A new patron of the Foundation recently posed a question in a gentle but forthright way during his first meeting with me:  ”I was wondering about the name of your organization. Is it really okay [i.e. politically correct] to say ‘Negro’ anymore?“   (He was concerned about how to approach Caucasians like himself and people of other races he wished to introduce to the work of our organization.)  Talking together for a few minutes my new friend and I laid out our agreement on these salient points:

• First, the word ‘Negro’ is NOT the equivalent of its pejorative shorthand slang cousin that has been (and rightly so) all-but abandoned in vernacular American speech.
• Second, the word ‘Negro’ is a dated, historically accurate race indicator that was commonly and proudly used (by African-American themselves as a self-identifier even ) up until the middle period of the twentieth century.  It is no longer used in this country for that sociological purpose. 
• Third, the quotation marks that ALWAYS appear in our agency’s name intend to show that it is the conjoined term “Negro spiritual” (rather than one or other word taken alone) that comes into play here. 
• Fourth, ‘Negro spiritual’ is the musician’s shorthand for ‘Negro spiritual song’ – a tune with text created by slave-era African Americans and passed down through succeeding generations.

To be clear then – We are not a “Negro” (i.e. racially or culturally defined) organization.  Nor are we a “spiritual” (i.e. religiously-affiliated, sectarian, or denominational) body.  But we are an agency dedicated to preserving and promoting arranged Negro spirituals, and we use these songs as a vehicle for giving scholarship help (in the form of tuition-assistance grants) to young people as they enter college.

Get it now?  The “Negro Spiritual” Scholarship Foundation: A wonderfully correct name by any measure!

The coming months will be a blur of activities that bring our mission to life in very direct ways.  My usual shameless plugs are in order: 

•  1. If you live in Central Florida you must come to Florida Southern College in Lakeland on Saturday 11th February to hear a talented group of young singers compete for this year’s prize.  The recital hall opens for our invited guests at noon.  There is no fee to attend, however you must call 407/841-6773 to reserve seats in advance if you wish to be admitted. 
• 2. You may wish to join a select gathering of corporations and individuals for our elegant Annual World-Premiere Gala at the Portofino Bay Hotel (Universal Resort) on Saturday 10th March, when this year’s commissioned work is launched, and winning students are celebrated. You may purchase tickets using the DONATE NOW paycart on line at our website www.negrospiritual.org.  Call 407/841-6773 if you have questions or need more information.
• 3. If you have a passion for golfing, do not miss ATLANTIC  JUSTICE Law Group’s Celebrity Benefit Tournament on Monday 12th March on the spectacular Golden Bear at Keene’s Pointe (Windermere) course.  Senior PGA golfer Jim Thorpe is tournament host. See our website www.negrospiritual.org for details, then call Sherry Suarez of BANK UNITED at 407/254-3007 to register a foursome and secure your spot in the field today!

Thank you each and every one for remaining faithful to the ideals we hold in common.  I gain my energy and drive from your assured support.

In earnest,

(Fr.) Rudi Cleare

It was early in the morning, and I was driving through  predawn mist heading north along Interstate-75 in anticipation of spending a few glorious days of rest and enjoyment with the family of co-worker Edward Washington II.  Trucks rolled by, rain poured down, and wiper blades kept up a steady swishing cadence while Edward, curled against the passenger door of the front seat, snored ever so gently.  I found myself at prayer,  an inclination sparked by the timeliness of that particular span of time; a string of quiet moments when, trapped in a sealed compartment and alone with my thoughts, holiness loomed and hovered. 

I prayed thankfully about the period of grave illness from which I am now emerging, mindful of the fine medical care, friendship, love, and grace that came to me in abundance over those many months.  I prayed in supplication for the repose of the soul of my lately deceased birth father Rudolph Valentino Cleare, asking God to show mercy and to grant him rest.  I prayed joyfully with the memories of recent sweet moments: an evening spent with Molly Losey to celebrate her birthday, riotous laughter over lunch with Michael Sampson, dinner meals and long talks with my foster mother Patricia Coakley who came to visit for a bit, a weekend with Sharon Roberson that was taken up with roller skating, movie watching, power walking, church-service hunting (to no avail!) a drive through the North Florida countryside, and a first-ever chance to see Arabian horses up close.  I prayed in sorrow for my young friend Shane Hengehold, whose health and well-being are in jeopardy on account of potential liver failure.  I prayed even harder for Shane’s parents, sister, wife and young sons, all of whom will be deeply wounded should he leave them sooner than expected.  I prayed with pride as I recalled walking onstage with other singers to perform in concert with Maestro Christopher Wilkins and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra not long ago.  I prayed happily, with memories of a short trip to Massachusetts and time spent  there with my sister Maura McGrane and her children. My prayers became a reminder that a great many of our seemingly ordinary moments – the occasions and situations we pass through daily without much fuss or focus – are infused with a sacred tinge.  Holiness lurks.

Nearing the end of the drive to Fayetteville, my passenger awoke, uncurled himself with a stretch, and asked “What did you do this whole time?”  So we spent the rest of the trip talking about holiness and hope, and our respective thirst to experience these in daily living.  Then we landed in Fayetteville where his parents John and Jessica Beckett treated me like a prince and, along with nearly forty others they assembled for a Thanksgiving feast, fed me like a king.  I have said before that the saints are not all dead; nor do all God’s angels live in heaven.  The holy time we now embark upon should prove me right.

The next thirty calendar days are generally regarded as a special time when a series of sacred events springing from diverse traditions and cultures are recalled and celebrated as expressions of faith. For persons who avow no religion, the time is still “hallowed” in a sense by a pensive mood that comes along with the seasonal quieting of the earth in late Autumn and early Winter (in this hemisphere at least). Our Foundation marks this time with an annual songfest we call Behold! that is slated for Saturday 10th December in St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church (Winter Park) beginning at 7:00 p.m.  Featuring our “NS”SF Master Singers, the program includes sacred music from around the world, with special regard to Hanukkah, Advent, and Christmas.  A secular carol or two will also be enjoyed.  If you live in the area, please join us for this evening.  Spending the time together would invite holiness, I think.

Recently, our “NS”SF Board member Joseph Cleveland and his wife Evelyn Cleveland gathered a group of Foundation Friends in their lovely Windermere residence to launch a special funding drive in support of our programs.  We heard exquisite singing on that occasion (click here to enjoy sounds of young baritone Frank Humphrey and  tenor Timothy Miller, our featured artist) and raised substantial dollars in the form of major gifts of (most in excess of $500) contributed by those attending.   Many of you who were not present will mark this time of year with personal acts of kindness and with charitable giving, and I would ask you to consider placing the “Negro Spiritual” Scholarship Foundation on your list for a sizeable year’s-end contribution of your own.  (Use the DONATE NOW button on our website to make an immediate tax-deductible  contribution, or call  407/841-6773 to process a contribution by telephone.) As always, these donations are needed to keep our agency solvent and our  mission viable.  Your generosity will enhance the holiness of this present time for every person who benefits from our work.

In earnest,

(Fr.) Rudi Cleare

Visitors to our website www.negrospiritual.org can now enjoy sights and sounds from our most recent ‘Suitable Airs’ XIII concert that have been uploaded and posted to the News & Showcase section of the homepage.  In addition many patrons who attended the event — and even more who could not attend — have been asking when they can hear more great songs and fine voices produced by our Music & Education Department. We live only to fulfill your wishes, gentle friends, so read on.

Some of you will hear the outstanding voice of Atlanta-based tenor Timothy Miller this coming Sunday evening, 6th November, when he appears in private recital at the home of Joseph and Evelyn Cleveland during our 2011 Major Gifts Fundraising kickoff event.  Backed by the genius of Orlando’s own Robin Stamper on piano, Mr. Miller will present a varied program to include operatic arias, art songs and Negro spirituals. (You may sample his grand talent on You Tube here ‘Come To The Manger‘.)  Guests will also be treated to the vocal talent and charisma of young baritone Frank Humphrey III, our 2011 (Florida) GRADY-RAYAM PRIZE winner and Male Vocalist. The event is by invitation only, and is limited to those patrons willing to consider making a generous charitable gift in response. If you think you fit this category but did not receive an invitation by mail, feel free to call 407/841-6773 for further information.

Tickets are on sale now for the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra presentation of AMERICAN VOICES, a musical extravaganza featuring maestro Christopher Wilkins as conductor, with our own “NS”SF Master Singers directed by Edward Washington II and the Florida Opera Theatre Chorus directed by Robin Stamper.  Set for Saturday, November 12, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. in the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center, the program is a celebration of Central Florida culture as it echoes through the music of Hailstork, Delius and Copland. To learn more call 407/770-0071 0r visit OrlandoPhil.org.

It’s not too early to mark Saturday 10th December in your calendar for Behold! - our annual presentation of music to honor the holy days of Advent, Christmas, and Hannukah.  Sung each year in the sacred space of St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church on Park Avenue in Winter Park, this program of varied seasonal music highlights the intense choral texture and solo voices of the “NS”SF Master Singers, along with guest artists to include soprano Leigha Pace from First Presbyterian Church of Orlando. Featured will be songs drawn from many cultures, with excerpts of sacred oratorio, carol singing and music of the popular idiom.  We hope to see you there.

On a more personal and non-musical note: I visited my urologist earlier today and learned that I am being taken off the drug that was prescribed two years ago as a means to contain the prostate cancer.  Dr. Chris Webster now believes the disease to be in full remission.  I had a Lupron shot today (which lasts three months) but it will be my last for a while at least.  Once this dose wears off,  my body will begin  producing testosterone once more and, so long as the PSA number stays within a normal range, the cure will be considered complete.  I will be continually monitored, and we should know for certain nine months to a year from now.  While we wait, I shall simply get on with the rest of my wonderful life. Yippee!!!  I seem to recall that I quoted the refrain of an old Negro spiritual song to a few persons when I first began this ordeal, and it seems fitting, in light of today’s news, to echo the refrain yet again for the benefit of everyone who stood by and kept vigil with me throughout:

“I heard from Heaven today. I heard from Heaven today. I thanks God, and I thanks you too! I heard from heaven today.”

In earnest,

(Fr.) Rudi Cleare

The Foundation recently celebrated the first Winners’ Weekend in our history; an expansion of our tradition of presenting prize-winning young scholars, a feature artist, and great music to Central Florida in a major concert event each October.  This year, instead of holding the Sunday evening concert alone, we “upsized” the experience by creating a full weekend of activities for the enjoyment of six of our 2011 GRADY-RAYAM PRIZE Vocalists: Whitley Lacy and Frank Humphrey from Florida, Dewayne Gamble from Maryland, Myra Tate and Adrian Fullerwinder from North Carolina, and Cedric Townsend from Tennessee. Their Friday agenda included an  official visit to City Hall in downtown Orlando, followed by orientation, dinner & music rehearsal at the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra office in Loch Haven Park. Saturday began with an early morning music rehearsal, then on to the home of Ralph & Molly Losey in Winter Park for a visit with our Namesake Patron Curtis Rayam Jr. and a poolside picnic lunch. That evening the group was given complimentary admission by WONDERWORKS on International Drive to enjoy the attraction and a hilarious magic/comedy dinner show.  On Sunday morning, we visited First Presbyterian Church of Orlando for worship at 11:00 o’clock, during which soprano Leigha Pace delivered a moving rendition of the spiritual Steal Away To Jesus in an arrangement by Roland Carter, drawn from our GRADY-RAYAM series of commissioned works. Our group was warmly welcomed to FPCO by Minister of Music Dr. Rebecca Bedell. Soon after church our students were treated to lunch at the Bayhill Country Club, courtesy of Joe & Evelyn Cleveland. The weekend culminated in the always-thrilling musical feast of a ‘Suitable Airs’ concert in the sanctuary of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Eatonville, spearheaded by Mr. Cleveland. 

I want to thank our Board of Directors and “NS”SF Staff for supporting the idea that we should upsize our program offerings for students even as budget constraints force us to downsize in many other ways. I am grateful to the planning committee comprised of April Walker, Cal Ledbetter, Krista Rice, Junie Monroe, Suzi Bethel, Denise Johnson-Allen and Darin Whyland for organizing the activities and soliciting both monetary and in-kind donations to make the weekend first-rate and affordable.  The Allen, Cleveland,  Robinson and Troutman  households opened their doors and hearts to serve as host families for visiting students. Major funding was provided by Orlando Magic, Care America and United Arts of Central Florida.  A slew of  corporations and individuals responded generously to our calls for additional help with this project: Bank United, Broad & Cassel, Central Florida Gastroenterology (Dr. Stephen Brint), Gabriel Subs, Orange County Government, Orlando Heart Center (Dr. Parimal B. Maniar), Publix Supermarkets, Mr. & Mrs. John B. Soebbing, Urban Trust Bank.  Besides our student vocalists, feature artist Marcia Porter, pianists Robin Stamper and Carole McCutcheon, horn player Mark Fischer and the “NS”SF Master Singers, under the direction of Edward Washington II, contributed much by way of musical excellence.  And we owe a great deal to the members and leadership of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church (in particular Min. Terrance Lane) for their perenniel hospitality.

The weekend was wonderful and thrilling for the Foundation overall.  My  personal reward came in several forms: observing a fine group of youngsters coming to know one another, rubbing shoulders with the array of volunteers who pitched in at every turn to make this all happen, being in the presence of incredibly talented musicians, noticing the faces of new patrons awed by the music we present. If such a thing is possible, you may consider my appreciation for each of you to be upsized to an unimaginable extent! I am looking forward to next year already…..

Just so that all will know:  Rudolph Valentino Cleare was eighty one years of age when he died this past Wednesday in the Bahama Islands. He was my father. Though we lived apart from each other for all of my adult life (and were deeply estranged for most of that time) I visited with him briefly in December of last year, and spoke with him by telephone regularly over the past few months.  He was ill with cancer and the effects of an ever-weakening heart.  I anticipate and welcome your kind thoughts for his family (me included), and request only that — if so inclined — you should pray he is met with grace and mercy in passing from death to new life.

In earnest,

(Fr. ) Rudi Cleare

From Neil Gaiman’s novel titled American Gods comes this awe-inspiring group of three sentences whispered in the mind of the novel’s main character Shadow:  “All we have to believe with is our senses, the tools we use to perceive the world: our sight, our touch, our memory. If they lie to us, then nothing can be trusted.  And even if we do not believe, then still we cannot travel in any other way than the road our senses show us; and we must walk that road to the end.“ 

I recently watched the movie The Help with a friend;  the compelling narrative — hilarious and bitingly tragic all at once – bombarding my senses with revelation after revelation.  My sight soaked in scenes of the familiar.  My sense of touch made me alternately hug  myself tightly or clutch my head in my hands. My memory thrust me back into Jim Crow days of my early childhood growing up in the island nation of the Bahamas, where I was raised to be an adult while still a child. I think an entire generation of us were.  We were trained to keep our senses on high alert; noticing every object or person around, so that we could gauge and maintain our place in relation to them all.    We lived in either of two distinct modes: watching and listening to our environment, or choosing how to behave in reaction to it. We learned to believe our senses, and to trust them. Which is how I evolved into the control-freak that I am.  A hard pill to swallow ( as everyone from family members to co-workers will attest).   Someone who has to be pried away from convictions dictated by impressions his own mindset registers, and who wants first and always to go down the path his senses show. 

My senses tell me that since the world round about is changing (or at least evolving at lightning speed) right before our eyes, assumptions that guided nonprofit management a scant five years ago no longer apply at all.  As an example, I stumbled across a  series of observations posted by Neil Edgington which describe the difference between traditional “push” marketing activities and the more current and promising “pull” approach.  Push efforts create marketing or fundraising messages (direct mail letters, brochures and pamphlets) that are distributed widely in the hope that someone sees them and responds.  Pull efforts engage and build relationships with specific individuals or communities and invite them to take a personal voluntary interest in your organization. Edgington asserts that “Push efforts are controlling and controlled, time and resource-intensive and yield low returns (direct mailings that get a 2% response rate are considered successful).  Pull efforts are open and inviting and yield much better and longer-term donors because these efforts allow prospects to self-identify.“  Hmmm…. Does this mean a complete shift in mindset for  “rope ’em in” traditionalists like myself who long to control the outcomes? 

Actually, the “NS”SF staffing team and I have been meandering down this new strategic path for some time now. Though hamstrung by a lack of funds and resources, we are fighting to open our organization up to an enlarged universe of supporters, inviting every person connected to us to become an ambassador for our cause.  This replaces the practice of making only a small circle of directors, guild members and trusted advisors responsible for garnering needed support.  And it makes our Foundation’s plan for raising funds through sponsorships in 2011-2012 urgent and compelling.   We would like future event underwriting to reflect a clear choice that sponsors can make without coercion, and plan to fulfill with ease.  The desired outcome?  A steady and reliable flow of underwriting sponsorships for specific programs, coming from multiple donors.  We have posted to the homepage of our website a link to  a menu listing four major program activities that need to be underwritten.  Sponsorship levels are designated for each activity.  It will only take a few minutes to read through the list and familiarize yourself with these opportunities, each of which is a building block for the good work we can accomplish this upcoming season.  I would then ask each of you to be on the alert for one person, corporation or community group  who is able to give and whose interests match ours in some way, and encourage them to get engaged with us,  just as you are.  My sense is that enlisting all of you as footsoldiers is a sure way for us to grow an army of “NS”SF friends and supporters.  Like the beleaguered maids coming together in The Help you have that power.  To my surprise, I sense no need/desire to control whether you use it on our behalf or not. (See? Conversion is possible!) But, in case you do, I thank you in advance for your willingness to help sustain us and support our mission. 

Lastly, I hope to see all our Central Florida friends (and all of your friends as well) at 6.p.m. on Sunday October 2nd at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Eatonville for our  ’Suitable Airs’ concert. (It’s the best introduction to “NS”SF that you can give a friend or relative for free.) Details are posted to the website. Please spread the word!

In earnest,

(Fr.) Rudi Cleare

1973 was an unusually grim moment in an already dark season of pain and suffering for the people of Chile in Latin America:  The repressive tactics of brutal landowners, corrupt government officials and a military run amok had erupted  into the systematic torture and killing of poverty-stricken peasants who resisted, and anyone else in society who dared stand with them.  Bodies piled up like so much cord wood till they numbered in the tens of thousands.  It was, as my scholar friend Andrew Wimmer wrote to me a decade later, “an era of unmitigated guilt and shame.”   It was Andrew who urged me to research the socio-political circumstances that had brought about such horror. (He also challenged me to pay close attention to the work of Gustavo Gutierrez, Bishop Oscar Romero and other proponents of a liberation theology whose mission was to expose and decry these atrocities.)  Late one night, while thumbing through many pages of a report from a conference of the Catholic Bishops of Latin America that took place in November of 1973, I came across the transcript of the testimony from a group of Chilean Christians who described their country’s plight to the religious leaders in these terms; ” At present we are a people that knows only pain.  Still, we endure in darkness, with the stubborn certainty that some day a pure and free human being and human society will be born.”  I was then — and I remain — awestruck by the indication of hope resurgent in these few words.  The “stubborn certainty” we often find in poor, downtrodden persons strikes me as nothing but an expression of profound fidelity that neither runs away nor quits when faced with difficulty and distress.

These are tough times for all of us.  Together, as Americans and as a human family, we are enduring a dark period of economic blight.  The nonprofit sector is being buffeted right alongside the profit-making business community upon which we rely for our very existence.   Our Foundation suffers as well.  We struggle to advance the dollars promised as tuition grants-in-aid for a number of college students. We are hard-pressed to meet payroll, to honor our office lease agreement, to stay abreast of the staggering mountain of fees and charges we must pay for everything from financial audits, to insurances, to governmental fees and taxes, to office supplies and artist fees.  I indicated in last month’s blog that the Board of Directors and staff of our Foundation had set a revised strategic course for our operations in the 2011-2012 fiscal year now underway.  The new ways we are undertaking — and to which we must remain committed in this moment of economic darkness and for the near future –  will call for constancy and deep conviction.  Among the changes is an expansion of my job portfolio to include full-time responsibility for fundraising.  My new title with the organization is now that of Managing & Development Director.  Translation; more work, less pay.   There is much to do. But it is known that I am possessed of a stubborn streak  that tends to deepen and intensify when there is conflict or challenge.  (It is my blessing and a curse all at once.)  My stubbornness leads me to be certain that, with support from all our friends and patrons, a better and stronger  ”NS”SF will emerge from the clouded uncertainty of present grimness. 

Later this week, the homepage of our website will  unveil our 2011-2012 season calendar of programs and performance events.  Simultaneously, we will publish a detailed menu of the ways in which individuals and corporations can provide the underwriting dollars that will fund these activities for us, along with notice of a social mixer to encourage and solicit corporate investment in our mission being hosted by the  prestigious BROAD AND CASSEL law firm  in their downtown Orlando office on Tuesday, 30th August.  BROAD AND CASSEL holds a seat on our Board of Directors, and I am confident that many of you will respond to their invitation to enjoy tasty food, high-powered networking and community service at this free event.  My hopefulness finds support in the constancy of firms like BROAD AND CASSEL and our media partner BRIGHT HOUSE NETWORKS that continue helping our Central Florida arts community to endure in darkness.  Their commitment to shared values will surely hasten the day when the philanthropic impulse is even stronger than before.  On behalf of our entire “NS”SF family, I salute and thank them.

In earnest,

(Fr.) Rudi Cleare

It is my good fortune to have many wonderful friends who share my passion for spoken and written words.  One of them, John Soebbing, drives the distance to a smallish town midway between our homes to have dinner with me every other Tuesday so that we can sit together in a restaurant and gorge ourselves on rich thinking and savory wordplay while enjoying a good meal.  Our agreement is to spend two or three precious hours immersed in the pure pleasure of unvarnished, plain talk about only those things that matter deeply.  Between sips of lemonade and iced tea mixed together (me) or water with lemon added (John) we drink thirstily from wells of emotion, intellect, spirituality and the ordinariness of the human condition.  These meetings are a throwback to a past when, as a young cleric new to priestly ministry, I found myself accosted after mass (in the most gentle fashion imaginable) by an intensely thoughtful engineer of about the same age who had just suffered through a typically brash homily of mine from which he harvested more questions than answers.  Before a transfer for work moved John and his new bride away from Florida, his quiet coming forth was the start of a few short years of regular engagement that yielded what passed for feeble spiritual direction by me and very effective mentoring of me.  Now, their lives have turned a new page, opening onto a chapter that — most happily – brings John and Rebecca back into my world, if only for a time. I am nothing if not humbled with delight.

My friend Lucas Daniel Boyce has written and published his first book. Living Proof is a travelogue through the earliest years of a wonderful life that led a self-declared “unlikely candidate for success” from foster care to a gig as a White House staffer and to an executive position with an NBA franchise.  An introduction from my friend  (and Lucas’ boss) Linda Landman-Gonzalez led to a brief stint of serving with the “NS”SF Board of Directors for Lucas and, in turn, to the unforeseen bonding that left us calling each other “homie” in the uproariously humorous e-mails that fly between our desks from time to time.  Lucas and I carved three hours out of a recent workday to hang out and catch up.  He gave me a not-to-be-forgotten look at Orlando Magic operations, and a fascinating tour of the still spanking  Amway Centre that is their new house.  We ended our time together with lunch at a local eatery where we ate healthily and talked furiously.  Striding along the pavement on my way back to my car, I found myself humming with happiness while flipping through the autographed copy of Living Proof I had just been given, looking for items to refresh my appreciation of the book I had previously read.   Turning a page near the middle, my eyes alit on a sentence I recalled with immediate and sudden vividness “It’s apparent now that some times in life that bring us the most joy are preceded by the harshest; a confirmation that if something is really worthwhile, it will, more often than not, require sacrifice, set-backs, discouragement and an abiding faith — that in the end it will be better than all your planning.”  Thank you, Lucas. Friendship with you is such a wonderful tonic.

Today is the first of July. It signals the start of a new fiscal year for our Foundation; our sixteenth in existence.  Early in June our staff and Board of Directors met for a lively exchange of ideas and words intended to help us predict and plan the near future of an organization we all love passionately.  Thanks in large measure to the brashly energetic leadership of Board Chairman Mark Glover — himself (much as I) a man swift of tongue and voluble in language — we had arrived at a point where revised thinking and a shift of tactics suggested themselves to us.  With a series of votes, our Board turned a new page that promises to re-write our prospects for a period of growing revenues and expanded program activities.  The words spoken between us that day really mattered.  The words written into the record as motions to confirm their decisions really mattered.  As a matter of conscience, I give you my word that Darin, Edward, Celia and I will breathe life into the new themes and directions suggested by the outcomes of this most recent worshop.  A page has turned. You will see and feel a difference this coming year, I think.

In earnest,

(Fr.) Rudi Cleare

From  ‘The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner’, an epic poem penned by British Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in the eighteenth century and rote-fed to succeeding generations of school-aged children (your gentle writer included) long thereafter, comes this dread-filled verse:

“Day after day, day after day

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.”

This and similar images from the second section of Coleridge’s massive work flooded my memory recently as our “NS”SF staff team conducted three days of strategic planning for budgetary and programmatic purposes.   We had just entered the last quarter of our current fiscal year; a lazy stretch for us.  Staffers are weary from producing a World-Premiere Gala, a total of seven GRADY-RAYAM PRIZE vocal competitions reaching into seventeen states, and a hectic round of outreach appearances and concerts. Our students are busy studying for exams, preparing for college (in some cases), and making summer plans.  Board members, in reaction to the overwhelmingly high level of expectation placed on someone who volunteers to serve as an “NS”SF Director,  are loath to sit through more meetings at this stage.  Meanwhile, our patrons and benefactors are taking deep breaths and trying to recover from a dizzying round of just-completed charity events that seemed to come on all at once in a headlong rush.   Everybody needs a little down time after dipping our oars into the waters of life for quite a long haul.

Our Music & Education Director Edward Washington II has just returned from a well-deserved trip aboard a Disney cruise ship.  He is plumper, slightly tanned, mentally rejuvenated, spiritually renewed, relaxed, and all smiles.  Of late, Communications & Events Director Darin Whyland spent a day off here and there making his newly-acquired (but secondhand) motorcycle roadworthy.  Few humans are as self-satisfied by greasy hands and a shirt sopping with sweat as our Darin.  He can soon be spotted freewheeling down the highway for the daily commute between home and the office.  Our contracted Bookkeeper Celia Cole, while adjusting her work schedule to fit in classes leading to a higher level of certification, is taking time to “just hang out”  with her grandchildren and enjoy them before their childhood slips past.  I am gearing myself up to spend a little time with my precious, but sometimes overbearing, sisters Beatrice and Linda at some point this summer.  They seem determined to pry me away from my preoccupation with the fortunes of the Foundation for at least one week each year – whether I want to or not.  Rats!

In March and early April, thankfully, we enjoyed the benefit of the Bright House Networks LET IT SHINE Challenge ; a successful fund drive that allowed us to retire a portion of our debt-in-arrears, leaving our financial future not nearly as much in doubt as before.  Still, we are enshrouded by a forecast of fundraising doldrums that perennially accompany this time period, and the uncertainty spawned by this truth hangs like the proverbial albatross around our organizational neck.  We are working to break the cycle this fiscal year:  with any luck, a golf tournament that is now in the planning stages will materialize in time to put more wind behind our sails before long.

Our ship is in motion in other ways as well.  We will point the prow of our Vocalists on Tour vessel in the direction of North Florida early next month for the annual Jacksonville recital featuring three of our 2011 (Florida) GRADY-RAYAM PRIZE Winning  Vocalists.  (Whitley Lacy is unable to appear because of a prior engagement that will keep her near to home in Tampa.)  This is always a fine day for camaraderie among the young singers, as they work together seriously on our behalf  for the first time.  Please follow the In The Air & On The Way lead found on the  homepage to learn more about this outing, and plan to join us in support of our students if you can.

I wish each of you well, dear mariners, as you set sail on still waters into the lazy summer days that lie ahead.  May you steer calmly through gale winds, ride out crashing waves, and run swiftly ahead of storms that threaten.  At season’s end, I hope you will arrive safely in whatever harbor you set your sights upon. I plan for our Foundation to do the same!

In earnest,

(Fr.) Rudi Cleare

The RCA Red Seal compact disc recording of the 1991 Return To Carnegie Hall anniversary recital by legendary American soprano Leontyne Price is a marvel.  Miss Price,  with the late David Garvey at piano, treats listeners to a riveting master class in how a song recital of immense proportions can be delivered with such ease and skill that one hardly senses time passing until the empty silence of several minutes signals the absence of both an audience and her monumental voice.  Among the nine (yes — count them — nine) encore selections comes an episode in Negro spiritual lore that is among those I treasure most; the moment when the elegant diva adopts the lilting accent of her Laurel, Mississippi childhood home to announce: “My mother’s favorite spiritual,  This Little Light Of Mine, arranged by Margaret Bonds”.   Then, with a touch of something approaching glee, she flings the tune out over her audience, leaving the final ’Let it shine!’ clarion call which closes each successive verse suspended  in the rafters with characteristic height and brilliance.  (Can you join me in whispering the word  ”goosepimples” with awe?)  I think it fair to say that — crystal chandeliers notwithstanding — Leontyne Price  lit up Carnegie Hall all by herself on that occasion.

In my last entry, I unveiled the “LET IT SHINE” Initiative and Challenge announced  by Bright House Networks (Central Florida)  at our gala last month.  Under terms of the challenge, our Foundation has until Friday, 15th April 2011 to amass $50,000 in donations.  With great leadership from our Board of Directors,  we have taken huge strides toward our goal by collecting nearly $37,000 in pledges and gifts to date. (A list of donors whose contributions are already in hand may be viewed by clicking the READ MORE button at the end of the “LET IT SHINE” announcement which is posted on our homepage.)  Still, our goal is a long way off, and we have just nine days left to achieve it.  We could end the Bright House challenge today if one hundred of my readers who have not yet contributed but can afford to will imediately make an online gift of $100 or more using the DONATE NOW button. 

So please, I beg of you:  allow your own little light to take center stage by making a gift right this moment.  When you do, your name (or an anonymous note if you so wish) will be added to the ”LET IT SHINE” donor list. Moreover, you will have something in common with the incredible Leontyne Price: you will have helped us end on a high note, while using your love of Negro spirituals to brighten the world around you.

Let it shine! Let it shine! Let it shine!

Thank you.

(Fr.) Rudi