December Update
Merry Christmas (Day 5) and almost Happy New Year! We hope everyone is having a lovely holiday season. Before the calendar turns to January we wanted to give a few quick updates on what has been going on with Renovare.
1. We have started performing together as a duo around Cleveland, and have additional performances set up for early 2019.
Ann and Rebecca after a very memorable afternoon of performances for patients receiving psychiatric care in four different wards at St. Vincent's Charity Hospital in downtown Cleveland. Some of them were very eager conversationalists in addition to being great audience members!
2. We've received our first grant! Ann successfully applied for a small grant through the Cleveland Institute of Music's Center for Innovative Musicianship, supported by the Ohio Arts Council (OAC). This grant will help support a project in Spring 2019 in which we will listen to the stories of those experiencing homelessness, then pair their stories with musical selections and photo montages to further illuminate their stories. We'll take this performance to various locations around the city- from the homeless shelter to a concert hall and possibly a less formal venue like a coffee shop or bar- to honor the stories of those experiencing homelessness and bring awareness of what their lives are like to the broader community.
3. We've continued to receive and review a few applications for members this Fall, which is encouraging, though this process of confirming our second violinist and violist is still ongoing.
It's been a full few months for the members of Renovare in addition to the things above- we're still learning how to balance our existing commitments with the growing project that is Renovare. Of note- Ann just finished an intensive program (the New York String Orchestra Seminar) in New York City that included two performances at Carnegie Hall, played a terrific final degree recital, and was the winner of CIM's fall concerto competition! As a result she'll have the honor of playing Tchaikovsky's violin concerto with the CIM orchestra in February.
Rebecca has stayed busy working at Credo Music (Renovare’s current fiscal sponsor), leading music at church, performing around Northeast Ohio with various groups, a performance of Wagenseil's A Major Concerto with the West Coast Chamber Orchestra in California, and teaching strings every Friday at the Grafton Correctional Institution (GCI). Teaching 15 students at GCI, a minimum/medium security men's prison, has become one of the highlights of Rebecca’s week. Working with them has reminded her yet again that the work Renovare seeks to do in bringing hope and healing through music is indeed the place where her deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.
If you would like to help Renovare do this work in 2019 and are making year-end donations, we'd be grateful for your partnership. You can make a donation in two ways:
By check: Make it out to Renovare Music and send it to: Renovare Music, P.O. Box 201625, Shaker Heights, OH 44120
Online: Use our secure giving platform at www.renovaremusic.org/support
We'd be grateful for your partnership in prayer as well. In particular, please continue to pray for the right players to be found to round out the quartet, and for wisdom and courage as we make plans for 2019 and beyond.