were well attended by the women but not the men of the chorus.

David Nussman has expressed a willingness to meet with the chorus and council to review the guidelines for the endowment. Many of the questions people had about the amount of money in the endowment and the draw amount were in the yellow pamphlet handed out last year as we started the campaign. I will talk with Charles and Susan and see when an appropriate time for such a meeting would be. My guess is that it would at least need to be done after the Stravinsky concert since we will be very busy the first six weeks of rehearsal. I also hope to discuss, as a council, the process of submitting ideas and see how that might be improved. I'll give Dave the questions that have been raised in e-mail's recently. If you have any other questions or concerns, please e-mail them to me and I'll see what I can do to get them addressed. You can reply to me from this posting or e-mail me at my home e-mail (roseprincess@Xembarqmail.com <mailto:roseprincess%40embarqmail.com> )
or work (jennifer.young@Xexxonmobil.com
<mailto:jennifer.young%40exxonmobil.com> ).

I also look forward to singing the St. Paulus Oratorio again. It is wonderful. I prefer it vastly to Elijah. It will be an exciting event that I can be proud to be a part of.

Thank you for these wonderful opportunities.

Anne Campbell

From: HSChorus@yahoogroups.com [mailto:HSChorus@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of P Bumpus
Sent: July 28, 2007 1:31 PM
To: cutvelvet_jung; HSChorus@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [HSChorus] Information on the Endowment Concert

Pat B

----- Original Message -----

From: cutvelvet_jung

To: HSChorus@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, July 27, 2007 11:09 AM

Subject: [HSChorus] Information on the Endowment Concert

Members of the HSC Yahoo group:

There have been many comments on this group recently about the
endowment fund and its' use for a concert this spring. I'd like to
address those concerns and hopefully give you a little more
information. While I cannot say much on the process used to decide
on the spring concert of St. Paul as an endowment fund project, I
can comment on why I think it is a good use of those funds.

First let me say that I am looking forward to the St. Paul concert
in April. I've never done the work before but from people who
performed it in London several years ago, I hear that it is a
wonderful choral piece. This is an opportunity for us to perform a
piece that might never be performed at Jones Hall. We will be
performing St. Paul at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church with
Charles conducting and with members of the Houston Symphony
Orchestra. This church was selected because of its location, size
of facility and staging to accommodate such a concert, their
successful ongoing concert series, their invitation to the symphony
and chorus to be on the series, and willingness to contribute to the
costs of producing this concert.

To my knowledge, this is the first time we will have the
opportunity to have Charles conduct both us and the orchestra in a
major concert. This a joint venture between the Houston Symphony,
HSC, and Memorial Drive. I understand that funds will come from all
three organizations. Our portion will be the draw from the
endowment fund for three seasons. (2005-2008) This year the symphony
also had extra "services" available which allows the musicians to
perform two "split" extra concerts. Our concert will be one of
those and include half of the orchestra (about 50 players).

The symphony and church will be doing advertising for the concert.
We will probably start rehearsing the work this fall in the long gap
we have between September concerts and the Christmas concerts in a
year that is fairly light for the chorus. I firmly believe that
this concert could lead to other opportunities for the chorus.

I called David Nussman a few nights ago and talked to him about the
concert to see what he thought. He said that this sort of concert
was at the top of his list of an appropriate use of the endowment
fund. The endowment was set up for "choral enrichment" activities.
This was left very broad so it would not rule things out in the
future. One thing it was not meant to cover is tours. A tour group
is usually a subset of the chorus. The endowment was also set up so
the Symphony management has final say on what activities the
endowment will be used for. We fall into the family of the Houston
Symphony and so our activities need to contribute to those artistic
goals. Symphony management also approves anything we do outside
normal symphony concerts, like tours. Several ideas were pitched to
symphony management this year and this concert was the one they
picked as an appropriate use of funds and as an activity that met
the overall musical goals of the Houston Symphony.

Right now the yearly draw from the endowment is not enough to fund
many things. However, taking the draw from several years does total
a large sum that can be used for bigger projects. As the endowment
continues to grow, so does the draw and at some point in the future
I can see us using the endowment yearly. But right now, a multi-
year draw project is the best way to use the funds. The last use
of endowment funds was a several year contribution to the CD.
Before that there were workshops. It's my understanding that the
workshops were well attended by the women but not the men of the
chorus.

David Nussman has expressed a willingness to meet with the chorus and
council to review the guidelines for the endowment. Many of the
questions people had about the amount of money in the endowment and
the draw amount were in the yellow pamphlet handed out last year as
we started the campaign. I will talk with Charles and Susan and see
when an appropriate time for such a meeting would be. My guess is
that it would at least need to be done after the Stravinsky concert
since we will be very busy the first six weeks of rehearsal. I also
hope to discuss, as a council, the process of submitting ideas and
see how that might be improved. I'll give Dave the questions that
have been raised in e-mail's recently. If you have any other
questions or concerns, please e-mail them to me and I'll see what
I can do to get them addressed. You can reply to me from this
posting or e-mail me at my home e-mail (roseprincess@embarqmail.com)
or work (jennifer.young@exxonmobil.com).

I look forward to seeing everyone on August 14.

Jennifer Young
HSC Council President

__._,_.___

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