One Of A Kind: The Eugene Peace Choir
From its start in 1984, The Eugene Peace Choir has occupied a special place in this community. We combine music, message, and community to enhance our skills, enrich our lives, and contribute to the common good. Our traditions of openness, inter-group collaboration, and singing on mission make us unique in the Eugene area.
We live our ideals, and sing to support peace, environment, and social justice. We appear at demonstrations. We give our voice to benefits and fundraisers for local groups. In the last few years, this has included CALC, the Middle East Peace Group, and the Winimun tribe's defense of Mt. Shasta watersheds. We also donate funds directly to community groups, most recently the Springfield High School Mariachi Band.
We also appear at community events, such as programs honoring Martin Luther King, the opening of the Peace War and Politics Show at New Zone Gallery, and the Eugene Celebration parade. Singing at such venues as churches, schools, senior communities, and Holiday market reaches out to a broader audience with our message. At the end of the season, we perform at the Folklife Festival in Seattle, on a stage with other community choirs.
Welcoming singers with a wide range of musical skills and backgrounds, we do not reject anyone who wants to sing and is willing to work on it. Our repertoire includes songs of varied complexity, and parts requiring different levels of skill: beginners can participate with enthusiasm and confidence, and those with more experience can find challenge and interest. A fall vocal training workshop integrates new members into the choir and supports our musical excellence. Scholarships, and dues set on a sliding scale, allow persons at every income level to participate fully in choir activities.
Our monetary expenses are primarily director fees and rent for rehearsal space. There are costs, too, for song arrangements, practice CDs and musical scores. Income comes mainly from our own membership fees and volunteer work. A choir garage sale in the spring is great fun. And we are most grateful to our community-private donors, the Helios Resource Network, SEIU, the Oregon Country Fair, and the Lane Arts Council-for their generous support.
Since we are a self-governing choir, the responsibility for administration and fundraising work is shared among choir members. We incorporated as a 501(C)3 non-profit charitable trust in 2004. After various adventures trying to reconcile state and federal requirements for non-profits with the choir's tradition of open democratic decision making, we arrived at a structure where the Board of Directors consists of all willing choir members, and decisions are made by the choir during a fifteen minute announcement period following rehearsals. More complex discussions may require a business meeting, but these are rare. Although we legally decide issues by voting, we find consensus the best basis for action. We try to ensure that everyone is heard, and to arrive at a solution that is good-or at least acceptable-for everyone.
Music, however, is an art, and art is not often done well by committee. Our singing is under the direction of our talented, skilled, and caring director, Nancy Anderson. She generously encourages and appreciates feedback, while making all decisions regarding music.
We choose our repertoire in a collaborative process between choir and director, and sing songs of various social movements, many cultures, and many languages. We sing traditional and contemporary songs, standards, and songs written or arranged specifically for us. We do some writing and arranging. We trade songs with other choirs, and encourage those who would like their song performed to submit it to us. We care for the preservation of social movement and folk song traditions, and we work to encourage the growth of a diverse and meaningful repertoire of songs for community choral singing.
A larger event, that we hope will bring together diverse elements from several communities, is our second annual workshop with John Gainer, former U of O music professor and director of the Eugene Gospel chorus, on the songs of the American Civil Rights movement. The workshop will be held Friday evening January 15th, and Saturday morning January 16th. The concert that winds up this workshop will provide the music for the City of Eugene's Martin Luther King celebration Monday evening January 18th. We are most excited to be producing this event, and hope it will enhance the awareness in our community of these songs, and honor the people and traditions that produced them.
Since 1984, The Eugene Peace Choir has actively and creatively been using our gift of song in support of peace, sustainability, and social justice in our community.
Thank You
The Eugene Peace Choir wishes to thank our whole community for supporting us in singing for peace, justice, and the environment. The following organizations have provided substantial financial support: Lane Arts Council, Helios Resource Network, and the Oregon Country Fair.
