Volunteers for Symphony of the Quad City Orchestra 100 Years, 100 Cellos Presenters: Mary Kae Waytenik, Greenhoe Lindmark, Skjerseth SLIDE 1: Orchestra 2016 2015 SLIDE 2: Gold Cello Executive Director: carries in poster of Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma will be the guest for our 100 th Anniversary gala concert next May. So lets REALLY celebrate this with cellos. Let s have - 100 cellos - painted by 100 artists - and raise $100,000! Look at each other-stunned, unbelieving expressions, laughing, gesturing Oh, sure, What? This is crazy! Impossible. Executive Director: Yes! We ll have 100 cellos painted by 100 artists and raise $100,000! -fast and overlapping Vol 1 and 2: You want this done by when? Vol 2: The concert is in May, in 8 months! Vol 1: 100 cellos? Vol 2: How? Where will we get 100 cellos? Vol 1: 100 artists? Vol 2: How can we get 100 artists? Vol 1: $100,000? Vol 2: How are we going to raise $100,000? Vol 1 Well, it is an interesting thought. Vol 2: Maybe we CAN do this! Vol 1: After all, we re the Volunteers for Symphony. (grand pause) Vol 2: We could do this. WE COULD DO THIS! SLIDE 3: Poster of 100 Cellos Executive Director: THEY CAN DO THIS! And they did! (Pointing to 100 Cellos poster) : So let s start from the beginning of our project. The first thing we did was set our goals. SLIDE 4: Project Goals They were: CLICK To raise community awareness of our symphony s 100 th season Page 1 of 5
SLIDE 5: SLIDE 6: CLICK To build a strong relationship between the musical and visual arts CLICK To raise funds in support of our symphony s music education programs Could we meet these goals, in a short amount of time, for a project of this magnitude? Inception to Culmination truck, boxes, stands Ordered and Purchased 100 cellos and 100 stands In October we ordered 100 playable, unfinished cellos from China, with an early February delivery date. We also researched and purchased the most functional stand to showcase the entire cello. (hold up cello stand) Inception to Culmination letters to artists Engaged the local arts community We mailed letters of personal invitation to area artists and placed an announcement of the project in local newspapers. We were so pleased with an overwhelming response there were more volunteer artists than available cellos! SLIDE 7: Inception to Culmination sponsor letter, chairpersons Obtained 100 sponsorships, each at $1000 This was a joint effort between the volunteers and the QCSO staff. By November, we felt it necessary to add a fifth team member who would just manage the financial portion of the project. SLIDE 8: Inception to Culmination Campbell interview, peeking girls, QCT (3) Partnered with all media SLIDE 9: The local media: newspapers, television, radio, magazines and social media enthusiastically cooperated with generous publicity for public awareness. A professional videographer documented the cello story from beginning to end. We found that doing something new and out of the ordinary just naturally attracted media attention. Inception to Culmination map, poppies, origami, library, Verdi,, Blackhawk Displayed 100 completed cellos map: We found 100 locations for displaying our cellos. These included: businesses, corporate offices, banks, medical facilities, professional offices, churches, and retail stores. CLICK poppies/verdi: About 60 volunteers signed up to be Cello Hosts. That responsibility included personally transporting and caring for the cello from March through mid-may. The displays were widely publicized and certainly created a buzz throughout the community. SLIDE 10: Inception to Culmination - biddingforgood.com Contracted with an online bidding site Page 2 of 5
SLIDE 11: SLIDE 12: SLIDE 13-18: (18) scrolls SLIDE 19: Slide 20: Slide 21-25 As this project required a new type of marketing venture, we researched several online bidding companies and CLICK chose one that best fit our needs. We signed a contract for the month of May. Inception to Culmination - Clint (2), kids w book, (3) kids, cover, book boxes Published a keepsake coffee table book We partnered with the Quad Cities Creative Arts Academy, a magnet school. A small group of seven students and their amazing teacher, photographed each cello. Thankfully, one of our local businesses generously donated a large space for this photography studio. Inception to Culmination - Gala invitation, 10 lead cellos, Emily s cello Live-auctioned ten cellos Immediately preceding the Yo-Yo Ma concert, 10 selected cellos were live- auctioned at a Gala Dinner. In addition to all the food and fun, guests were treated to a special Limóncello drink and volunteer-made authentic macaroons. Inception to Culmination (14) Figge, (15) MW Melody/sign,(16) cellos, (17) excellent cellos, Displayed cellos at the Figge Art Museum We partnered with our local art museum to host an exhibit of the 100 cellos. Our volunteer Cello Hosts moved the cellos from their display locations to the museum for the free 4-day exhibit. It attracted nearly 1300 visitors. This was the first opportunity for the public, as well as our volunteers, to see them all in one location. Inception to Culmination invitation, trumpet choir, cello choir, and kids; food, cake Held a 100 th birthday party: Cello-bration May 29 is a significant date! On May 29, a century ago, our newly formed symphony played its first concert. On May 29, one century later, our Quad City Symphony Orchestra celebrated its 100 th Anniversary with a grand birthday party. Hundreds of community members, artists, and sponsors attended this ticketed event, which featured a trumpet fanfare, a cello choir, and an online silent auction. The evening concluded with a grand chorus of Happy Birthday. Sponsors - sponsor listing with gold dots Sponsors As word of this project spread, it not only sparked community interest, it attracted new sponsors, additional donors, and significantly increased our symphony s subscription ticket sales. Financials - financial data, 2 cellists, youth choir, Mark conducting, Symphony Day Financials Our goal was to generate $100,000. We succeeded! Page 3 of 5
The money will be used for present and future educational programs. In addition, two new annual VfS scholarships were established. Our music education program serves, by the numbers: One Youth Choir with 40 members Four Youth Orchestras, with a combined membership of 230 Dozens of classroom visits, serving nearly 4000 students One grand Symphony Day with yearly attendance of over 6000 students and teachers And, 16 annual scholarship recipients. If we also calculate the number of volunteer hours, from just our chairmen alone, our in-kind contribution numbers would increase by $70,000. Slide 26-28 Slide 29 Volunteers - financials from handout; boxes at Figge, Yo Yo Project Volunteers As you can see, many wonderful volunteers made this project successful. In addition to all the symphony volunteers, CLICK it is worth extra mention that the time and considerable talent of each artist was also donated. And last, but not least, our five husbands had endless patience, as we guided this project. Challenges - text from handout Challenges A project of this magnitude did not have a blueprint to follow. Among the anticipated challenges were: CLICK securing 100 cellos, 100 stands, 100 sponsorships, 100 artists, and 100 display locations; coordinating logistics; CLICK maintaining a high level of communication with everyone involved; and, managing mountains of paperwork and spreadsheets. SLIDE 30-34: Conclusion - paper work Conclusion CLICK Although this was a daunting project with a steep learning curve, it had generous benefits. Anna w/lemóncellohannah/matisse, Loren w/cello, Michelle w/cello back, signatures on gold cello We discovered how necessary dedicated volunteers are to make a project like this succeed. There was spontaneous cooperation from the visual arts community, the display hosts, and the media. From the Quad Cities population came excitement and involvement as they participated Page 4 of 5
in a selfie-cello photo contest, a media sponsored GPS treasure hunt, and a larger than expected turnout for the culminating display at our art museum. SLIDE 35-36 SLIDE 37 SLIDE 38 Wrap-Up- flashing video of 100 cellos The project resulted in a substantial addition to the symphony s cumulative education programs. Most significantly, it created an endowment for two new annual music education scholarships. The overall financial benefits will support students and the symphony s music endeavors, well into the next 100 years. Conclusion - chairsgals with champagne, at Cello-bration Thank you, 100 times, from the Volunteers for Symphony of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra Poster 100 Cellos poster (during exchange of positions at podium into Becky s instructions Page 5 of 5