What We're Up To: Building a Mentorship Program

One of the things that we see an opportunity to improve at BCC is the mentoring aspect of our youth development program. We hope that our readers know that we do A LOT more than sing here at BCC – if you need a reminder of what our mission is exactly, check it out on our website.

Edward Clapp

Over the summer, we are going to be working with Harvard Doctoral candidate Edward Clapp to launch an Omni-Directional Mentorship program (more on what that means later). It will be active starting at the beginning of next season. Over the past few months, Clapp has held one-on-one conversations with singers, parents, staff, and board members about how we relate to one another at BCC and how we can improve our interactions. He presented his initial findings this week in a discussion-oriented session at BCC Central, open to the same broad range of people.

He pointed out that when we typically think about mentorship, we imagine a top-down relationship (i.e. from a more experienced person to a less-experienced person). Omni-directional membership is different because it considers other directions, like bottom-up and lateral (i.e. peer) relationships. An organization that effectively uses omni-directional membership creates a web of learning, where “all leaders are learners, and all learners are leaders.”

Clapp presents his thoughts on the
points of "resonance"
and "dissonance" at BCC

In developing this program with BCC, Clapp is using a very appropriate metaphor – the voice! He asked attendees to think about how they “hear voice” and “have voice” within the organization, as well as the areas in which the very broad BCC community has “resonance” (i.e. agreement) and “dissonance” (i.e. disagreement). The greater the resonance within the organization, the more likely we are to have “harmony,” which Clapp defined as a powerful expression of the mission, vision, and/or purpose of the organization.

Singers, parents, staff
and board offered ideas.

The group in attendance talked about a lot of ways that we could foster relationships within and across stakeholder groups. Singers expressed a strong interest in getting to know the board, newer parents wanted an opportunity to interact with older parents, parents were interested in experiencing what singers are learning in rehearsal.

However the program takes shape this fall, all of us can count on being asked to be involved, including our audience, funders, and alumni! Clapp is intent on enhancing our community through knowledge sharing and “curiosity about the other.” We hope you’ll come along with us on this journey, because our community has something to learn from your voice!

Why not start Getting Vocal now? Leave a comment about your role in BCC’s community, the ways you would like to see it grow or change, and your suggestions about how we should get there! If you are reading this post on our website, please visit the blog at bostonchildrenschorus.blogspot.com to make your comment. Thanks!

BCC 07-08: Parent Meeting

Guest Writer: Ken Accardi (BCC Parent)

On September 15th, all of the parents of BCC gathered together to start off the season with a Parent Meeting. This is the fifth year of the Boston Children's Chorus and things have really changed. Around four years ago this time the parents of the original 20 chorus members met in a similar way, but on a smaller scale. However, now there are 300 kids in the BCC it was amazing to see what a crowd assembled to kick off the year. The meeting was held in the cafeteria of Roxbury Community College and ended up being a standing room only event. This year there's not just one chorus like the pioneering choir of 2003, but instead there are nine, including four neighborhood choruses (Villa Victoria, West End House, Dorchester House I and Dorchester House II) and five that meet at BCC Central (Treble, Lyric, Concert, Young Men's Voice Class, and Premier). I knew the first time I met Hubie Jones that the man dreamed big dreams and made things happen, but this is amazing everyone. With the unity and diversity in the room, there can be no question that this chorus family will maximize the power of music to create social change.

Annette Rubin kicked off the meeting with a great welcome and review of the growth described above, and she introduced the staff, including now two program coordinators, an assistant artistic director, a business manager, two marketing managers, three teaching fellows, and three accompanists - wow! Her last introduction was Anthony Trecek-King who spoke with passion on so many subjects. First it came through clearly how much Mr T-K loves the kids and how he now feels at home within the chorus. But then he spoke about the mission for this year and how we're just beginning to tap the potential of the chorus. He is committed to pushing the kids hard to do the best they can do, and among other things he spoke about how he wants our kids to be ambassadors of music in their schools. In fact, he said that he wants schools throughout greater Boston to see kids in their BCC shirts and know that they are role models, great students, and great community members, in addition to being great singers. Next was the always hilarious David Howse. David spoke about all aspects of operations, communications, and logistics of the chorus. Most notably he spoke about the demand for our choirs to perform and shared that sometimes he gets five requests in a single day. The final speakers were two lovely mothers from parents organization who encouraged all parents to realize the importance of participation in the chorus family.

At the commence of the Parent Meeting, everyone (parents and choristers!) were invited to engage in a make-your-own sundae buffet, which was greatly enjoyed by all.

We're off to a great start of a great year!