Every couple of months we open the mailbox here at the Nashua Symphony Office and out pops a check with a little halo at the top.  The amounts vary from about 2 bucks to 8 bucks.  But in January 2011 we opened the halo envelope to find a check for $142.63.  Happily surprised, the office staff proudly smiled at each other and asked, “Did you GoodShop for Christmas?”

GoodSearch is a search engine powered by Yahoo! that donates to your favorite charity every time you use it for an internet search.  It doesn’t cost the searcher anything- the donation comes from advertisement revenue.  The Nashua Symphony gets about $0.01 every time someone chooses to GoodSearch on our behalf, so it takes a while build up a sizable donation through regular searches.  The real money is made is when our patrons use the affiliated GoodShop search engine.

GoodShop doesn’t cost consumers a penny.  You do not have to remember a code at check out, you do not have to log in through a special buyer page, you do not have to give them your email address… all you have to do is use GoodShop to search for stuff you are going to buy anyway and the Nashua Symphony gets another little halo check in the mailbox!

What you need to do:

If you are going to buy something (anything) on the internet, start your search for stores, products, or even discounts and coupon codes on the GoodShop page.  Just enter “NSA” into the box at the top of the page when you start searching.  The page will remember the NSA for your entire session so you won’t have to enter it again. When you click to your retailer’s site from the GoodShop page they automatically donate a portion of your total purchase back to the Nashua Symphony.  The site includes thousands of stores like Amazon, Land’s End, L.L. Bean, Neiman Marcus, Macy’s, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, 1-800-Flowers, and the Apple Store.

Sounds too easy, right?

Internet search engine advertisement generates over $8 billion annually.  So, in 2005 Ken Ramberg (the former founder of JOBTRAK, now a division of Monster.com) and JJ Ramberg (an MSNBC anchor and the former Director of Marketing at Cooking.com) came up with a way to direct a fraction of that toward organizations trying to make the world a better place.

GoodSearch donates 50% of sponsored search revenue to the charities designated by its users. Each purchase made via the GoodShop mall results in a donation – averaging 3% of the sale, but going up to as much as 20%.  Because it’s powered by Yahoo!, you get proven search results. The money GoodSearch donates comes from its advertisers — the users and the organizations do not spend a dime.

So what are you waiting for? Skip the line on Black Friday and get your holiday shopping now!

If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably already well aware of the quality of our concert programs.  What you may not realize is that we also present educational programs in partnership with the public schools, we’re involved in civic and community efforts from the Nashua Arts Commission to the NH Citizens for the Arts, and much more besides.  For all of this, we rely on the financial contributions that need to go well beyond the 24% of our costs that are covered by ticket revenues.

Your purchase of a $100 raffle ticket makes you a member of our 250 Club.  We sell only 250 of these tickets each fall, giving you the best odds of winning of any raffle around!  But more important than your increased chance of winning the $5,000 grand prize is that fact that your purchase goes to support our wonderful concert and enrichment programs for the citizens of the region.

You have until December 15 to participate; the drawing will be held at our December 16 “Brass Flourish” concert featuring Jonathan McPhee & Diane Cushing leading the NSO Brass & Chorus in  performances of many of your holiday favorites.  To purchase your 250 Club ticket and support the programs you love, click here or call (603) 595.9156.

This past spring, the Nashua Symphony Chorus membership sat down with its conductor, Diane Cushing, and the NSA’s Music Director, Jonathan McPhee, for a lively conversation about the ensemble’s future.  It was the culmination of a series of smaller meetings that began in January 2011, at which several of us – including Diane, Jonathan, and a group of key stakeholders – laid out some important goals, identified obstacles, and considered possible strategies.

Response from the chorus to these meetings, and to the electronic survey that followed, was intensely felt, and showed unequivocally that the members were committed to the work necessary to achieve artistic excellence.  An ambitious summer schedule, including musicianship and vocal workshops as well as regular rehearsals of music planned for the 2011-12 season, was implemented.

It was clear to me that a sea-change was underway.  Every member of the chorus was re-auditioned for a panel that included not only Diane and Jonathan, but also Holly Krafka, Director of Boston’s New World Chorale and recently engaged to lead the Nashua Choral Ensemble (which has been reduced to twelve voices).

The rehearsals and workshops, together with the auditions, left the chorus in a very strong position as they start the fall rehearsal season in earnest for the November 19 performance of Ralph Vaughn Williams’s A Sea Symphony, along with soprano Michelle Trainor, baritone Aaron Engebreth, conductor Jonathan McPhee and the full Nashua Symphony Orchestra.  The 70-voice ensemble is singing with pride and confidence, looking toward a future of strong, healthy singing and a return to the major works which drew them to the art form in the first place.

I asked Diane last week how she was feeling as we returned from the summer workshops and rehearsals, and she assured me that we “will hear a difference” and declared herself “VERY happy with them!”

A great season ahead for Cushing and the NSC

Works for chorus and orchestra comprise some of the most important music available to us – including Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and 9^th Symphony, Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe, Mahler’s ResurrectionSymphony, and so much more – not to mention all the opera repertoire.

When done well, this music has the potential to inspire our performers and audience to new heights of passion and wonder, and I look forward to having the opportunity to present some of these works to New Hampshire audiences in the seasons to come.

NSA Director of Operations Nick Adams

What a night!  On a perfect summer evening last Thursday, New England Swing (the Nashua Symphony’s big band) played to a bustling crowd as part of the Nashua Public Library’s Summer Concert Series.  From toe-tapping numbers to soulful ballads, the group did not disappoint in its first public effort.

Some of you know that this group has been a project of mine, having spent several years in an Air Force Band performing this wonderful music.  Nervous as I was (who isn’t when a brand new group hits the stage for the first time?), I was quickly put at ease by Jonathan McPhee and the perfectly adept group of musicians on stage; they beautifully captured Glenn Miller’s flavor!

A few comments from audience members:

• “It was great to see the orchestra members let their hair down and really swing.”
• “It was a perfect way to spend a summer evening.  Watching toes tapping and seeing all the smiles of reminiscence… it just felt good.”
• “New England Swing really swings!  I enjoyed seeing (and hearing) some of the Nashua Symphony regulars really getting their groove on!”

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Nashua Public Library and the Hunt Memorial Building, whose efforts made this night possible.  We’re critically dependent on the Nashua’s network of people and organizations, and these two groups and the folks who run them have my most sincere thanks.

Here’s to a great night and many, many more performances by New England Swing!  Please be in touch with me if you’d like to see New England Swing at your next event.

The Nashua Symphony Association’s board of trustees has elected a new team of officers for the 2011-12 season. At its May 10, 2011 meeting, the board voted to install Lisa Tourangeau as President, Susan Martore-Baker (of Citizens Bank) as Vice President, Rick Gagliuso (Gagliuso & Gagliuso) as Secretary and Joe Kenny (Hamblett & Kerrigan) as Treasurer.

Mr. Kenny is the only new office-holder, having joined the board just this past year.

Ms. Tourangeau replaces past board President Richard Foemmel, who served two years in the post to round out his six years of dedicated service to the board of trustees. Mr. Foemmel will now be heading up a task force designed to generate opportunities for the orchestra & chorus to perform in more venues across the state of New Hampshire.

Ms. Tourangeau brings valuable experience to the position of President.  After completing her B.A. at Harvard and her M.B.A. at Xavier University (with a concentration in marketing), Lisa worked with trust and endowments at Fifth Third Bank in Ohio.  Before coming to the Nashua Symphony Association’s board, she served as Co-Chair of the Cincinnati Choral Society, where she wrote grant applications, their marketing plan, and a strategic plan. She was on the board of the Blue Ash/Montgomery Symphony, where she led that organization’s strategic planning process as well.

View the Board & Administration page for a complete list of our administrators.

I wanted to share these “fun facts” about the impact of the NHSCA on the state (huge) – and the state budget (very small).

The New Hampshire State Council on the Arts (State Arts Council) and its grantees – like the Nashua Symphony Association – generate revenue by creating more active downtowns and community life and attracting visitors.  This in turn creates jobs, tax revenue and consumer revenue that will help the state address its many challenges. A modest investment in the State Arts Council is part of the solution.

In FY 2011 the state appropriation of $462,065 represents 0.034% of state general fund expenditures. That is less than one half of one tenth of one percent. Yet this extremely conservative (by any statistical measure) investment leverages more than $36 million in federal funds, in-kind contributions and grantee matching dollars.

The State Arts Council differs from private business support for the arts in that through its policies and grant making criteria,  it ensures that arts are accessible to all citizens including those with disabilities. Public funds ensure availability and access to a state’s cultural life for all its citizens.

National Endowment for the Arts dollars are designed to help states achieve their own state goals. The NEA does not link its funding to federal mandates. Federal funds are an investment in state priorities.  The only requirement the NEA stipulates is that state arts agencies meet basic eligibility criteria, which are:  a stand alone state arts agency, a staff trained in arts administration/arts, and financial investment to match the federal dollars.

If the State Arts Council is abolished or severely underfunded by the State, NH citizens will not receive the Partnership Agreement federal funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. Those funds cannot be “saved.” The National Endowment for the Arts will redistribute the funds slated for NH to other states. For FY 2012 state activities this amount is expected to be approximately $800,000.  In other words, New Hampshire taxpayers will be paying for citizens in other states to have access to the arts.

Please call or write to your state senator this week and urge them to support restoration of funding for the NHSCA in the state budget.