Communications Committee meeting, Feb. 6, 2013

Submitted by Editor-In-Chief on Fri, 02/15/2013 - 11:45
The meeting was held in Peter's office, 573 Main Street Suite 11, Winchester, at 4 pm on February 6, with an option for teleconferencing. Attending were Peter, Laura, and Majie. Agenda:
  1. Review print newsletter and schedule next edition.
  2. Evaluate online newsletter design and plan for public release (what needs to be done and how will we do it?).
  3. Logo design: consider prospective designer(s), decide next steps.
  4. Involving others in choral communication (in particular, finding correspondents, contacts and possibly co-workers). May or may not include possible Board members for next year.
  5. Set up meeting and activity schedule for the rest of the year.
  6. Other business, if any

1. The print newsletter was a success, it was generally agreed. The next issue will come out in time for the summer, probably in May (we will set the date, and the deadline, at our next meeting). The next issue could include a feature on summer choral programs and a review of grant-sponsored events that had taken place in the spring. It will (also) draw from articles that had been posted in the online edition between now and the press date. A list of story ideas is given at the bottom of this memo.

2. Online newsletter prototype: generally looks good. The site is at news.choralarts-newengland.org. Peter would like to make it public as soon as possible—ideally by next week. Majie recommended not giving it a special name (such as "Chorus!") and thereby instituting a "third brand"—we are already carrying Choral Arts New England and the Alfred Nash Patterson Foundation. A descriptive name will do, perhaps just "The Choral Arts New England Journal."

If we're not going to use "Chorus!", then we need a graphic of some kind to replace the print newsletter banner that is in the prototype. Majie will suggest such a graphic.

The front page of the journal should have news, not an "About this Journal" essay. However, it would be appropriate to have a Welcome statement for the new journal. Peter will make those changes.

Online News Procedure: The online newsletter will post stories continuously (without fixed deadlines or publishing schedule). The typical story size might be 200–400 words (not long), but longer features can certainly be included. Periodically (twice a year), we will take material from the online edition to include in a print edition. We, the Communications Committee, will develop ideas for stories and write or find writers for them. Readers can keep current with the news by (1) checking the site periodically; (2) subscribing to the RSS feed; and/or (3) subscribing to email notifications of news stories. Methods (1) and (2) are working; (3) is not yet—we have the technical ability to do this, but need to define the process of how to subscribe by email.

Peter will add a mailing list sign-up form to the website. In fact, it is at: http://www.choralarts-newengland.org/contact.html

Other Online Features: (1) The site includes an Announcements section for bulletins from choruses and others. The announcements will ideally be submitted and processed with minimal involvement from us. The procedure for "automatically" submitting and posting announcements needs to be defined and implemented, though announcements can be now posted by us. Manual postings are probably how it will work for a while. (2) The site allows for discussion groups, called Forums. The forums are open and ready for business, but no procedures have been defined for using or managing them. A policy statement should be written and an initial set of discussion topics should be defined. However, it seems that the site could go live without fully-defined forums.

3. Regarding Logo design: We agreed to Majie's recommendation that we hire Eamon Bonner as a graphic designer. The total contracted services budget for the Communications Committee is $600; Majie felt that this would be more than sufficient (and indeed we don't want to devote all of this to graphic design; but the logo is a high priority use of the money. Eamon will also look at our web site design and make recommendations for integrating the logo into an overall public design strategy. Committee members should send Majie ASAP their ideas and suggestions for logo and our image.

4. Involvement of Others: We should consider asking others on or off the CANE Board, to contribute ideas or material for stories; for the coming year, we should also consider recruiting well-connected people and talented communicators to serve on the Board. No names were mentioned at this meeting (except Malcolm Halliday, who knows Worcester well and is a quick writer).

5. Next Meeting: The date of the next meeting was tentatively set for Saturday, March 23, in the morning. Please mark your calendars! At that meeting we will hopefully decide on a logo design and consider a redesign of the CANE web site, and set the production schedule for the next print newsletter. In the meantime, we will keep informed through email and through postings on the news site.

Story Ideas and other To-Dos

  • To Do: Publicize our calendar, especially among non-singers!
  • Outreach/Youth programs, such as Cantata Singers, H&H Youth Chorus. What groups have a Director of Education? Possible relate to youth choruses such as YpM, PALS, TCNE.
  • Assign news stories about grant projects. First choice—to grants committee. Majie & Laura will take some from this year. Also (added after meeting) use grant reports as source for post-hoc articles. Grant-funded programs this spring:
    • Back Bay Chorale, Anything Can Happen, March 17
    • Bella Voce Women's Chorus of Vermont, Songs of Hope and Freedom (spirituals), May 18.
    • Counterpoint, high school ensemble workshops involving local composers and recorded by a professional videographer, "early April and early May."
    • Greater MIddletown Chorale, Letter From Italy, 1944: War's End, April 28,
    • Lorelei Ensemble, interdisciplinary commission and performance, May 10 & 12.
    • Vermont Choral Union, series of performances throughout Vermont, Dates not yet publicized.
  • Guide to summer choral programs. Laura will start. Include Berkshire Choral Festival, Oguntz, Mt. Desert Summer Chorale? Include SummerSings programs.
  • Choral score sharing programs? NEC used to rent parts.
  • CpM Music Director candidates could be well-connected, good sources.
  • Activities at Colleges & Universities. Maybe do a column? They frequently explore new, experimental, or intellectually interesting repertoire that community-based or commercial organizations can't.
  • Involving chorus alumni in the life of the group. Laura is particularly interested in the Yale program; they have created organizations for chorus alumni, including an alumni chorus that travels extensively. Perhaps we could link that to (west coast) choruses that benefit from a close relationship with former singers.
  • Concert Halls—search for underused venues and profile special spaces (Rockport?).

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