FVMTA is raising funds to purchase a GRAND PIANO for
use by the COMMUNITY! It will become permanently housed at the Appleton Public
Library by March 2013!
The Fox Valley Music Teachers Association and Heid Music are
collaborating to place a grand piano at the Appleton Public Library by March 2013. The library will serve as a FREE PERFORMANCE SPACE for music
recitals, concerts, and music-related community programs.
Organizers
have set a fundraising goal of $50,000 for the project. FVMTA has
committed to providing at least $5,000 of that amount in seed money. To contribute funds to the project,
write a check made payable to “FVMTA Community Piano Project” and mail
the check to: FVMTA, P.O. Box 1451, Appleton, WI 54911.
For more information about the project or about the fundraising efforts, call Maggie Hendrick at 920-540-5280 or e-mail her at maggie.hendrick@gmail.com.
FVMTA is a non-profit, 501c3 organization so your contribution is tax deductible.
“Music
education opens doors that help children pass from school into the
world around them – a world of work, culture, intellectual activity and
human involvement. The future of our nation depends on providing our
children with a complete education that includes music.” Gerald Ford,
Former President of the United States
_________________________________________________________ Our Community Piano Project was featured on WBAY Channel 2 news on October 17th, 2012. Click on the link below to see the coverage:
_________________________________________________________ On
Saturday, May 5th, 2012 we hosted a Play-a-thon to raise money for our
Community Grand Piano Project -- and it was a success!
THANK YOU for
participating and helping us raise over $2500! We have reached 50% of
our total fundraising goal as a result of your support. We can't thank
you enough!
_________________________________________________________ Jennifer Edmondson's column: All walks are welcomed at the library Post Crescent 11:00 PM, Apr. 9, 2012
The Fox Valley Music Teachers Association and Heid Music are collaborating on the piano project known as Duet for the Community. Their goal is to raise a one-time total of $40,000 by June 30 in order to purchase a piano, a duet piano bench and accessories. So far, they have raised 25 percent of their goal.
The addition of a piano at the Appleton Public Library will help alleviate a longstanding problem faced by music teachers, students, and musicians: the lack of available locations for music performances. Not only do piano students need a recital space that provides a piano, a large number of recitals featuring other instruments, such as strings, brass and woodwinds also require a piano for accompaniment.
Catherine Walby, Lawrence University piano instructor and president of the Wisconsin Music Teachers Association, said, "This piano will benefit everyone in the community. The Appleton Public Library would be able to schedule more music programs and events for all ages. The Fox Valley Symphony and other professional musicians could hold outreach programs at the library. We could increase the number of musical performances at the library, which would be open to the public. The possibilities are limitless."
In recent decades, public libraries have come to represent much more than just books on a shelf. Walk into one of our public libraries and you will see our community — young, old, rich, poor, disabled or able-bodied, people of all colors, cultures, political affiliations and religions. It is one of the few places that welcomes us all to spend as much time as we want, without first requiring us to buy something from them in order to do so.
Our public libraries are truly living buildings. They are alive with the sounds of children laughing and singing during a musical performance, or learning how to read for the first time; adults learning to speak a foreign language or groaning during an exercise class. When we want to hear what political candidates have to say, we attend a candidate forum at our public library. If you need a space for your club meeting, the public library welcomes you, free of charge. It's probably the only department of our government that consistently brings us happiness.
You don't have to be able to afford the cost of tickets for yourself and your family to be able to attend an event at the library.
Once this piano arrives, you, your children and your grandchildren will have the opportunity to hear talented musicians, for free, at the library.
According to Colleen Rortvedt, Appleton Public Library director, statistics showing the impact the library has on our community are mind-boggling. In 2011, there were 91,000 library card holders, and the library had a door count of more than 569,900.
If those individuals who walked through the library's doors donated just one dime each time they went to the library, close to $57,000 would be raised for this project.
The great thing about “Duet for the Community” is that for a one-time tax deductible contribution, we will have unlimited opportunities and access to music for generations to come.
All contributions will be greatly appreciated, whether they are $1, $10, $500 or more. The precise amount is less important than fulfilling the aspiration that this is truly a community project that everyone can join in and benefit from.
For more information, contact Catherine Walby at 920-751-0034 orcatherine.walby@lawrence.edu, or visit the Fox Valley Music Teachers Association website at http://fvmta.org/55312.html. To make a tax deductible contribution, please make checks payable to “Fox Valley Music Teachers Association”, (FVMTA), P.O. Box 1451, Appleton, WI 54911. _________________________________________________________________
Friday, March 2nd, 2012 "Steinway & A Sandwich" event hosted by Heid Music, featured FVMTA members. The performance brought community awareness around the Community Grand Piano Project.
Amanda Watson and Chris Felts perform during FVMTA's feature during "Steinway & A Sandwich" at Heid Music in downtown Appleton.
Kara Patterson's Words of Art column: Music teachers rally to get grand piano at Appleton library
Post Crescent January 13th, 2012
Maggie Hendrick, who teaches piano lessons to music students ages 5
to adult, holds recitals for her studio’s students at the Neenah Public
Library.Later this year, the Appleton
Public Library will join the ranks of Fox Valley libraries that offer a
permanent venue for piano recitals, concerts and related programs.
The
Fox Valley Music Teachers Association (FVMTA) and Heid Music are
collaborating to place a grand piano at the Appleton library in fall.
It is an ideal site for studio recitals as well as concerts by professional performers, Hendrick said.
“I
just think it would be a great opportunity and venue for youth to be
empowered and use their talents to have a meaningful concert,” said
Hendrick, who co-leads the piano project committee. “One objective that
FVMTA members share is we like to provide our students with performance
opportunities. Luckily the Fox Valley has a very active arts community,
but this can also create some difficulties if you are trying to secure a
venue because the demand is so high. (The Appleton library) will be a
place to perform … not just for our members and students but, say,
library-sponsored events or speakers who need a piano for demos, local
community groups, whoever needs a piano. It’s exciting to consider how
far-reaching it can be.”
DeDe Heid, director of marketing at Heid Music, said the project is in line with Heid Music’s cornerstone objectives.
“We
find the more ways we can get people access to music education and keep
them enthralled with music is really important,” she said.
Organizers
have set a fundraising goal of $40,000 for the project. FVMTA has
committed to providing at least $5,000 of that amount in seed money. The
fundraising deadline is June 30. Hendrick said the funds are
earmarked for the purchase of the piano, a duet bench, a lock for
safekeeping, a dolly for transportation, and donor recognition plaques.
Heid
said Heid Music is working closely with FVMTA on several facets of the
project, including instrument selection and financial matters. “With this opportunity we are working to help them to get the piano
at a better rate,” Heid said. “They have to decide what piano makes the
most sense for them and we’re helping them to look at all the options.
We’re helping with fundraising efforts through community outreach and
helping them to raise awareness about their campaign to be able to get
funding resources.”
The library will own the piano and will be in charge of handling venue booking and maintenance, Hendrick said.
“If
we are extremely fortunate and achieve more money than we’re going
after, we’d like to reserve the right to upgrade the piano model and
start a fund for the maintenance that the library will be taking care
of, like tuning,” she said.
Once it’s in place, the piano
will stand in a lower-level meeting room of the library that can be
closed off with dividers for a more intimate environment or expanded to
create a larger venue.
FVMTA is planning a guest artist concert for the project’s major donors to introduce the piano in fall, Hendrick said.
The
addition of the instrument will enrich the programming the library is
able to offer, said Appleton library director Colleen Rortvedt.
“We’re
a big draw for meetings but if you can’t offer something like a piano,
that leaves out those cultural and arts-related programs,” Rortvedt
said. “We have a little electronic keyboard that mostly our children’s
staff uses at storytime, and it’s not something we can really provide as
a component of the meeting room. You can’t ask experienced musicians to
come in and play on a tiny little keyboard.”
The library’s meeting room schedule is lighter on Sundays, a popular day for music recitals in the community, she said.“(The
piano) allows us to become a resource for recitals and musical
(programs) like that, that we can’t do right now,” Rortvedt said. “It’s
just another way that we can help satisfy that demand that we’re a
public gathering space and that the community likes to assemble here and
meet their friends and family.”
FVMTA is raising funds to purchase a GRAND PIANO for
use by the COMMUNITY! It will become permanently housed at the Appleton Public
Library by March 2013!
Friday, March 2nd, 2012
Amanda Watson and Chris Felts perform during FVMTA's feature during "Steinway & A Sandwich" at Heid Music in downtown Appleton.