Art Council, Christmas, and Violins!
Well, I scrounged up a bit of effort and fixed up the look of my LJ page. Simple, dark, and clean. Nice.
Other than that I- OH WAIT- coffee cup is empty....
Okay, all better. I can now continue uninterrupted. *ahem*
I spent all evening Tuesday making up advertisements for various local business to go in to a program for a community choir concert that the Art Council took over this year. Some simply wanted a copy of their business card, which still had to be scanned and made image ready. Others had to be made from scratch. Like the full page ad for the car dealership. They pretty much just said, put in our logo and go to town. Meh, no problem! I'm big on getting the approval of the business for the ad I made up to represent them before anything is final. So, I forwarded the ads to another member, the one who solicited the ads, so he could show the businesses. I'm waiting for word back before I take the disk with the pdfs up to the library. (The library director is putting the programs together.) I did, however already talk to two places. I got nothing more than a sheet of text from the local motel, which I spruced up and printed out. I ran it up to the owners, and they liked it. So that's a go. I even e-mailed a copy of it to them so they could use it for their own purposes. I also had to get on the horn and call the vet clinic. He handed over money to cover a business card sized ad and said, "Eh, I don't do ads, just consider it a donation." Well, my cats happen to be a patient of this guy, and he's a great vet, so I really wanted to do SOMETHING as far as mentioning him! So I called him up and told him, with his permission, I'd make up an ad for him, which he was cool with.
Thing is, even though these local businesses are PAYING for these ads, their willingness to do so amounts to support for the VAAC. Really, it wouldn't be much different if we just got donations from them and made a big list of donors. This way, they get some recognition that is a bit more attention grabbing. Plus, since we're an art council, they can safely leave the ad design up to us (or me as it turns out) without having to worry about coming up with one themselves. This is the first time we've made up programs and sold ads. Not that the idea hasn't occured to us before, we just haven't had an event that really warranted a program before. And honestly this choir concert is a community effort. We'll have choirs from all over the community coming in to perform a few songs. The event, also, is already established. Individuals from town were coordinating it on their own, and the woman who was spearheading it (I won't mention her name for privacy) came to one of our meetings and said that she'd like to turn it over to us. So here we are, with a brand new holiday event. We've coordinated the date to coincide with the town's Yuletide Festival to gain the most impact. So, ads from local businesses just makes sense, due to the level of community involvement and the council's need to gain revenue, being that we are a non-profit organization.
Ah, and speaking of christmassy things, my violin....
So, I get sent home from my lesson on Saturday told to work on and spruce up a version of You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban, and to do the voicing for Jingle Bells. Eh, well I have been. Sort of. You Raise Me Up is coming along just fine. Jingle Bells, well... isn't. Okay, so it's not a hard song. It's not as if I CAN'T play it. But, well.. I'm just not FEELING it. Too many of the same note repeated in a row. Bleh. So, I did the voicing for Silent Night instead. I think its a much prettier song. So, I'll go back to my lessons Saturday with Silent Night instead of Jingle Bells. Yeeeeaahhh, my teacher is gonna laugh and waggle his finger at me, but it'll be okay. The entire point is for me to progress, not copy.
I have to say, I am enjoying my lessons emmensely, and I really like my instructor. He's got this amazing way of bringing out the talent in people. After a few lessons, he had a grip on my ability, even though I yet couldn't see it. He then modified his teaching toward my own learning style, and works WITH me rather than cramming technique down my throat and demanding that I play song that he's chosen in some exact way.
So the, Silent Night it is!
Other than that I- OH WAIT- coffee cup is empty....
Okay, all better. I can now continue uninterrupted. *ahem*
I spent all evening Tuesday making up advertisements for various local business to go in to a program for a community choir concert that the Art Council took over this year. Some simply wanted a copy of their business card, which still had to be scanned and made image ready. Others had to be made from scratch. Like the full page ad for the car dealership. They pretty much just said, put in our logo and go to town. Meh, no problem! I'm big on getting the approval of the business for the ad I made up to represent them before anything is final. So, I forwarded the ads to another member, the one who solicited the ads, so he could show the businesses. I'm waiting for word back before I take the disk with the pdfs up to the library. (The library director is putting the programs together.) I did, however already talk to two places. I got nothing more than a sheet of text from the local motel, which I spruced up and printed out. I ran it up to the owners, and they liked it. So that's a go. I even e-mailed a copy of it to them so they could use it for their own purposes. I also had to get on the horn and call the vet clinic. He handed over money to cover a business card sized ad and said, "Eh, I don't do ads, just consider it a donation." Well, my cats happen to be a patient of this guy, and he's a great vet, so I really wanted to do SOMETHING as far as mentioning him! So I called him up and told him, with his permission, I'd make up an ad for him, which he was cool with.
Thing is, even though these local businesses are PAYING for these ads, their willingness to do so amounts to support for the VAAC. Really, it wouldn't be much different if we just got donations from them and made a big list of donors. This way, they get some recognition that is a bit more attention grabbing. Plus, since we're an art council, they can safely leave the ad design up to us (or me as it turns out) without having to worry about coming up with one themselves. This is the first time we've made up programs and sold ads. Not that the idea hasn't occured to us before, we just haven't had an event that really warranted a program before. And honestly this choir concert is a community effort. We'll have choirs from all over the community coming in to perform a few songs. The event, also, is already established. Individuals from town were coordinating it on their own, and the woman who was spearheading it (I won't mention her name for privacy) came to one of our meetings and said that she'd like to turn it over to us. So here we are, with a brand new holiday event. We've coordinated the date to coincide with the town's Yuletide Festival to gain the most impact. So, ads from local businesses just makes sense, due to the level of community involvement and the council's need to gain revenue, being that we are a non-profit organization.
Ah, and speaking of christmassy things, my violin....
So, I get sent home from my lesson on Saturday told to work on and spruce up a version of You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban, and to do the voicing for Jingle Bells. Eh, well I have been. Sort of. You Raise Me Up is coming along just fine. Jingle Bells, well... isn't. Okay, so it's not a hard song. It's not as if I CAN'T play it. But, well.. I'm just not FEELING it. Too many of the same note repeated in a row. Bleh. So, I did the voicing for Silent Night instead. I think its a much prettier song. So, I'll go back to my lessons Saturday with Silent Night instead of Jingle Bells. Yeeeeaahhh, my teacher is gonna laugh and waggle his finger at me, but it'll be okay. The entire point is for me to progress, not copy.
I have to say, I am enjoying my lessons emmensely, and I really like my instructor. He's got this amazing way of bringing out the talent in people. After a few lessons, he had a grip on my ability, even though I yet couldn't see it. He then modified his teaching toward my own learning style, and works WITH me rather than cramming technique down my throat and demanding that I play song that he's chosen in some exact way.
So the, Silent Night it is!