Message from the Chair
June 27 QSCM celebrated our successes and accomplishments in 2019 with our second Annual General Meeting. COVID 19 restrictions dictated a Virtual Meeting. As a result we will publish from the chair (this post) and our artistic director (next post) in the blog and the newsletter. Anyone who wishes to see the treasurer's report, or the minutes of the meeting, may contact us at info@qscmusic.com and those documents will be provided to you.
QSCM ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING June 27, 2020
VIRTUAL MEETING - GOOGLE HANGOUT (COVID 19).
Annual Report fromChair/President
Bonnie Sallans
Making Classical Music accessible: That is our mandate. 2019 saw us do just that. And despite COVID 19 restrictions we will continue to pursue it through presenting chamber music, live to our community. Chamber music is an ideal vehicle even at this time because it was designed for small audiences. Social distancing is possible, outdoor performance is possible, live music is possible!.
ADAPTING: “Live” has also come to imply “Live Feed” - i.e. virtual concerts that can be heard both at the moment of performance, and then later as on-line recordings. If you haven’t already be sure to listen to QSCM;s first VIRTUAL CONCERT.
VOLUNTEERS: We have Micaela Moray to thank for that work.. One of our big accomplishments of 2019 was recruiting a number of new volunteers. These people have brought much needed skills and strengths into our organization. Welcome Micaela, also Nancy Post, Tamara Best and George Kratz. New board members Cynthia Young and Alex Kohlsmith are also contributing fresh energy and much appreciated skills and perspective to our leadership.
WEB SITE /RAISING OUR PROFILE: Stepping up our on-line activity is giving us a wider reach and opening up more possibilities for funding. Thanks to Micaela with support from Diana and Sharon we have upgraded and monetized the web site. We can now receive donations and sell tickets directly from our pages. We continue to work on our advertising and social media presence. The promo video produced by David Maltby has also proven an excellent promotional device, The link goes out with every info@qscmusic email and can be viewed at any time. https://vimeo.com/392309770
COMMUNITY BUILDING: Always shaping our organization to meet our needs, we have refined the “Friends of QSCM” program allowing us to recognize affiliates as donors, supporters and volunteers. Nancy Post, as our newly designated “business manager, and working with Diana, our long suffering secretary treasuring, ” is helping us clarify the roles we need to fulfil in QSCM as board members, volunteers, and supporters. We continue to seek ways to build the volunteer base from which future board members can be nominated. and develop the on-ine capability of our web site, blog and social media platforms to encourage dialogue and community among all.
FINANCES: QSCM remains solvent and debt free due to everyone’s hard work and ongoing generosity from the local community. 2019 also saw us funded by a grant from the Ontario Arts Council. This year in addition to making on-line donations possible, we expanded our initiatives to include approaching municipal councils for funding. This drive was cut short by COVID 19 restrictions. However , we were successful with the Madoc Township Municipal Council, receiving funds towards the ALL TERRAIN TOUR, now planned for fall 2020. We will only get better at working with municipal funders and look forward to more success in future.
FUNDRAISING Among our 2019 volunteer recruits is George Kratz. George gets excited about fundraising events and that makes me excited about George! He is chafing at the bit to follow through as soon as public health conditions allow. Another volunteer, Tamara Best, has training and experience in community service that includes expertise in grant funding applications. She has already begun taking on some of the heavy lifting involved in the highly specialized skill of grant writing for which I am grateful.
VOLUNTEER BASE:The future of QSCM depends on volunteers ready to share their skills while learning about classical music culture. Growing this base is essential and I am thrilled to see it is actually happening! Because of you, all of you, the future for QSCM is vibrant and real.
CULTURAL DIVERSITY: Finally I need to speak to the matter of cultural diversity in our programming and our organization. Recent events have underscored the way that racial discrimination affects lives in terms of basic security. WHat is less understood is how racial privilege has shaped all aspects of mainstream culture in the performance arts. Classical music is rooted in West European aristocratic tradition which excludes people of colour as well as the privileges of the affluent. We can’t change the past. But we can change how we bring that music forward. QSCM leadership is committed to looking carefully at the inherent biases shaping the roster of musicians available to us and learning what we can do to break down the systemic bias that limits us all.
CRISIS IS OPPORTUNITY: We’ve done a lot. We have a lot to do. Things will not be as they were before the great crises of 2020, but because of the commitment, talent and kindness I see in this group, I remain confident that classical music, and QSCM can not only survive, but thrive. Going forward will be different than anything anyone has seen before. DIfferent is exciting, a whole new world of possibility lies before us. We are all capable of beauty, and the world needs us, our artists and the people in this group who make their work possible, now more than ever.
Bonnie Sallans
Chair, QSCM