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Category Archives: Local

In The News …

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Non-profit and related news for your Wednesday morning …

Shattered Missouri City Digs Out — The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that “the twister in Missouri was one of 68 reported across seven Midwest states over the weekend … the Joplin disaster extended a season of tornadoes and flooding that has staggered communities in the country’s midsection from Minnesota to Mississippi.” We discussed several ways to help out (and follow the aftermath) yesterday, plus you can check out the Kansas City’s Star’s list and the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation‘s Facebook page.

Why I got arrested for DC voting rights — Check out this compelling Post opinion piece by Diane Bernstein of DC’s Diane and Norman Bernstein Foundation. She writes: “I am proud of my work over the past 40 years as a staff member, officer, founder or funder of organizations serving the District?s children and families … It is in part for District children that I now take action on behalf of democracy in the District.” To learn more about DC voting rights, you can also check out Catalogue non-profit DC Vote.

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Around Town: May 20-22

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We’re supposed to have a sunny weekend! Which you should definitely consider spending with a Catalogue non-profit …

National Park Trust (at Madison Drive NW & 15 Street NW)

This Friday, 500 DC area Buddy Bison students will unite on the ground of the Washington Monument for a fun-filled day of environmental learning. Your family can pledge to participate in National Kids to Parks Day by visiting a park in your community.

District of Columbia Arts Center (2438 18th Street NW)

Trojan Women: A Love Story is back at DCAC this Friday at 10:00 PM & Saturday at 3:00 PM — “stylish blackbox bohemian goodness!”

The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts (at Theater J, 1529 16th Street NW)

It’s a late-night Dramathon! Friday at 11:00 PM, your favorite Washington actors will perform in readings of brand-new plays by local writers. Proceeds benefit the Send a Kid to Theatre Camp campaign.

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7 Questions – Adrien C. Finlay (Alexandria Symphony Orchestra)

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Let’s welcome … Adrien C. Finlay, Executive Director of the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra since the 07-08 Season. Committed to artistic excellence and dedicated to entertaining and educating a wide range of audience members, the ASO has been offering classical and inter-arts programming since 1954. Check them out!

1. What was your most interesting recent project, initiative, partnership, or event?

Producing a new jazz orchestra series this season, with the most recent concert being a smashing success. We re-created Charlie Parker’s album, “Charlie Parker with Strings,” where he took some of the best songs of his colleagues (Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington) and arranged them for small orchestra, rhythm section, and alto saxophone soloist. The concert allowed us to branch out into new repertoire, pull in new audiences who were either jazz fans or fans of our saxophone soloist (Vaughn Ambrose), and present ourselves at Artisphere, Arlington’s new cultural center. Vaughn Ambrose is the band director of Hammond Middle School in Alexandria and it was such a joy to see so many of his students and their parents at the concert supporting him, and the ASO. Continue reading →

Quote for Monday

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From “Looking for the good news about orchestras” on the Post’s Classical Beat blog:

Alan is taking just the kind of approach more and more orchestras are looking to these days. He represents a particular new-music, Gen-X sensibility, something even the Chicago Symphony is reaching for […]

However, the bottom line is that the success of any new initiative — and the definition of “success” is fodder for a blog post of its own — depends in no small part on the organization’s motivation for launching the initiative in the first place. Too often, such attempts seem born of a vague sense that New is good, or, more cynically, of an idea that New gets funding, or, more desperately, of a realization that if something doesn’t change, the organization is sunk. But if New doesn’t fit in with your organization’s mandate, it’s not going to get you very far […]

So which orchestras appear to be doing the best? The ones that seem to have sound artistic vision and energy: the Los Angeles Philharmonic, for instance. The ones who have established a genuine relationship to their communities […] Then there are the ones that genuinely represent different models […]

All of which invites a few simple questions: what qualifies as a genuinely “different model?” Not just for orchestras and performing arts organizations, but anyone? And how “different” can you get without disassociating from your mission? It seems like a tough — albeit, beneficial, thought-provoking — line to walk.

Around Town: May 14-15

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Happy mid-May, friends. We have a serious bundle of events coming your way this weekend. Attend and enjoy!

Saturday, May 14

3:00 PM — The Downtown Players take the DCAC stage this afternoon (and again at 7:30 PM) in DCPS, a moving drama about the relationships and daily complexities of an urban high school.

4:00 PM — Join Dance Place at THEARC for an Intergenerational Celebration, showcasing the talent of Kids on the Move and Coyaba Dance Theater’s students; plus, each paying adult may receive a free ticket for one child 12 and under.

7:30 PM — Catch the Joy Of Motion‘s Youth Dance Ensemble in concert at AU … or enjoy a showcase of new choreography at 8:00 PM at JOMDC’s Friendship Heights home. Double the dance this weekend!

8:00 PM — Fairfax Symphony Orchestra presents Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” along with the Fairfax Choral Society at George Mason.

10:00 PM — Looking for a late-night, high-energy event? Catch Trojan Women: A Love Story at DCAC (it’s “stylish black box bohemian goodness”).

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7 Questions – Shannon Steene (Good Shepherd Housing & Family Services)

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Good morning! Welcome … Shannon Steene, Executive Director of Good Shepherd Housing & Family Services, which combats homelessness by renting apartments with supportive services, making grants to prevent evictions, and providing counseling and financial education — and which stabilized over 750 families last year.

1. What was your most interesting recent project, initiative, partnership, or event?

Maybe this is cheating, but what’s held my interest lately is the intersection of a consulting project (led by a Compass team – – thanks, Compass!) with a board development project (led by Maureen Robinson). Either of these on their own would hold my attention, but together they give me assurance that we are not only planning for our future, but also equipping ourselves with the structure and practices needed to make that future vision possible. It has taken quite a bit of energy from all involved. Compass and Maureen have all been amiable to adjusting from the original plans as needed, and that has been key to getting it all done. There are a few steps yet, but we’re on track!

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In The News …

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Welcome to Wednesday! Let’s poke though the non-profit-related news …

Arts groups fight proposed ticket tax in DC — And you can too! Mayor Gray has proposed a 6% tax on tickets to arts (theater, dance, music) events in his 2012 Budget. The Washington Post reports that “arts groups say they will lose audience members and revenue with an added tax on tickets it will have a ripple effect on other businesses, such as restaurants.” Check out the above link to learn what you can do.

Despite Recession, Global Giving Abounds — On Monday, PR Newswire reported that “for the first full year of the global recession private giving to the developing world has remained remarkably stable,” according to the new 2011 Index of Global Philanthropy and Remittance from the Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Prosperity. For the US, aid to developing nations in fact rose slightly between 2008 and 2009 by about half a percent.

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Volunteer Because …

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By Jane Hess Collins:

Volunteering catapults my butt out of the house. Otherwise, as I discovered in the last 18 months since retiring from the United States Air Force, I’ll just sit in the fourth-floor loft of our townhouse, tapping away on the laptop about giving back.

Last month I decided to volunteer at least once a week (it’s now up to two or three times a week) with different nonprofits in the DC area, send out a few tweets while volunteering, write about it on my website then link it to Facebook and Twitter. The response from nonprofits and readers has been incredible, but the most surprising response has been from me. As I hop around the DC metro area, volunteering and tweeting, writing and promoting, I realized quite by accident that I’m not doing this because I love to volunteer.

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Around Town: May 6-8

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TGIF! … because we have an awesome variety of events at our non-profits this weekend:

Friday, May 6

7:30 PM — Tonight marks the 3rd Annual Hunks with Heart event to benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Washington. Live jazz, good food, and laughter all guaranteed!

7:30 PM — THEARC Theater and The Jazz Touring Network present a special evening with the Javon Jackson band and an opening-act by Shana Tucker. Tickets are only $10 (really!) and available here.

8:00 PM — At Dance Place, Gesel Mason’s “Women, Sex, & Desire” tackles the struggle, humor and pleasure we encounter as sexual beings. You can also catch it at 7:00 PM on Saturday.

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Get Out The Vote

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From “Printed voter guides are a necessary service” on Greater Greater Washington, April 30:

In an effort to cut costs for the low-turnout special election, DCBOEE decided to forgo their usual practice of mailing an election guide to registered voters. Instead, they mailed a postcard notifying voters of the upcoming election and published an online-only voter guide. […]

We live in an increasingly digitally-connected world. not everyone has, or wants, access to the internet. According to a 2010 report by DC’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer, broadband adoption rates sit near 40% in Wards 5, 7, and 8 but soar to 90% elsewhere.

Quite simply, limiting the media of voter education in turn limits the pool of educated voters. The author mentions that, on election day, an elderly voter (also a recent DC transplant) confided that she had never heard of most of the candidates. But moreover, it limits the pool of likely voters.

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