[HSChorus] A Little Bit of History on the Choral Endowment 31-Jul-2007 13:32:59

As many of you know, I have been involved with the Council for quite some time now and have taken a particular interest in helping the Council and Dave Nussman with the Endowment Fund for the past 6 years. The opportunity that we have for this HSChorus Discussion Group is to have a constructive dialog on lessons learned in order to build on our successes. Hopefully the folks that are engaged in this conversation can channel their passion for the Houston Symphony Chorus into positive ideas in the new season and beyond. Remember, you don't have to serve on the Council in order to help serve the Chorus, so I encourage everyone reading this to consider volunteering to help. And if your passion is to become involved with the Endowment, then that would be GREAT! Meanwhile, I have been very proud to serve with John MacDonald, Larry Hitt, David Knoll, Carolee Weber, and Jennifer Young. They have each made their own unique contributions and each year the Council has made continuous incremental improvements because of them.

For those that weren't around 6 years ago, here's a quick review of what's been happening with the Endowment Fund. Please recall that our Choral Endowment is under the umbrella of the Houston Symphony Endowment that was established many years ago. The purpose of endowments such as these are to build a sufficient "nest egg" in order to allow the money to make money, which typically goes back into the operating expenses of the organization. An so it's important to understand that the revenue generated from the Houston Symphony Endowment (about $3M per year) absolutely goes back into the operation of the Houston Symphony Orchestra. About 10 years ago, thanks to the vision of Dave Nussman, a Choral Endowment was started coinciding with the 50th Anniversary of the HSC. And thanks to Dave, the HSC, and "friends of the HSC", this choral endowment has grown to over $100K. But the intent of the money generated from the Choral Endowment has always been to go towards "choral enrichment activities" such as special projects, workshops, lectures, etc. This is actually an exception to how endowment funds are typically spent.

In 2001, the HSC Staff approached the Council to help come up with ideas to spend our first draw. And as result through a collaborative effort between the Staff and Council, on August 25, 2001 the Houston Symphony Chorus gathered at the Hotel Galvez in Galveston to hold a workshop with special speakers and lunch that looked out over the Gulf. The other events and special projects that followed were: Lecture by Dr. Howard Pollack on Barber (Oct 2001); Workshop at UH with Hans Graff (Sept 2002); Lecture by Larissa Jackson on Rachmaninoff (March 2003); and then the Voices of the Symphony recording (May 2005). It was decided by all that we would utilize the draw every two years - which brings us to 2007... I can share with you that the Council and Staff have been working on ideas for the next event for over a year now - and there are MANY ideas still in the hopper (so to speak) - but each of these ideas hinges on timing, planning, money, and volunteers. The incredible opportunity that has opened up for us is a partnership with the Houston Symphony Orchestra for a special concert. Aurelie Desmarais (Sr Director, Artistic Planning and sometimes alto) reached out to the Council to let us know that she and Matthew Ban Besien (CEO) and Steve Brovik (General Manager) are very excited about co-producing a concert to perform Mendelssohn's *St. Paul*. It is a major Choral Endowment event and is at the *heart* of the intent of helping to fund special choral enrichment projects.* *
**
I hope this helps by sharing a bit of the history and to put the Choral Endowment into perspective. We're really just getting warmed up, folks. And 2010 is right around the corner. Honestly, these events need to be planned at least a year in advance (even two) and most importantly it takes a commitment from volunteers to bring it to reality. So what do you want to do? Just ask your section leader, Jennifer, Susan or Charles how you can help.

All,

In 2001, the HSC Staff approached the Council to help come up with ideas to spend our first draw. And as result through a collaborative effort between the Staff and Council, on August 25, 2001 the Houston Symphony Chorus gathered at the Hotel Galvez in Galveston to hold a workshop with special speakers and lunch that looked out over the Gulf. The other events and special projects that followed were: Lecture by Dr. Howard Pollack on Barber (Oct 2001); Workshop at UH with Hans Graff (Sept 2002); Lecture by Larissa Jackson on Rachmaninoff (March 2003); and then the Voices of the Symphony recording (May 2005). It was decided by all that we would utilize the draw every two years - which brings us to 2007... I can share with you that the Council and Staff have been working on ideas for the next event for over a year now - and there are MANY ideas still in the hopper (so to speak) - but each of these ideas hinges on timing, planning, money, and volunteers. The incredible opportunity that has opened up for us is a partnership with the Houston Symphony Orchestra for a special concert. Aurelie Desmarais (Sr Director, Artistic Planning and sometimes alto) reached out to the Council to let us know that she and Matthew Ban Besien (CEO) and Steve Brovik (General Manager) are very excited about co-producing a concert to perform Mendelssohn's St. Paul. It is a major Choral Endowment event and is at the heart of the intent of helping to fund special choral enrichment projects.

I hope this helps by sharing a bit of the history and to put the Choral Endowment into perspective. We're really just getting warmed up, folks. And 2010 is right around the corner. Honestly, these events need to be planned at least a year in advance (even two) and most importantly it takes a commitment from volunteers to bring it to reality. So what do you want to do? Just ask your section leader, Jennifer, Susan or Charles how you can help.

Looking forward to 07-08,

Jonathan Vaughan, T2 (SL & VEEP until the end of the month)

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