Santa Barbara Music Club

President’s Message, 2016

As your incoming president, I am excited to work with an organization so vital to and supportive of our Santa Barbara music community, be it delightful free concerts on alternate Saturdays, outreach performances in senior centers, or providing assistance to talented young musicians through our scholarship program. First off, I would like to express my appreciation to my predecessor, Bill Berry, for nominating me for this job. He led the organization with a combination of equanimity and determination that fostered a spirit of collaboration among your board of directors. He inspired us to work hard for the benefit of our members and our community. I will do my best to follow his example and I intend, with the efforts of our excellent board, to further the objectives that the board introduced last year. These include:

  • Increasing our membership by reaching out to new areas of the community via our updated Web site and social media
  • Streamlining our operational processes such as the production of this newsletter
  • Significantly increasing the funds available for scholarships via increased fundraising, grants application, and efficiency of operation.

During the coming year, we will start to move more of our membership benefits to electronic format on our Website and/or email, including application forms and the newsletter. Apart from minimizing our imprint on the environment, the cost that we save can be used to augment our scholarship awards. Rest assured that if you prefer to receive materials in print form, we will be happy to mail them out to you. Just let us know.

I wish all of you, our audience, our members, volunteers, and friends, a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year.

Welcome to our 45th Season!

The Music Club Board has elected me as your new President, a role I promise to fulfill to the best of my ability. This is our 45th season, and we are one of the longest-lived cultural organizations in our county, an achievement we can all be proud of.

The October 11 opening concert features a world premiere by renowned local composer, Emma Lou Diemer, with Philip Ficsor, violinist. It will be a great event.

At the beginning of our new season I wish to remind everyone that Board members are all unpaid volunteers. Each has an assigned set of tasks. The Club also relies heavily on the talents of members who make up volunteer committees to do much of the work of special events. In these ways we keep our member dues very affordable. So please volunteer to help ensure the Club continues to provide so much to so many.

Your Board has worked hard to prepare another exciting concert season, coordinated by our Concert Committee, Christopher Davis, Chair, and as always, free to the public. Per Elmfors carries on as organizer of our Community Concerts, bringing great music to retirement home residents and providing a preview by Club musicians of their Faulkner Concerts.

By now you have received an invitation to the October 18th luncheon honoring Betty Oberacker, UCSB Professor Emeritus, and former Chair of both our Concert and Scholarship Committees. For more information, please call Mary Jo Hartle at 969-7634.

The Club is designing an experimental program to bring fine music to the students of La Cumbre Junior High School. This will require new funding, and if the project is successful could be extended to other schools in underserved communities. Please consider a donation earmarked to help launch this initiative.

We are extremely gratified that our membership continues to grow, but due to increasing costs we must increase revenue from all sources. Please consider increasing your support for our operating costs, and especially our Scholarship program. Our continued success depends heavily on a loyal and generous membership. Membership renewals can also be made through the Club website, which will soon be re-designed to provide closer and easier connections with members. Please also tell your friends about the Club. It’s a great community resource!

— William (Bill) Berry, President