Community Arts

East Metro Symphony Orchestra achieved most of the artistic goals outlined in our proposal. Our three performances were family-friendly, our audiences were enthusiastic about the programs presented, our orchestra members embraced the music selections and found them appropriately diverse and challenging, individual orchestra members were showcased and our collaborations continued with two Senior Living communities. Our Senior Living concerts were well received, with a 20% increase in audience size and they continue to be a satisfying tradition in our concert seasons. For the May concert, our original proposal had to be modified (see 4. Project Changes) because of the sudden and unexpected dissolution of our musical partnership with Saint Mark's Lutheran Church. We performed at that venue as planned, but were not able to present a concert in collaboration with their music director and choir. The program we substituted, however, more than met our goals. We connected with the Twin Cities Russian community, showcased Saint Mary's Balalaika Orchestra and a superbly talented local Russian pianist, and hosted a display for concert attendees provided by the Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis. We successfully added a multi-media component to this concert that both challenged and expanded our capabilities as an organization. Beyond the musical challenges of this May concert, the expenses and logistics of coordinating with Saint Mark's media people and equipment requirements (including bringing in a concert grand piano) were much more demanding than for our typical concerts. Orchestra members and volunteers rose to the challenges with creative solutions to problems and extra donations to cover additional expenses. Our success with this concert gave us the confidence to try something like it again. We now know some of the complications to anticipate, and more about how much lead time it takes for planning. Because this May concert was an unexpected substitution for our original plans, we did a lot of scrambling to pull it together. We learned that as a group we are capable of doing this, but also that we need to keep working on expanding and maintaining adequate volunteer resources both within and outside of the orchestra to support our future efforts. We were not able fulfill the goal of strengthening our collaboration with the Saint Mark's music program, due to the sudden departure of the music director. We did, however, keep our association with the church as a performance venue. We went beyond serving the community we intended to and expected to. The Senior Living concert at Stonecrest had an audience that was larger and more diverse in age than we expected, because the facility advertised it to its greater community (beyond just residents). Because of the change in our May concert offering we actually expanded the diversity of our audience culturally and geographically. We attracted members of the Twin Cities Russian community because of our concert program. Our outreach also resulted in more audience members from the Minneapolis area. To be more accessible, we offered ASL support (upon request) and large print programs. We had no requests for the ASL support and so did not provide it at this concert. We did have a number of audience members who took advantage of the large print programs. We will continue to offer these supports at future concerts. East Metro Symphony Orchestra successfully organized and presented a multi-media concert, establishing the groundwork and confidence to do something like this again in the future. We also began a very positive relationship with a new Senior Living facility, Stonecrest. We expect to continue this affiliation. East Metro Symphony Orchestra expanded our relationship with the local Russian community and our hopes for future collaborations.