If you are to attend one workshop this year, this is the one to attend!! I heard Margy Waller speak in June, and was inspired by her report. Karen Haver, of Berks Arts Council, and I are working together to bring this to our community. The lunch is underwritten by Berks Classical Children’s Chorus and Reading Musical Foundation. The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts is providing funding to bring Ms. Waller to Reading.

Y’all come!!!!

Dail Richie

Communicating About the Arts to Build Broad Support

Friday, November 18, 2011 from 10:00 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

The Berks Arts Council invites you to attend a full-day training with Margy Waller, Vice President of Strategic Communication and Research at ArtsWave, a Cincinnati-based arts advocacy organization. This event is free for non-profit organizations, only $25.00 for for for-profit organizations. Lunch will be included.

Leaders of ArtsWave designed and commissioned a research initiative to develop an inclusive community dialogue leading to broadly shared public responsibility for arts and culture in the region. They concluded that their work with the community through arts and culture must be based on a foundation that incorporates a deeper understanding of the best way to communicate with the public in order to achieve that shared sense of responsibility.

Throughout the training Ms. Waller will review their research findings, offer examples of how the community is successfully using the research to develop a dialogue, and discuss applying the findings to specific community goals.

For more information and to RSVP for the training, please visit http://bacartswave.eventbrite.com.

The qualified candidate for this part-time, salaried position will hold a Masters Degree in choral conducting, voice, or appropriate related field, or be currently enrolled in a graduate program in the field.

Highly desirable skills include a solid understanding of the young voice, good conducting skills, good interpersonal skills, and a broad knowledge of the choral repertoire. The Director of Chorale will interface with the directors of the organization’s three other ensembles and the Executive Director. This position involves weekly rehearsals, various concerts, and staff meetings, approximately ten months a year.

Job will begin May 2012.

Founded in 1992, BCCC is recognized as an outstanding choral education organization working annually with 100 singers, grades 3-12, in 4 choir levels.

Resumes and cover letters may be sent to SEARCH COMMITTEE, Berks Classical Children’s Chorus, 201 Washington Street, Suite 529, Reading, PA 19601. Please do NOT SEND CDs with initial inquiries. Deadline for receipt of applications is October 31, 2011.

Brunner will coach the singers on “Spiritual Musick,” a piece that he wrote for them and for 11 other children’s choruses all across the country. The rehearsal with Brunner is scheduled for April 11, 2011.

Brunner was commissioned to write a piece through a nationwide consortium sponsored by Chorus America, the national support organizations for volunteer, professional, symphonic, and children’s choruses.

Brunner selected a text by Christopher Smart and set it to music that, in his words, “is angular and jaunty.” He adds that “the little ‘band’ that accompanies it [is] equally peculiar.” It all adds up to a piece that the singers all love!

Brunner volunteered to come to Reading to work with the singers and, in fact, volunteered to visit each of the twelve choirs that participated in the consortium. He finds that a visit to a commissioning choir is usually “the most rewarding and engaging time for the singers and for me.”

BCCC will present the local premiere of “Spiritual Musick” at its spring concert, Something Old-Something New, at 4 pm, Sunday, May 1, at Atonement Lutheran Church, Wyomissing.

The commission for the Brunner piece was made possible, in part, through gifts to Chorus America by BCCC Executive Director Dail Richie and her husband David Richie, and BCCC Business Manager Susan Coughlin and her husband Bill Coughlin.

Brunner is Director of Choral Activities at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, where he conducts three choirs and teaches conducting and music education courses, and is also a prominent clinician and pianist.

Formed in 1992, Berks Classical Children’s Chorus is a professionally trained and rigorously educated music ensemble consisting of young people ages 8-18. The group enriches the community by fostering and promoting choral excellence in young people through music education and quality performances.

The concert season is supported by Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency, and Reading Musical Foundation.