Message from the President

Dear friends,

Continuing from the President’s Message, October 2015 . . .

The IFCM Executive Committee and Board of Directors met in Macau, China this month. The Board was extremely focused on preparing IFCM for a positive fiscal future that would ensure opportunities for members at a reduced cost.

This process started with the creation of a New Operations Model (NOM) based on the recent rewrite of our Statutes and Bylaws at last year’s General Assembly in Seoul, South Korea. The NOM allows for the preservation of a pre-constructed, robust, artistic model, while establishing the following:

  1. Total elimination of reliance on government funding

  2. Administrative responsibilities spread laterally (not focused on one Secretary-General or Executive Director)

  3. New revenue-generation format including (A) retention/consulting/labour fees built into contracts in all projects, (B) improved fundraising capacities (foundations, corporations, private contributions), (C) five different levels of support for member projects/activities, and (D) increased prospects and capacity for expanded advertising.

The latest step in this considerable rebuilding process was to write a Cooperation Agreement with each of the existing IFCM Founding Members (FM). The agreement calls for each FM to electronically forward to its constituent membership the quarterly electronic versions of its International Choral Bulletin (ICB); monthly copies of IFCM e-News; and periodic promotional materials concerning international choral festivals, which might be of interest to their members.

In return, IFCM agrees to provide complimentary IFCM membership to each FM constituent member. Also, each FM will receive two full pages of advertising (or its equivalent) in the International Choral Bulletin free of charge each year. IFCM will promote the projects/activities/events of each FM in the monthly IFCM e-News, and provide complimentary IFCM membership to each FM. This will officially begin in January 2016.

What does this mean for you? It means that if you are a member in good standing of one of IFCM’s Founding Members you receive free membership to IFCM. You will receive the International Choral Bulletin and the IFCM eNEWS, which will keep you up-to-date on international choral music, without having to pay “another membership fee”.

What does this mean for IFCM? It means that IFCM will be in a position to provide its Founding Members with expanded assistance, thereby removing a financial burden from their books so they can use the resources locally. It will position IFCM as the true international organisation it was originally conceived to be. Thus, by extension, IFCM will better represent a more accurate number of choral musicians around the world, making it easier to generate revenue from advertisers, foundations, and corporations to fund more opportunities for our Founding Members and for the choral world at large.

The IFCM eNEWS has been electronic from its beginning. However, the ICB, up until the final quarter of 2015, has only been available in printed format. While most of the IFCM members will receive the ICB in electronic format beginning in January 2016, we will still print a smaller number for libraries, people who do not have access to the internet, and for countries where translation in languages other than English, German, French, and Spanish are necessary. We are currently working on an agreement with these countries to provide translations for an electronic version, but this will take time. In the meantime, they will receive printed copies. Printed copies are also available to all members for an additional fee.

This new vision had to start with the organisations whose vision formed IFCM in the first place. However, the next step will be to offer roughly the same benefits to other regional, national, and local organisations should they want to participate. Please contact the IFCM Office if you are interested in taking part (office@ifcm.net).

On another subject, I sincerely want to congratulate Emily Kuo Vong, Angelina Vong, Stephen Leek, Jonathan Velasco, Susanna Shaw, Yoshihiro Egawa, Dennis Ding, their teams, the partner organisations, and the numerous volunteers for the successful production of the inaugural IFCM World Choral Expo (WCE) in Macau, China. They faced the enormous challenges that came from building a project for the first time, especially on this scale. There is no doubt that the WCE met IFCM’s mission thanks mainly to the committee’s resolve, managerial skills, and the massive support from friends and colleagues. Choral musicians from around the world benefitted from this event and came away with the adventure of having learned something new and having being exposed to exhilarating cultures and friends.

To repeat myself . . . I am excited about IFCM’s future. I see it as a reflection of the past, built on a new structure, which will lead us to a bright and sustainable future. There are many people who are involved in this global choral level. Be one . . . get involved in the “New IFCM!”

Dr. Michael J Anderson, President

Edited by Mirella Biagi, UK/Italy