ottawa suzuki strings
TRANSCRIPT
Ottawa Suzuki Strings: our mission
• “To provide a learning environment for children that encourages and supports them in their pursuit of personal excellence, and that nurtures the development of their musical abilities and their human spirit.”
• Learning from private lessons, group classes, and the experience of live performance
• Quality and continuous improvement in teaching
• Creativity in programme initiatives
• Responsible, effective, efficient administration
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Finances and enrollment – 2018-2019
• Net loss of 2.9K on income of 247K – compared to loss of 9.2K on income of 258K in 2017-2018
• Enrollment was smaller than 2017-2018 – 99 (2018-2019) compared to 113 (2017-2018)
• Current year’s enrollment is stable relative to last year
– 100 (2019-2020) compared to 99 (2018-2019) – this year’s current forecast is still a net loss, a bit larger than last
year – some fixed costs have increased: e.g. venue rental
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Year-by-year enrollment
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0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20
Number of group-class students
VPG
V1-4
VPT
Viola
Cello
Guitar
Enrollment
• Enrollment outreach: 32 new group-class students! – word of mouth, parent and student testimonials – community concerts & special outreach events – social media (FB), web-page – advertisement
• Look at reasons for student turnover – lost 31 of last year’s group-class cohort – some turnover is normal; e.g. graduation, student interests,
family situation changes, etc. – the Board focused on parent community-building – the teachers continue to focus on the quality of Suzuki
education we offer – teacher continuity is also a key to student continuity
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Highlights from last year
• Monday night playdowns, recitals, Kiwanis • Community Concerts
• 3 KinderNACO concerts, plus a “String Petting Zoo” at NAC Tunetown • outreach event at Beaverbrook Public Library and others • Ottawa Children’s Festival, seniors’ residences, and other concerts
• Events funded by grant from Ottawa Community Foundation • Lowertown Community Resource Centre Summer camp • “building bridges” with the community!
• Masterclass series, funded by City of Ottawa grant • coaching sessions in violin, cello, guitar, creative ability development
• Faculty fundraising concert • Stellae Boreales Tour to New York
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Children’s festival
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Community concerts and playdowns
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Final playdown, June 2019
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Lowertown Community Resource Centre Summer Camp, funded by Ottawa Community Foundation
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Stellae Boreales - our senior violin performance group
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Changes in Faculty
• New teachers – Essie Liu, violin
• Essie was a substitute teacher for violin PT and Books 1-2 last year • Early Childhood Education Suzuki teacher • previously on faculty at the National Capital Suzuki Music School
– Désirée Abbey, cello • recently arrived in Ottawa from Winnipeg, where she taught for Sistema Winnipeg • principal cellist with Manitoba Chamber Orchestra • extensive training, including Masters’ from Mannes College
– Frank Williams, theory • Frank was a substitute teacher for theory for us last year • takes over from Roger Feria, who is unavailable on Monday evenings this year.
• Returning teachers – Megan Graham returns from maternity leave
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Faculty and Curriculum Development last year
• Lisa Moody coached our Violin Books 1-4 group-class teachers: – to maintain and improve the quality of group-classes – to further develop our curriculum for Violin Books 1-4
• Nathan Bredeson rolled out a new course on fretboard theory for guitar students – feedback has been positive
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Thanks to our Administration
• Judy Ginsburg, Administrator • Deanne Donohue, School & Volunteer Coordinator
• Thanks to all our Volunteers – parents, family, & friends – the School cannot work without you!
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Ongoing initiatives: outreach, grants
• Judy did most of the work maintaining our FB site – we are grateful for good photos, videos which can be posted – volunteers can help reduce administration costs
• Meenakshi Gupta continued working with Judy on grant applications – Judy did much of the project management and reporting – we received another grant from the Ottawa Community Foundation,
“Enriching community partnerships with music”.
• Canada Summer Jobs grant: we hired a summer student, to assist in administration - this past summer, the student also helped with our summer camp.
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New Board initiative: the parent community
• After feedback at last year’s AGM, the Board created an ad hoc committee, headed by Elaine Howlett and Randi Karstad to work on Parent Community-Building.
• This continues as a focus for the Board
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Group-class program focus
• We continue to focus on the quality of our group-class program
• Group-class enrollment is key to financial planning for the school
• Thank you for filling out the parent survey!
• Tell your neighbours and friends about Ottawa Suzuki Strings! • Write or email the Administrator or the Board for any specific
overall school issues or concerns
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Last Year’s Board of Directors
• John Royle, (President) • Meenakshi Gupta (Vice President) • Francine Schutzman (Secretary) • Bill Absi (Treasurer) • Paul Keen • Christy Harris (filled a vacant position) • Elaine Howlett • Randi Karstad (resigned)
• Advisory Board member (non-voting) – Elaine Klimasko (Artistic Director)
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Board Membership
• There are 7 Board member nominees for the coming year – the Board recommends keeping 2 additional open slots, in case
parents or others are found during the year who can serve on the Board
– according to our bylaws, the Board can appoint new members to fill open slots approved by you, the corporation members
• Board membership involves – being available for monthly meetings, October through May – abilities: honesty, diligence, and an openness to understand – parents, grand-parents, uncles, friends – if interested talk with me; try attending a meeting!
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