Project Grant

Outcomes you expect to achieve: 1) Approximately 450 Central Minnesota residents who normally would not have access to this concert (ChanticleerÆs only past appearances in recent years have been at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis) will be able to access the concert in a smaller town and on familiar. 2) These 450 residents will pay a substantially lower ticket price for access to this performing group, when compared to Orchestra Hall ticket prices, thanks to the support of the Legacy Funds. 3) People who reside in the downtown area and typically have no source for transportation or limited access to transportation will be able to attend the concert. 4) We expect over 225 of the patrons at this concert to be from outside of the St Cloud 50-city area. 5) If her regional choirs inquire about performing here at the Paramount, a desired outcome of furthering the ParamountÆs reputation as a viable option for fine arts programming will have been achieved. We expect to attain the following outcomes: 1) 12 choral directors, 25 local choral ensemble members, and 25 local vocal and/or conducting students will attend the concert and remain to participate in the Q and A following the performance. They will leave the concert and the Q and A inspired to do better in their own work, energized that their work brings joy to others. 2) We expect 20 hits" on the Chanticleer Q and A session (should they give permission) on the Facebook link that contains the entire session. 3) 30 local high school students will respond to our efforts to inform them of this opportunity. In fact, we are hoping that the entirety of the Youth Chorale of Minnesota will be in attendance. They have already been informed of this concert, though it is a year away.We plan to measure our goals by using the following tools: 1) a survey will be included in the programs that are handed out to each person attending the concert. We have done this in the past, but get so very few of them returned. So this time we will be offering an incentive for patrons to fill them out prior to leaving the concert - though what that incentive will be is as of yet undetermined. We are modeling the survey after one that appeared in the recent VocalEssence concert and last summer's Prudence Johnson A Girl Named Vincent concert. 2) A similar survey will be given to all those who stay for the Q and A. We believe that feedback from this particular group will be easier to capture than data from the general public that attends the concert. This smaller group will likely be arts professionals and serious arts aficionados, all of whom fully realize the extreme importance of capturing critical data and feedback for both the Paramount and for our Minnesota legislators. 3) Ticketing system data will also provide us with information that we need to know in order to gauge if our geographic and attendance goals have been achieved. Ticket data is able to tell us how many patrons from the 4-county area enjoyed the concert. 4) A random polling with a show-of-hands of those in attendance at the Q and A will also be a tool for measurement. A show of hands will give us immediate feedback regarding the composition of the group that remains after the performance. We are able to ask "How many of you are students?"; "How many are choral conductors?"; "How many sing in a local choir?"; "How many are from out of town?" and other similar questions. 5) Facebook feedback is becoming more and more a source of information. The Q and A, with the permission of the members of Chanticleer, will be videotaped and inserted into a Facebook page. This "session" will then be able to be posted for viewing by those who were unable to attend. We are able to track the number of viewers of that posting."