Dear Colleagues,
I hope this letter finds you all well and rested as we all launch into another great year of choral music. I will make this initial letter a short one; just a few reminders and notices.
First, if you have not voted in our President-Elect election, please do so very soon, as it will close down on the 20th of this month. I have worked diligently to make sure that all who have had problems with the process have had those problems resolved. If there are still any unresolved problems, let me know this week!
Second, I will be continuing my weekly notes to you this year, with the first one due out starting next week. I encourage you all to respond if you wish; it is all an attempt to bring us all together in conversation in a very rural state!
Third, I will be featuring one or two choirs from our state on the List Serve every month. My intention is to interview the conductor, get a feel for the chorus, and write an article that will inform us all about the director, their music and performances, history, and maybe even some audio/video clips if they are available. We have many performing choirs in our state, and I am hoping that I might be able to bring their work forward in this venue so that we are all more aware of the work that our colleagues do. If I am able to keep this project going, I should be able to feature some 20 groups before my presidency ends in July.
Fourth, I would encourage all of you to visit our web site at vtacda.org and check out our Executive Board, who they are, what they do. I believe that all our event information is now up to date for this year. Dates are accurate, and there is a LOT of information available for you. In addition to our own site, both the Eastern Division and National have web sites that are full of useful information that should be of interest to all of you. Our ACDA organization at state, Eastern and National levels is actively trying to be of service to the membership. PLEASE take the time to regularly visit and see what is going on.
I look forward to serving all of you this year, and am available if I can be of service. Know that we will have a table to the VMEA Convention this year, and we are actively building our membership roles. However, this is BEST done by you, the membership, by recruiting new individuals and informing them of this wonderful organization and what it has to offer, as well as informing prospective members how they can serve the organization as well. I hope you will all actively recruit this year; my goal is to see our membership over 100 by next July. That would mean retaining our present membership and bringing just 24 new members on board! It is a goal I know we can achieve, with your help!
Most Sincerely,
Frank Whitcomb
Vermont ACDA 