Arts Tour Minnesota

Without this grant we would not have been able to take these seven musicians to St. Peter, a community new to the Bach Society. This grant allowed the Bach Society to create jobs for seven musicians and created the opportunity to introduce the Bach Society to the St. Peter community. One assessment tool used measured the size of the audience and the number of people willing to give the Bach Society their contact information. The audience of 92 was significantly below what was projected based on our partner's projections. 23% of the audience signed up for our traditional mail list and 35% of the audience signed up for our email list. We hoped for a larger percentage of participants to enter into our contact base, but at the same time, these people expressed an interest in connecting with our organization. 2: Another assessment tool is the input from the musicians. They were unanimously positive in their assessment of the touring experience. They were enthusiastic about the project and the audience reaction. Disappointment was expressed in the size of the audience, signaling the need that more be done to capture the imagination and attention of the community to which we tour. Through informal conversations with audience members and staff of Gustavus Adolphus, we learned that this was a very positive musical experience. Audience members were enthusiastic about the music and the musicians. The staff at Gustavus expressed the desire to have us back. Our mission is to build community through and around the music of JS Bach and related composers and music. This project helped us to further our mission by exposing St. Peter, MN to the Bach Society and the Bach Society to St. Peter.