Southern Oregon Rep Singers to receive $6.5K grant for infrastructure, outreach (copy)

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, August 14, 2024

A famed local choral group and nonprofit will be awarded a boost to its coffers thanks to a grant from the Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation.

Southern Oregon Repertory Singers is set to receive $6,500 from the foundation to invest in infrastructure needs, a stage manager, plus new tools for social media outreach and connecting with supporters and audiences.

“I’m pleased in several aspects; one, it really confirms the support for the arts and the importance that the arts, and particularly music, plays in our community,” said Jessica Bailey, Rep Singers executive director. “Music brings joy and heals.”

Staff with the choral group applied for the grant around a year and a half ago, going through multiple hurdles before earning the selection.

“It’s a very competitive grant … you go through the process, submit a letter of intent and they review it to see if you meet the qualifications,” Bailey said. “We heard the news (of being selected) about a week or two weeks ago.”

The repertory singers will utilize the new funding in multiple ways.

“This grant enables us to go beyond just concerts and enables us to really invest in our infrastructure,” Bailey said.

One of those infrastructural investments will remove barriers of participation for older or disabled singers in the choir while also improving the sound quality and experience for listeners.

“We’re renting risers so that the sound of each singer cascades over one another rather than hitting the person in front of them,” Bailey said.

Another new change for the Rep Singers after getting the grant will be the hiring of a stage manager.

“That will make all the difference in a smooth performance,” Bailey said.

The choral group is also set to use grant monies to acquire new advanced software to develop more data-driven fundraising strategies in the future.

“We’ve sort of been nickel and diming it, but really trying to invest in what makes us progress as an organization — I think people invest in success and invest in quality organizations,” Bailey said. “We’re investing in a database and software that will allow us to make more data-driven decisions.”

As part of the nonprofit’s push to bring in younger audiences and spread the word on what the group performs, there will be an update to the website and social media presence.

All in all, organizers hope to use the grant funding to aid an ongoing push to bring up attendance and participation with the group.

“We want to get back to where we were pre- pandemic,” Bailey said, adding, “Pre-pandemic, we were almost sold out, and the pandemic had an impact on many arts organizations, us included.”

The Rep Singers brought on four new board members — Laura Rich, Elisabeth Zinser, Kim Hearon and Brian Kerns — earlier this year, and Bailey became executive director in November 2023.

Working together, the board and Bailey’s main intent is to grow the nonprofit while ensuring its longevity in the Rogue Valley arts landscape under conductor Paul French.

“All of us together are just so energized and inspired and awed by the work that Paul French leads us in. We’re just very enthusiastic about sharing with everyone — the four new board members and my coming on board — and put some caffeine in the blood,” Bailey said. “We have a lot of enthusiasm coming from our supporters as well, and we’re really excited to say we have 33 percent more subscribers than last year.

“I think we are on the right track.”

The choral group currently has 73 singers and has been around for 39 years.

“Many of the people have dedicated their lives to music and teach vocal studies to high school students, performed internationally and been in operas; these are people that are really quality singers,” Bailey said.

The Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation, named after co-founder of Columbia Sportswear Marie Lamfrom, is an Oregon-based organization that supports nonprofits in the Pacific Northwest through grant programs and other means.

To learn more about The Southern Oregon Repertory Singers, visit repsingers.org.