Music group uses downtime to build a stronger stage
What do you do if your reason for being is performing live music … and a pandemic shuts down fifteen months of concerts? If you’re Pasadena Pro Musica—which has spent over 50 years showcasing great choral music—you use that time to build a more powerful platform for your triumphant return.
While PPM musicians spent the downtime in weekly rehearsals and virtual concert recording sessions, the Board tackled a less artistic but equally daunting task: revising their bylaws, restructuring to create a working board with job descriptions for each position, and creating a template for a Board operating manual.
Their motivation was simple and powerful. Having defined positions with specific duties would allow more members to get involved with the board, distribute the work more evenly among its members and enable them to better support PPM in producing more varied and ambitious programs.
For help with this major project, they turned to Jericho Road Pasadena. JRP had the ideal volunteer: Annie Brose, who had transitioned from her previous career as a lawyer to a Masters in nonprofit arts management. Annie’s unique combination of analytical and organizational skills, knowledge of local cultural organizations and understanding of fundraising were just what PPM needed. The entire project was completed on Zoom, with Annie sitting in on both Board meetings and project sessions.
“We expect our new board structure will have a positive financial impact on Pasadena Pro Musica,” says Board President Robbie Davis. “With board members and committees specifically focused on development and publicity, and the treasurer’s job divided into more manageable portions, we should be able to raise more money from outside sources, meeting most of our expenses through ticket sales, donations, and grants.”
Like everything Pasadena Pro Musica does, it’s sounding very good.
Thanks to volunteer Linda Taubenreuther for writing JRP social media posts!