President's Notes Over the past nine months, the daily work of Texas choral directors has been dramatically altered. Each of us has been forced to the limits of our ingenuity as we strive to maintain the community of musicians we oversee. As we struggle to simply “stay above the water,” I encourage you to lean into the reason why each of us is in this profession - to care for our community of singers. The current educational buzzword of “social-emotional learning” reaches well beyond our classroom teachers to each of us involved in the business of leading a community of singers in school, houses of worship, and community programs. Our singers come to our ensembles for a multitude of reasons beyond the music we produce and at this critical time, we must continue to focus on the emotional needs that choral participation fulfills. At the same time, we must also work to cultivate rich choral music experiences in our communities, despite the current challenges, to ensure the long legacy of Texas choral excellence continues well into the future. While the music we make may only look like a skeleton of what we are accustomed to, the needs of our singers have not changed. Continue to look to each other within our choral community and to TCDA as we strive to inspire our singers and enrich each other as their leaders. members can be found on the TCDA Website. Following the overwhelming success of our summer virtual convention, the TCDA Board of Directors has continued to meet regularly and plan for the future of our organization. With this in mind, there are several developments and initiatives I would like to share with the membership. Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Initiatives After hearing from our membership at the August forum, the Board of Directors developed an action plan that includes the formation of four committees to review various aspects of the organization and make recommendations to the Board. After making a call to our membership for volunteers we have been able to establish the committees with representatives from all around our state that represent the diversity of our membership. The committees will be meeting regularly over the coming months in an effort to develop initial recommendations to the board of directors by the June 2021 Board Meeting. A complete list of the committees, chairs, and members can be found on the TCDA website. Financial Outlook As we have noted in our previous communications, TCDA has been examining ways to strengthen our financial situation for the coming years. We were well into this process before the coronavirus pandemic greatly altered our plans for the future. Years of decreasing income (primarily a steady loss of vendor revenue at the convention) combined with increasing costs have been a long-term challenge of the organization. With the cancellation of the physical convention this summer the board approved a financial plan for the year that included substantial losses and use of money from savings to sustain the organization. Thankfully, the combination of the federal relief package and great success of our virtual convention will allow us to end the fiscal year with no need to dip into savings accounts. In fact, we will complete the fiscal year with a balanced budget. Unfortunately, for the long-term outlook of the organization, we must do better than “balanced.” We must find a way to increase income in order to meet the declining vendor revenue and rising costs of the San Antonio convention. We expect that exhibitors and vendor income will be significantly down in the coming year as many of our business partners are greatly suffering from the financial crisis ignited by the pandemic. With that in mind, the board continues to take action to secure TCDA financially. After much consideration, the Board of Directors unanimously approved a motion to close the physical office of TCDA in Austin in favor of a home office for our Executive Director and Membership Services Coordinator. This difficult decision was made in an effort to continue to trim the expenses of our organization and establish financial stability that will support Texas choral directors well into the future. The decision will save the organization approximately $20,000 annually. We expect the transition to home offices to be complete by the end of the calendar year. TCDA continues to be an evolving organization. The Board is committed to building on the strong traditions of the organization while also transforming it into one that serves the complete diversity of our membership for years to come. We have faced a year of unprecedented challenges and we continue to be faced with difficult decisions and work ahead, but we do this, knowing the value of choral music and the community of professionals that we serve. TCDA Pod Mentoring Program For this pod mentoring program, we’re looking to match our experienced and retired directors with those new to the field. TCDA has a rich legacy with outstanding directors across the state, at every level and in every context, all dedicated to directing choirs and helping to serve singers everywhere. We also understand that sometimes a one on one pairing can be challenging and new directors can greatly benefit from others like them who are also entering the profession. To that end, we’re looking to establish pods (a small group of 4-5 teachers), with a combination of beginning directors and experienced/retired directors. The goals are to establish camaraderie between beginning directors (who are having a similar experience), to create opportunities for them to engage with experienced/retired directors, and to build support systems that lead to retention in the profession. This format would also allow for less pressure on an individual pairing and benefits in multiple directions (peer to peer, beginning director/experienced director). We envision a flexible arrangement for interaction, with a variable time commitment depending on the times of the year and the needs of those in the pod. APPLY HERE
2021 Winter ConferenceMonday, January 4 Join us for a one-day virtual conference with sessions on topics including:
Registration: Registration for this event is open and 2021 TCDA membership is required. CLICK HERE to proceed Honor Choir and All-State Choir UpdateTCDA is moving forward, planning for the annual summer convention to take place, in person, in San Antonio July 22 - 24, 2021. For the first time, we will have TWO auditioned choirs, an Elementary Honor Choir and an All-State MS/JH Choir. More details will be coming prior to when we all break for the holidays. In the meantime, note these highlights:
Stay tuned for more details within the coming weeks. **IF TCDA should have to cancel next summer's in person convention, we will still recognize these hard working students with Honor Choir and All-State Choir placement and recognition on the TCDA website and with certificates sent to each student that was placed into these prestigious choirs. In addition, there will be more collateral available as well.
|