Chorus America Virtual Conference, Plenary Session, June 15th, 2020

Calibration:

There are three ways to go as we think about moving forward right now:

1. Dormancy (that is, we’re going to sit on our money and wait)

2. Digitalized BAU (business as usual, but online, video and audio, etc.)

3. Startling Innovation:

   1. examples:
      1. Boston Children’s Chorus – they put together a video of one song each week, it went viral, worldwide, then celebrities got involved, became a major source of pride for the singers, board, and city.
         1. Why? It told a story about the indomitable spirit of this organization, not about music, but about the community of people. New donors came, they saw innovation.
      2. Children’s Museum created boxes for young people so that people could get a museum in a box – great innovation!
      3. Dance theater – there was a dance company that created a piece in an abandoned drive-in movie theater – great innovation!
      4. Creative Alliance in Baltimore – created singing serenades, sometimes paid by a donation or the person they are singing to.
   2. These “pea shoots” may stick around beyond the pandemic, or they may not.
      1. Either way, they still give the org that created them a status of “beloved agitator” in the community.
      2. We are the R&D wing of American arts and culture because we can create things without spending a million dollars a minute.
      3. These show that we cannot be silenced, we are not going to “calm down.” Brett has faith that we will continue to innovate.

The importance of family

1. 1. “Who had been swimming naked when the water receded?” There were orgs that had not been caring for their people, and that was exposed by the pandemic.
   2. Orgs that made an investment in taking care to develop a group of loyal followers/friends of the org have found this time to be something of a boon financially and otherwise
   3. We need to be calling donors; we need to be checking in. We should be calling people to wish them a happy birthday, to wish them a happy 1 year anniversary of their first concert attendance. We are going to meet all these people again.

Planning for Re-Entry: Quarterly Planning and Budgeting:

1. 1. used to be, we’d plan out 2-3 years
   2. we stand a much better chance of getting people to come in if we think long term, BUT…not right now –
   3. Brett is suggesting to his orgs to only plan quarterly at this time – there are just too many variables.
      1. Plan your “Scenarios and Go-/No-Go Dates”
      2. If you are thinking about going with “startling innovations,” you might be able to figure out a Go Date that we can stick with (i.e. a safe performance venue and situation).
      3. Generally speaking: Set a date by which you need to decide Go-/No-Go; in the current situation, it’s probably OK to make that date a bit later than you are used to.

Recovery

1. 1. The Expected Climate:
      1. Brett has been watching with horror the management of the pandemic, coupled with the BLM movement, coupled with the election, coupled with the unemployment rate.
      2. So all organizations are going to be going after the same money – and the Covid-19 NEA stimulus money was designed to cover 3 months, not 6 months or longer.
   2. “PRESENT!” – do what you do for an audience, one way or another!
      1. We are thought leaders
      2. We are keepers of spirit and feeling
         1. What of the role of music in all of these areas above?
         2. We can lead a conversation about the role of music in culture.
         3. It can be an intellectual conversation, rather than a choral/musical organizational conversation, if that’s what the times dictate.
   3. The Necessary Organization (which will make it) and/vs….
   4. The Extraordinary Organization (which will make it in an amazing way)
      1. Necessary: This organization connects practice to injustice, reinvigorates public space, connects practice to policy; It reminds us that organizations can be beautiful AND necessary.
      2. Extraordinary: This organization is all of the above, but so bewilderingly beautiful, so extraordinary that it cannot be ignored.
      3. When we come back, there are going to be TOO many options for live performance.
         1. If they are mediocre, they will be ignored.
         2. Prior to the pandemic, we were already fighting Netflix, the internet, etc.  It’s not going to be BETTER after the pandemic.
   5. Augmenting Experience, owning Social Fabric
      1. It’s one thing to view this experience as normal – it’s another to remind people of the sacred nature of live social synchronous musical experiences.
      2. Ask yourself and your organization, “How are people going to experience us coming back?”  Let your people know, and deliberately tell them, “you are valued, you are important,” now, and later they will be there for you.
   6. Building Systems for Justice, Inclusion and Allyship
      1. How can we use what we have to make life more just for everyone in our communities?
         1. With our work in arts and culture and in choral music, we are already community organizers. We organize around beauty.
         2. We have the ability to build systems for justice and inclusion – those systems are our programs!
         3. Arts and culture, if it does this, can be one of, if not THE MOST inclusive systems for justice in our community.

It’s going to be different when we come back, and we have to acknowledge that. It is an unknown territory before then, so we should take the time now to invest in systems that build communities that can organize for action.

Brett was a FANTASTIC SPEAKER! He is a brilliant thinker too! Read on:

Brett’s bio:

http://devosinstitute.umd.edu/What-We-Do/Services-For-Individuals/Research%20Initiatives/Technology%20in%20the%20Arts/Technology%20Egan%20bio

Link to today’s talk:

This link may not work just yet, or might eventually require password:

https://chorusamericavirtualconference.heysummit.com/speakers/brett-egan/