October 3, 2014 at 4:09 p.m.
MSO puts on a show in Rhinelander
MSO puts on a show in Rhinelander
The children's concert, sponsored by the Hodag Schools Foundation (HSF) and the Northwoods Concert Association, was for fourth, fifth and sixth graders attending public and parochial schools in Rhinelander as well as middle school and high school band students.
It is expensive to bring a group like the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra to the Northwoods, but the school. district, HSF and the concert association were able to work together to make it happen.
"HSF offers grants to teachers and the district each year. We've had $30,000 worth of grants over the last five or six years," said HSF secretary Julie Bronson.
"(Superintendent) Kelli Jacobi asked for a grant of $1,000 and we said fine, but we also said we could do better."
To do better, the group used its annual gala to raise additional funds for the student concert.
"We had our gala in January and we asked the people that were there (to sponsor students to raise money for the concert). We started with a $10 sponsorship fee and we said we would match any of the funds that came in that night," Bronson said.
"We got about half, so with our match we were fully funded."
That outcome made Bronson and her crew very happy.
"We were just delighted because we haven't had the children's concert for a few years," she said. "We think it's really important that the kids get this opportunity to see such a great orchestra and hear this kind of music."
Bronson said HSF can't take all the credit as the concert association also plays a major role in organizing the visit.
"We were delighted that the concert association made this opportunity available because all of us know that kids need to see this cultural event," she said.
"For many of them, this will be the only time they get to see something like this. We want (the students) to be exposed to this type of classical music. Some kids are exposed to it at home and some kids are not ... and we wanted to make sure everyone gets a chance to experience this."
Jacobi also played a role in ensuring the students had the opportunity to experience a symphony orchestra performance.
"Kelli really made this a priority and because of that, all the kids got to be here and experience this," Bronson said. "We wanted it full and we wanted to make sure all the kids got a chance to see (the orchestra). We'd rather have it full than not have all the seats filled. There's always scheduling conflicts and things like that but this year it worked out really nicely that all the kids got to participate."
Jacobi said it's important to the district to provide opportunities for students that they otherwise might not be able to experience.
"It's all about providing opportunities for our kids that they may not otherwise have available to them. This isn't something that's easily done by a family -- unless they have the means to travel to large cities and buy tickets - it's a big deal and can be a big expense," Jacobi said. "That means a lot of our students may not ever have that opportunity, so we wanted to try to give them a chance to experience this. They may not all love it, and that's OK, but they all at least get to have the experience."
"The arts are so important in learning and there will be at least a handful in this group that will now develop an interest in music - whatever music they're interested in," she added. "It's all about providing those unique opportunities for our kids."
The goal is to make the MSO visit an annual event for the kids, however Dori Brown, who works with the concert association, said community support is essential.
"We can't have the student concert without the community evening concert, so we really need people to support the evening concert," Brown said. We have a grant so ticket prices are probably half of what they would pay (for a concert in a larger city). For next year, we'll have to raise additional money to bring the student concert back. We're planning on it, we'll ask the community to support it again."
"We really need community support," Brown added. "This is a very unusual event for a town this size, but it's a great opportunity for these kids."
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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