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some_stars) wrote2011-11-16 06:59 pm
some_stars) wrote2011-11-16 06:59 pm
GLBT choir needs help
So: this is going to be the kind of post that ends with me asking you to give money to something if you can, and link this post around either way. I've never written one of these before, and I don't think I'm very good at them, but I suddenly find myself needing to do one, and I hope it comes out all right.
I've mentioned a few times that I recently joined a community choir. The choir is the Bayou City Women's Chorus, part of Bayou City Performing Arts along with the Gay Men's Chorus of Houston. BCPA is currently in severe financial straits, and we need $25,000 to get through December, when we have our big holiday performance--and $7500 as soon as possible to cover various expenses in order for the holiday show to happen. It's still going to be a struggle after that, but that's what's required for our immediate survival. There are grants coming in, of course--and if any of you have ever been involved with an arts organization, I don't need to tell you how much that doesn't cover. The $25,000 figure is what we need to get out of the red after accounting for other current expected sources of income. If we can't get it, the choruses are most likely not going to be able to exist anymore.
I want to ask you guys for any donation you can give, because no matter how little it is, it will make a difference. I'm not expecting strangers on the internet to contribute $25,000, of course. Everyone in the choruses is working on fundraising in various ways--I'm going to help with calling previous donors and patrons asking for donations, for instance, and those of us who can donate ourselves are doing so (several thousand dollars already), while everyone's working on selling tickets to our holiday show. This is a goal we can meet, especially with your help, even if it looks impossible from here.
I love the BCWC. I'm sad that I lived here for so many years before joining it, I'm incredibly grateful for the joy and opportunities it's brought me even just so far this season, and I'm heartbroken at the thought that it might all end this year, or next year, or ever. Joining the BCWC has helped me make friends for the first time since leaving school. It's helped me connect with so many amazing wonderful women, friends and mentors and role models. It's given me a much-needed and much-loved musical outlet in an environment both supportive and challenging--and most of all, it's made me feel like a part of the Houston GLBT community.
Even in 2011, even in a big city like Houston, it can be hard not to feel isolated as a queer woman, especially for someone like me who's already an introvert, who doesn't go to bars, who doesn't have the emotional strength or stability for politics and activism. BCWC and GMCH are full of queer women and men from all generations and all subcultures, and we all share a history--lived and inherited, institutional and cultural. I have never felt less alone, and so connected, as a gay woman than I do since joining this chorus. I've never been more excited about music or felt so good about singing, and I've never--except on a few fannish occasions--been in the RL company of so many women I admire and respect and want to build a community with. I don't want to lose that, I don't want the other members to lose that, and I desperately don't want any other women who might join in the future to lose it.
(And I think I've pretty much overlooked the "music" part in this appeal, but that's because I can't think of anything sensible to say about it--not because I don't believe that community arts organizations like the BCPA choruses aren't vital parts of every community. The majority of the people in these choruses don't have much or any formal musical education, and almost none are actual professional musicians, a path that--as I know some of you know--is incredibly demanding and risky, and has to be started early in life. Community choirs like the BCWC are the only venue for most of us to sing in a formal setting, led and taught by a professional vocal coach and conductor, and that's something everyone should be able to do. Everyone deserves a chance to participate in the artistic life of their community--to participate in art, period.)
I'm sure most of you have your own local arts and/or queer organizations that you support, and I certainly wouldn't argue that a GLBT chorus in some distant city should be your priority. But I want to ask, if there is an organization that means as much to you as BCPA has come to mean to me, that you think about what it means for us and all our potential future members to be on the verge of losing everything. Everyone in the choir is fundraising however they can, but I don't know anyone locally, at the moment--aside from my BCWC friends--so I'm doing what I know how to do and asking the internet, because I know how generous you guys are and I know that you'll understand what this organization means to me.
And now, the practicalities: you can donate on BCPA's website (click "Donate Online") by credit or debit card. If you want to donate by check, there's a mailing address there, as well as a phone number you can call if you have any questions. I called and checked that very small donations aren't going to get eaten up by fees, and it turns out they only get charged a 3% fee on any card transactions, not a minimum amount, so it's definitely worth it to contribute maybe four or five dollars, if that's what's possible for you.
And if you can donate $10 or $20 or $30 or even more--I know that's way out of reach of a lot of us right now, and I don't want to sound like I'm shaking people down, but I also don't want to let my social anxiety get in the way of my genuine belief that this is a good cause, and that BCPA is an essential part of my community and it will do truly worthwhile things with that money. I wish I could say I'd offer something in return, fic or icons or whatever. But, well, I just don't have the resources right now what with jobhunting and the depressionals re-rearing their head and fundraising work and everything. So all I can offer you is all my gratitude, all my thanks, and the promise that you are doing something good and important and so many people will be grateful to you.
Also, to be clear, BCPA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and donations are deductible according to whatever tax laws govern that sort of thing. If you plan to donate and you work for a company that does corporate matching of charitable contributions, please consider doing that--you can find instructions at the top of this list (PDF link). (The list itself, of companies that do matching contributions, may be useful but unfortunately hasn't been updated for a few years.) Or you can call the phone number on the "donate online" page and ask about it.
And finally, if you can't make a donation--and believe me, I completely understand--please link this post in your own journals and any other forums you frequent where you think it might not be inappropriate. (And it's probably a long shot, but if you have any friends/family/acquaintances in the Houston area whom you feel comfortable encouraging to buy tickets to the holiday show, please do! I promise it's going to be amazing.)
edit: Online donations from outside the U.S.--lilacsigil has pointed out to me what I somehow missed, that the online form doesn't accept addresses outside the U.S. I'm having Paypal issues at the moment, but I'm hoping to have resolved them within a couple days at most and be able to accept donations that way, which I will then pass on. I'll make another post and update this one when anything changes--I'm so sorry for the wait, please check back in a few days and I'm 95% certain I'll have a donate-able Paypal account up and running.
edit 2: Okay, I've got a new Paypal account set up, without the e-mail attached to it that uses my full real name, and that I won't be terribly bothered if they shut it down for no apparent reason, but I'm worried about reports I've heard of people getting their accounts shut down and all the money frozen for taking donations, such that I wouldn't even be able to refund it. Tomorrow I'll be calling Paypal and hopefully getting some answers, and if they are good, I'll list that e-mail address here (and make a new post about it).
donate to BCPA online, or by phone or mail
The Bayou City Chorale (GMCH + BCWC) performing in the 2010 holiday concert
I've mentioned a few times that I recently joined a community choir. The choir is the Bayou City Women's Chorus, part of Bayou City Performing Arts along with the Gay Men's Chorus of Houston. BCPA is currently in severe financial straits, and we need $25,000 to get through December, when we have our big holiday performance--and $7500 as soon as possible to cover various expenses in order for the holiday show to happen. It's still going to be a struggle after that, but that's what's required for our immediate survival. There are grants coming in, of course--and if any of you have ever been involved with an arts organization, I don't need to tell you how much that doesn't cover. The $25,000 figure is what we need to get out of the red after accounting for other current expected sources of income. If we can't get it, the choruses are most likely not going to be able to exist anymore.
I want to ask you guys for any donation you can give, because no matter how little it is, it will make a difference. I'm not expecting strangers on the internet to contribute $25,000, of course. Everyone in the choruses is working on fundraising in various ways--I'm going to help with calling previous donors and patrons asking for donations, for instance, and those of us who can donate ourselves are doing so (several thousand dollars already), while everyone's working on selling tickets to our holiday show. This is a goal we can meet, especially with your help, even if it looks impossible from here.
I love the BCWC. I'm sad that I lived here for so many years before joining it, I'm incredibly grateful for the joy and opportunities it's brought me even just so far this season, and I'm heartbroken at the thought that it might all end this year, or next year, or ever. Joining the BCWC has helped me make friends for the first time since leaving school. It's helped me connect with so many amazing wonderful women, friends and mentors and role models. It's given me a much-needed and much-loved musical outlet in an environment both supportive and challenging--and most of all, it's made me feel like a part of the Houston GLBT community.
Even in 2011, even in a big city like Houston, it can be hard not to feel isolated as a queer woman, especially for someone like me who's already an introvert, who doesn't go to bars, who doesn't have the emotional strength or stability for politics and activism. BCWC and GMCH are full of queer women and men from all generations and all subcultures, and we all share a history--lived and inherited, institutional and cultural. I have never felt less alone, and so connected, as a gay woman than I do since joining this chorus. I've never been more excited about music or felt so good about singing, and I've never--except on a few fannish occasions--been in the RL company of so many women I admire and respect and want to build a community with. I don't want to lose that, I don't want the other members to lose that, and I desperately don't want any other women who might join in the future to lose it.
(And I think I've pretty much overlooked the "music" part in this appeal, but that's because I can't think of anything sensible to say about it--not because I don't believe that community arts organizations like the BCPA choruses aren't vital parts of every community. The majority of the people in these choruses don't have much or any formal musical education, and almost none are actual professional musicians, a path that--as I know some of you know--is incredibly demanding and risky, and has to be started early in life. Community choirs like the BCWC are the only venue for most of us to sing in a formal setting, led and taught by a professional vocal coach and conductor, and that's something everyone should be able to do. Everyone deserves a chance to participate in the artistic life of their community--to participate in art, period.)
I'm sure most of you have your own local arts and/or queer organizations that you support, and I certainly wouldn't argue that a GLBT chorus in some distant city should be your priority. But I want to ask, if there is an organization that means as much to you as BCPA has come to mean to me, that you think about what it means for us and all our potential future members to be on the verge of losing everything. Everyone in the choir is fundraising however they can, but I don't know anyone locally, at the moment--aside from my BCWC friends--so I'm doing what I know how to do and asking the internet, because I know how generous you guys are and I know that you'll understand what this organization means to me.
And now, the practicalities: you can donate on BCPA's website (click "Donate Online") by credit or debit card. If you want to donate by check, there's a mailing address there, as well as a phone number you can call if you have any questions. I called and checked that very small donations aren't going to get eaten up by fees, and it turns out they only get charged a 3% fee on any card transactions, not a minimum amount, so it's definitely worth it to contribute maybe four or five dollars, if that's what's possible for you.
And if you can donate $10 or $20 or $30 or even more--I know that's way out of reach of a lot of us right now, and I don't want to sound like I'm shaking people down, but I also don't want to let my social anxiety get in the way of my genuine belief that this is a good cause, and that BCPA is an essential part of my community and it will do truly worthwhile things with that money. I wish I could say I'd offer something in return, fic or icons or whatever. But, well, I just don't have the resources right now what with jobhunting and the depressionals re-rearing their head and fundraising work and everything. So all I can offer you is all my gratitude, all my thanks, and the promise that you are doing something good and important and so many people will be grateful to you.
Also, to be clear, BCPA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and donations are deductible according to whatever tax laws govern that sort of thing. If you plan to donate and you work for a company that does corporate matching of charitable contributions, please consider doing that--you can find instructions at the top of this list (PDF link). (The list itself, of companies that do matching contributions, may be useful but unfortunately hasn't been updated for a few years.) Or you can call the phone number on the "donate online" page and ask about it.
And finally, if you can't make a donation--and believe me, I completely understand--please link this post in your own journals and any other forums you frequent where you think it might not be inappropriate. (And it's probably a long shot, but if you have any friends/family/acquaintances in the Houston area whom you feel comfortable encouraging to buy tickets to the holiday show, please do! I promise it's going to be amazing.)
edit: Online donations from outside the U.S.--
lilacsigil has pointed out to me what I somehow missed, that the online form doesn't accept addresses outside the U.S. I'm having Paypal issues at the moment, but I'm hoping to have resolved them within a couple days at most and be able to accept donations that way, which I will then pass on. I'll make another post and update this one when anything changes--I'm so sorry for the wait, please check back in a few days and I'm 95% certain I'll have a donate-able Paypal account up and running.edit 2: Okay, I've got a new Paypal account set up, without the e-mail attached to it that uses my full real name, and that I won't be terribly bothered if they shut it down for no apparent reason, but I'm worried about reports I've heard of people getting their accounts shut down and all the money frozen for taking donations, such that I wouldn't even be able to refund it. Tomorrow I'll be calling Paypal and hopefully getting some answers, and if they are good, I'll list that e-mail address here (and make a new post about it).
donate to BCPA online, or by phone or mail
The Bayou City Chorale (GMCH + BCWC) performing in the 2010 holiday concert
no subject
no subject
(also: THANK YOU.)