Non-Profit Startup 1.5- Man, I am Board!

The Mission Statement is live.  The vision is starting to clarify for what we are and what we believe.  And now, we need a board.

I have a joke in my show, "The Denver Art Song Project combines two of my favorite things, singing and PowerPoint."  It is funny because it is true.  Unfortunately, I don't get to sing when I take my pitch slide deck out to meet with potential board members.

I've been working on a 3-year plan for about 4 months and yesterday I took it out to my first potential board member.

When I started this process in January, I spoke with the founders other performance groups.  They had the nerve and chutzpah to go out and fulfill their dreams to create art.  They inspired business leaders and their community to support their vision.

Considering the amount of rejection that an opera singer can receive over the course of their life, one would think that I'd be ready for whatever lies ahead.  I think that the difference is that in the past, I would go out and audition and there were a million variables of what I sounded like, what the audience panel was looking for and the color of the sky.  In this case, I've got a very clear vision of the future of Denver Art Song Project and the vision is entirely my own without any audition panel coming with their own needs and desires.

It shouldn't surprised you that I rehearsed this a great deal with Kitty and my parents-in-law.  We worked out a great number of kinks.

In the end, I realize there is a potential for really making a difference in the artistic community of Denver through a performance group dedicated to art songs.

Oh, and he said yes!

And this afternoon I'm off to meet with potential board member #2.  We need three to incorporate.

Non-Profit Startup 1.4- Mission Control

On Saturday night, the Denver Art Song Project performed their first "experimental" show at Syntax Physic Opera.

The show included supertitles, songs paired with famous (or infamous) works of art and narration.  We featured songs with piano, songs with oboe and unaccompanied songs.

Looking to the future, to make the Denver Art Song Project a reality and a viable group to last for years, I have been reading that a "Mission Statement" is essential.  Our mission statement should encapsulate quickly and easily all the aspects of what we hope to accomplish.  It should be easy to use in an elevator pitch with donors, potential board members and concert attendees.

Probably the most important purpose of our mission statement is that every recital, project and action our group takes should accomplish some (or all) of the principles.

Without further ado, here is my first draft.

• To educate and extend the appreciation of the Art Song genre by creating both traditional and experimental performances
• Traditional: concerts of art songs in a traditional concert hall environment
• Experimental: art song performance with video elements, staging or in collaboration with artists of other mediums
• To create a library of classic and newly commissioned art song recordings by artists living and working in Colorado
• To provide paid artistic opportunities for local musicians
• To create a musical legacy for the organization and the artists
• To develop educational curriculums for young listeners to learn about music through the Art Song Genre both in person and online

Our recital on Saturday has lived up to these standards and with our work preparing our second album, I think the mission has already begun.

Non-Profit Startup 1.3 When the world throws the spaghetti at you

I've been spending the month in NYC doing a show and I'm trying to get my feet under me for our DASP conversion to a non-profit.

Do you know how sometimes the world puts signs at you?  I was connected up to a fellow Rochester native who is our fabulous conductor for Astronaut's Tale.  He has experience running a non-profit in Chicago.  For the low price of taking him out for dinner (feed your local artist), I get to pick his brain on how to approach this particular challenge.

A good friend in NYC connected me up to the founder of an early music group.  I had a very focused conversation with her to get more details about how she started her group and what were some of the challenges.

Finally, I've been chatting with my director and producer to get hints as well.

So what are my big concerns?

• What is it like to get direction from a board?
• What do you do to get your board to help you get funding?
• What kind of mission has the possibility of becoming sustainable?
• How can I help lift up as many Colorado artists as I can with this project?

I'm still collating all of the information I have received so far and continue to get.

For now, they all left me with some key tasks:

• Get a lawyer to help get started (hat tip to a Young Families friend from Mass)
• Make sure someone on your board is an accountant and can help with the financial statements and bookkeeping
• Make a mission statement that is clear and sums up our goals in an elevator talk to potential board members

Future blog posts will document the journey started by these tasks.  It looks like I have some work to do when I get back home to Colorado.

Non-Profit Startup 1.2 Hardly Original

Many of you will notice that there is absolutely nothing original about this series of blog posts.  I'm aping the style of Gimlet Media's brilliant Start-up Podcast.  While the similarities are obvious, I think that starting a non-profit is different than a traditional for-profit enterprise.

The output of this project is not to make vast amounts of money or have a large staff producing different shows, but rather to focus on one of the smallest niches of the Classical Music genre, art songs.

My goal is to tell you the story of art songs, get you excited about these short, pretty pieces of music and create employment for Colorado-based artists to perform, experiment and collaborate on Art Songs.  I'll expand on these goals as I share with you the new Mission Statement for the Denver Art Song Project as we convert from a small side-project to a registered non-profit.

Do you know what an Art Song is? (tip: click the link to the left)

I'll be reposting some of my blog entries to get you caught up if you are new to this site and the Denver Art Song Project.

Please share your thoughts and ideas about these posts one one of our many social media sites like Facebook or Twitter or the comments below.

Non-Profit Start-up 1.1

"Are you thinking about turning the Denver Art Song Project into a non-profit?" my friend asked.

I paused for a moment and my mind raced through all we had accomplished in 2015--  A successful release on Bandcamp led to our digital release of a full album on iTunes, Spotify, and many other digital platforms.  The Denver Art Song Project's first recital which incorporated songs, a piano solo, supertitles and curated art paired with chatting with the audience and a Q&A followed the release.  A third trip to the studio to begin our next cycle of releases for 2016 had already begun.

"Yes," I said, "I have thought about it.  But I don't know where to begin or how.  I suppose I should take a stab at it."

"Well, if you do, please add me to your mailing list.  I would love to support your next projects."

"And that is the kick the pants that I need to get started.  Thank you." I replied.

And so today, I start the first step in moving the Denver Art Song Project from a strange little business to something else.  I am starting with a whole lot of googling.  In this series of posts, I'll be sharing with you as much as I can about the process.  I'll talk about the process of getting registered with the State of Colorado, the IRS, developing By-Laws, enticing victims volunteers to be a part of the Board of Trustees.

At the same time, I'm going to... take a deep breath... share my feelings about the process of setting up a non-profit that is dedicated to the niche of the niche of Classical Music.  I'll open up about my fears of fundraising, the complexities of grant writing and all of the joys that keep me going and the small failures that will make me want to give up.

Thanks for following along and thanks for supporting the Denver Art Song Project and Eapen Leubner's opera career.