Art Project
Art Project
Worthington Chamber Singers Choral Commission.
John White: writer, photographer, retired journalist; Georgette Jones: literature teacher, theatre actor, theater director, theater teacher; Marilee Strom: musician, former art teacher, business owner; Kathy Fransen: musician, theatre, Rhythm of the River coordinator; Janet Olney: visual artist, Willmar Area Arts Council coordinator; Joyce Meyer: photographer, retired art teacher, Canby Arts Council; Pam Blake: retired art educator, visual artist, Tyler Arts Council, Lincoln County Art Fair, Southwest Minnesota Weaver’s Guild; Michele Knife Sterner: theatre actor, Southwest Minnesota State University Associate director for Access Opportunity Success program; Lisa Hill: musician, Crow River Singers, attorney; Joyce Aakre: visual arts, writing, Discover Dassel committee, Board member for Litchfield Community Education, Exhibit committee for Dassel Area Historical Society; Emily Petersen: visual artist, art teacher; David KelseyBassett: visual artist, musician; Anne O’Keefe-Jackson: human resources director, bead and quill work; Cindy Reverts: visual artist, Rock County Fine Arts Association treasurer, Council for Arts in Humanities in Rock County; Brett Lehman: Worthington International Festival, Worthington City Band, Worthington Concert Association; Erica Volkir: performing arts, Director of Pipestone Area Chamber of Commerce and CVB; Claire Swanson: visual arts, arts teacher, Meander Art Crawl Committee.
Mark Bosveld: theater, dance; Cheri Buzzeo: theater; Mary Gillespie: art administration; Maureen Keimig: theater; Kaia Nowatzki: visual art, theater, music; Eric Parrish: music, theater; Lisa Hill: music; Erica Volkir: performing arts.
Southwest Minnesota Arts Council, Nicole DeBoer (507) 537-1471
ACHF Arts Access
1) Develop a choral piece by a female composer with lyrics by a female writer. 2) Have a new choral piece to perform to celebrate Worthington Chamber Singers 25th anniversary. 3) Learn the commissioning process for choral music. 4) Increase participant/audience awareness of female composers. 5) Increase participant/audience awareness of living composers. 6) Increase the musical experience for Worthington Chamber Singers and its audience. The final product be stand the achievement of the first three goals. A survey for the audience will be collected after the concert addressing their awareness of writers and composers. A group interview of the participants will be documented addressing the commission process and musical experience.
In terms of the participants, many had never sung a piece that was written for them. Many felt that they learned more about the composer process and felt they would pay closer attention to that in the future. We all felt the piece was well written and will have a life beyond our single use. This made us all feel like contributors to the greater musical community. They felt the writers were "intentional and thoughtful for the future of the work." In terms of the audience, the survey provided the data that many of our audience were not aware that they had and are listening to choral music by living composers. They were also unaware of how uncommon music by female composers is in the catalogue. This reinforced the thesis of the project and supported the organization's choice to approach our commission in this way. Very successful.
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