From
our Executive Director
It is hard to believe another season is coming to an end! What a ride! We have experienced great successes
this year. Our outreach programs in the Denver and Aurora schools are going strong and we will be expanding
those programs. Look for more outreach students performing next year on our concerts. Our string quartet
program is working hard and watch for them on the Channel 9 News Nine Who Care Banquet Program. We would
like to see more of our CYSO students involved with the string quartet program and our first ever string
quartet camp this summer, June 19-23. We are bringing in professional string quartet performers to work
with these students. We need more students (especially violin). This is a rare and fabulous opportunity
for our students to work with the best of the best. Send your kids to camp HERE for only $375 instead of
the thousands it would cost to send them out of town. Contact our office at 303-871-6365 or see Michelle
to sign up. Finally, I am proud to announce that I have been chosen as the new Executive Director for the
Colorado Youth Symphony Orchestras. This is an exciting opportunity for me and I hope to raise our
orchestras to new heights. I am asking all of you parents to volunteer and make our program even stronger.
My door is always open and I am always available.
As we look toward our future, Iím sure that you are asking yourself, "What
can I do to help CYSO?" Well, allow me to make a few suggestions to both
students of CYSO and parents.
Stick
with CYSO
. We need YOU to play your part. You are important to us and to the continued
success of our organization. Talk to us. Let us know what you think. Sure,
it may not be exactly what we want to hear .and we may not be able to change
it right away (or at all for that matter). but your opinions count and you
deserve to be heard.
Invite your friends.
Believe it or not, YOU are our very best advertisement. We want our programs
to grow and you are out there with prospective orchestra members each and every
day. Share CYSO with them by inviting them to our concerts or even a rehearsal!
What better way to show them what CYSO is all about?
Practice, PRACTICE, P-R-A-C-T-I-C-E.
Do you ever get tired of hearing us tell you that? One of the top complaints
on our year-end evaluations that orchestra members filled out was that "too
many orchestra members donít practice their music." The old metaphor
that "a chain is only as strong as the weakest link" holds true in
orchestras just like anywhere else. Make it your business to not be that link.
Quality is contagious!
Donate
. Your contributions count. Did you make a gift to CYSO last year? Last year,
families (including grandparents of members) gave a total of $2,920 to CYSO
in outright donations. WOW! Thanks! We are so grateful for your support! Could
we do better? You bet. Average per capita giving for families of CYSO was only
$21.31. Therefore, 100% of the giving was done by about 20% of the families.
As we near the end of 2004, be sure to make your tax deductible contribution
to CYSO.
Open Doors
. The corporations you work for are prime candidates for our Corporate Partnership
programs. We have many sponsorship options available to fit the needs of virtually
any business, large or small. If you think that your corporation may be interested
in a Corporate Partnership with CYSO, please give me a call in the office at
303.871.6365.
Volunteer
. We have dozens of volunteer opportunities. Anything from licking, sticking
and stamping envelopes to ushering at concerts to doing research on the internet.
If you have a little extra time on your hands, let us find something for you
to do!
The
trajectory for success has been set. Letís
get behind it now and follow through and make
CYSO the very best organization that it can possibly
be. I know we can do it!
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