Dear DWC, Out Loud and DGMC Members,
It's 4:30am on Thursday and I can't sleep. Lots to do and I am in that overwhelmed yet in control state. Good thing it's Thursday though. That means it is Mosaic rehearsal day, one of the highlights of my week, each week, since August 2007. I was awoken suddenly with the thought that potentially no one has said anything to you all, really, about why DGMC is singing in Highlands Ranch on Sunday, and that freaked me out because this is such a huge deal for us and to have forgotten to share with you is not good. Sure the space is great, and free. But there is more. Way more. Please read on...
When we were preparing to launch Mosaic Youth Chorus in 2007 we made some assumptions based on the results from the feasibility study we had done about many aspects of what to expect as we started. We also made a lot of assumptions based on our own thoughts and expectations, some not good. The one I think back to the most is how we tried to set expectations about where Mosaic's members would come from. We assumed central Denver, maybe Aurora, and that is about it. We assumed we would struggle to find kids from, say, Littleton or Arvada. Highlands Ranch kids did not even cross our minds at that early stage. Well, we were so wrong.
Of Mosaic's 16 founding members, 0 live in central Denver, 3 Arvada, 2 Wheatridge, 2 Aurora and 1 Centennial. The remaining 8? Highlands Ranch. Freaked me out. And, these kids for the most part were out of the closet, loudly, about either being GLBTQQ, or proud of their GLBTQQ friends. And, with the exception of a few crisis here and there, most of the parents/guardians/families of these kids were proud and accepting of their queer kids. As the chorus grew in its first year to about 30 members on the books we started to get kids from other towns, but still more from Highlands Ranch.
So with the help of the kids, we learned how to say things like "are you going back to the Ranch before you go to such and such" and "we're from the bubble" of protection, etc. etc. Well, I started to build a totally new appreciation for Douglas County. Here is a county that borders El Paso (Colorado Springs) and we have 8+ of their finest youth up in Denver singing in a queer chorus with their parents/guardians/units supporting them in different ways. Initially, Cory and I were thinking that we needed to get Mosaic into the county to perform, fast.
Well then Ben and I started talking about Boulder and should DGMC have a holiday concert there this year after years of crappy attendance. Then I was writing the SCFD Denver County grant in February. Then I started looking at other SCFD county grant deadlines and, WHAM, it hit me. Douglas County is SCFD funded, RMAA is already SCFD funded, their deadline was two months away, same application, all these kids from the Ranch......a new gay men's chorus in Colorado Springs, a 26 year old gay men's chorus in Denver? Exactly. DGMC is going to the Ranch, no questions asked. I applied for project support for the concert from Douglas County SCFD. I went to Castle Rock to our interview with the council, not sure what to expect. I stood at the podium and told RMAA's story about "the gay word" from 1982, Out Loud's 950 audience members at their premier in April 2006 following a front page article with big-ass picture above-the-fold in The Gazette, and, of Mosaic and the kids from the Ranch, and about the incredible adult support system they had, and (run on) how pleasantly surprised we were about our new county "discovery."
Folks, they loved us. I'm not kidding. Within 24 hours Deb Pollock ran into Jane Potts, our SCFD liaison in Denver, who asked Deb if she had heard what happened in Douglas County. What? Did I make a scene? No, the Council agreed that afternoon, unanimously, to fund DGMC's Ranch concert. Of course this was inside info so I could not sell stock yet. I had to wait a month for the unofficial announcement. I went back to Castle Rock in October for the check award ceremony and stood in front of the Douglas County Commissioners and was thanked. Not just a thanks-here's-your-check-go-away thanks, but a twinkle in the eye, serious, this is a big deal for us kind of thanks.
So I am rambling, need coffee and have a headache. My point here though is that we have to sell the hell out of this concert on Sunday. Not because we need the money. Not because we need our members to sell more tickets. Not because sales are down overall for nonprofits. Not because of any of that crap.
We need to sell the hell out of this concert because we CAN. DGMC and Mosaic are performing at a massive church in Highlands Ranch. In 27 years DGMC has never set foot via a major concert in the Ranch. Everyone makes fun of Highlands Ranch sprawl and what-not. Half of our original Mosaic kids are from the County. They are OUT at school. One is our state's national rep for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). They have more tattoos and piercings then anyone I have ever seen. And they have these incredible, supportive parents.
And Douglas County SCFD asked us to come.
Please. Do it for these kids and the many, many others that are also out and proud in the Ranch that we don't know about. Do it for the hundreds that are not out and are scared to death. If you have any contacts that have never heard one of our choruses, or who live in the Bubble, or that you have kind of been thinking about coming out to about singing in a gay chorus, do it NOW. Please. Out Loud, we need your help too.
You'll never feel the same about Douglas County again, I promise.
See you all on Sunday, and thanks.
Will
Join the Denver Gay Men's Chorus this Sunday, March 22 at 2:oo p.m. as they perform selections from their upcoming spring concert, "A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock 'N Roll" at the main branch of the Denver Public Library (Broadway & 13th Avenue).
The Denver Gay Men's Chorus will be singing in the 11:00 a.m. worship service at Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church this Sunday, March 8. Please join us at Montview this Sunday morning to hear the DGMC perform a rousing arrangement of the African American spiritual, "Sinner Man," as well as a setting of "Salaam Aleikum" from Ghana and "Ameni" from South Africa.
Please join Out Loud: The Colorado Springs Men's Chorus as we "Celebrate the Season" with three holiday concerts in December! On December 19 and 20 we will perform at First United Methodist Church at 7:30pm, 420 N Nevada Ave in Colorado Springs. On December 21 we will perform a very special concert in Pueblo at the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center at 4pm, 210 N Santa Fe. Not only are these our first-ever holiday concerts, but also our first time performing in Pueblo.
Please join Take Note!, the Denver Women's Chorus Small Ensemble, as we Celebrate the Season with two holiday concerts in December. We are excited to welcome to our annual Holiday concert the youth from Mosaic Youth Chorus. Our "Home for the Holidays" concerts are December 20 at 7:30 p.m. and December 21 at 2:00 p.m. at Christ Church in Denver.
