Dear friends,
IFCM is officially back in Europe, after an absence of more than five years. From 1990-2010, the International Center for Choral Music was alive and active in Namur, Belgium, the city where IFCM was founded. However, after a long series of unfortunate incidents, that center was closed and IFCM moved its home office to Chicago in the United States.
Five years later, in January 2016, we officially opened the IFCM-Europe Office in Legnano, Italy. As our members know, IFCM has entered a new phase in its history beginning with amended Statutes (approved by the General Assembly in Seoul, South Korea [August 2014]), that allow for the opening of representative offices on all continents. These offices are aimed at helping IFCM better to meet their needs of our membership and develop potential partnerships with European countries.
Responsible for the IFCM-Europe Office is Project Manager Francesco Leonardi. He will serve as a direct link to the IFCM Executive Committee and will be happy to answer any and all questions from our European membership. I feel confident that opening this IFCM office will benefit organizations across Europe. Please don’t hesitate to call on the office to promote visibility or for practical organization.
At present, the IFCM Executive Committee is in negotiations for the third office, which will be in the Asia South Pacific region. I will keep you informed.
In reverting to the mission for which IFCM was founded, we have found enormous acceptance due to the inclusiveness that we are trying to foster. No more competition, only education; trying to help people find purpose in the choral world and discover the huge possibilities that local, national, and regional organizations are already providing.
The world has changed and by having a presence on the five major continents on this earth, IFCM is redefining, or rather defining once again, the areas of choral music where it is strong. In doing so, and by accepting that many organizations can do what IFCM could 25 years ago, we have found a niche that works. Purposeful unification of disparate cultures through choral music.
There is much to do . . . together.
Dr. Michael J Anderson, President