The middle of September meant saying ‘goodbye’ to Sherina Johnson as a member of our staff here at the “NS”SF.  It already seems odd to go through a workday without the dedication she brought to our agency and the laughter she often introduced to the office.  Hopefully. she will forgive us if we post here a little bit of prose that was given to her as a framed memento on her last day.  I call it SHERINA By Name , and believe that it reveals her personality and character much the same as a mirror might reflect them.  We wish the best for her.

SHERINA  By Name 

She cares for others

Her heart is pure

Everyone she touches feels blest 

Reliance on God is her stronghold

Inspiration guides her choices

Nothing in life defeats her spirit

Angels shield her from harm

The Staff of the “Negro Spiritual” Scholarship Foundation

Celia Cole

Rudolph Cleare

Tai Oney

Darin Whyland

11 September 2009

The call was from an acquaintance of mine who shares my enjoyment of music and the cultural arts. It came  late in the evening after a particularly long work day when I had stretched my gangly frame out along my sofa, waiting to regain enough energy to fix a late meal that I would eat alone.    “I got the flyer about your upcoming concert” said the voice, “and was more than a little disappointed to see  non-African Americans involved in the program.  Why would you use other artists when there are so many of us available?  And now I realize from reading your past blogs that you’ve formed a mixed Master Singers chorus, even though there are all-Black groups you could hire for something like this.  It seems to me as if you are taking the Negro spiritual song away from our community.”   After a little moment of surprise I sat up and began laying out for the umpteenth time in our history the philosophy that has supported the mission and work of this Foundation from inception. Simply put, the white Catholic bishop Thomas J. Grady and black opera singer Curtis Rayam who started this project  enlisted the help of a widely diverse group of supporters in order to celebrate the Negro spiritual as an American art form, and to assist minority youth in their quest for higher education. From the beginning it was clear that the project intended to cross many of the racial, social and cultural lines that were traditional barriers in places like Central Florida, and those of us present with them at the start understood that we would go anywhere and ask anyone for help to make the dream a reality.

So there are two schools of thought, one of which sees the need for a degree of separation when preserving a cultural treasure like the Negro spiritual, another that wants the ‘our” in my caller’s complaint to mean all of those who value such cultural treasures, without separation.  The Foundation’s response, to quote the vernacular, is a ’no-brainer’.  We teach in the school of inclusion, and we walk its hallways without apology or shame.  True, the Negro spiritual song arose in an Afro-ethnic context and is cradled and kept there still .   But it is equally true that this song is America’s hymn, and that every voice can lift it.  Our task is to find and present the best of these voices among the Afro-ethnic youth population and well beyond it too.  We are going about our work undeterred by economic hardship or petty complaints.

Now, the lesson learned.  Two days before I took the upsetting call, my friend David Michael (he of the stenorous bass voice and villainous operatic personae) wrote an e-mail in response to his having seen the flyer in question.  David said he was glad to see us stretching the limits of the Negro spiritual a bit and, with unerring foresight, he warned that we might take some hits for doing so. Today’s lesson from the curriculum of the school of inclusion comes from professor David Michael himself, the last line of whose message to me reads “… if you are not risking enough to offend the few you are not really making anything worthy to be called art by the many.”  Enough said.

I am looking forward to Suitable Airs XI on Sunday, 4th October .  I hope, and now fully expect, that the sanctuary of  Eatonville’s Madeconia Missionary Baptist Church will be crammed to the hilt with people of every sort and kind who love America’s musical heritage and who value our community’s spirit of inclusion.  We’ll have a song or two ready to celebrate the moment…..

In earnest,

Rudi Cleare

Over the course of two weeks since his arrival Music & Education Director Tai Oney and I have had occasion to meet (and meet! and meet!) with a representative cross-section of individuals and groups who either support or collaborate with our Foundation in the quest to fulfill our mission.  Along the way we heard from persons of both sexes hailing from a wide array of religious traditions, ethnicities, political affiliations, races, socio-economic circles, life stages and disciplines of work.  A central point of reference quickly emerged from these encounters: that the Negro spiritual song we seek to preserve and celebrate is a cultural jewel loved by virtually every American who has heard the art form presented with feeling and with style.  

It is clear that, acting surreptitiously over time, the Negro spiritual has achieved what so many struggling artists and their overpriced agents can only dream of; it became a crossover hit of gigantic proportions, one capable of enticing a first time hearer and long time listeners alike to fall in love for keeps. Moreover, each of the persons we talked with had reason to lay claim to the Negro spiritual as a treasure that, by dint of our intermingled history and the tangled web of shared experiences we’ve endured living together on the same societal landscape, we all identify with somehow.   Time and time again we were made to understand that this music is deeply imprinted on the national psyche to such an extent that, despite the unique role African-Americans have played in originating and keeping the spiritual, it fairly resonates with all Americans, and in fact belongs in some peculiar way to all Americans.  

The realization that our Foundation only holds the Negro spiritual in common for everyone will be evident in the array of artists slated to perform in the sanctuary of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church located at 412 E. Kennedy Boulevard in Eatonville on Sunday 4th October for Suitable Airs XI, beginning at 7 o’clock in the evening.  Besides the range of musical elements to be enjoyed, our audience for this year’s annual benefit concert will have the added treat of seeing itself fully reflected in a talented cast of musicians pulled together from across the community  to showcase the Negro spiritual at its very best. Thanks to our presenting sponsor The Orlando Magic, the evening will be yours and ours – ALL of ours — and we welcome you to come experience what we hold in common!

In earnest,

Rudi Cleare

 Eight weeks from now the Foundation will present its eleventh annual ‘Suitable Airs’ benefit concert, sung from the sanctuary of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in the historic township of Eatonville Florida.  This year’s production will have several unique elements that are noteworthy.  It will be the first major “NS”SF program for which Tai Oney will serve as Music Director.  Mr. Oney’s role in preparing for a successful concert entails everything from music selection to artist management, to conducting the GRADY-RAYAM Master Singers - a troupe of twelve hand-picked voices that will deliver choral arrangements of spirituals as both a featured element and backing ensemble.  The roster of musical performers is impressive, as it represents a cross-section of talent that is among the best to be found in our local community.  Our principal vocal artist is the incredible  Paul An, a young bass who made his mark in Central Florida as a Studio Artist with Orlando Opera during its final season and starts this new season in affiliation with New York’s Metropolitan Opera.  Mr. An demonstrates  amazing aptitude and skill as an interpreter of the Negro spiritual song, and is frankly among the most masterful of those singing storytellers the Foundation has had the good fortune to engage over the course of our history.  Joining Paul An at centerstage will be another remarkable musician who is as much loved by Orlando audiences as he is renowned.  The pianist Robin Stamper honors us greatly by agreeing to serve as principal accompanist to Mr. An and other soloists.  The program would not be complete (neither would it likely be presented) without the voices of  four young Floridians who are the 2009 GRADY-RAYAM PRIZE winning vocalists.  Students Denée Benton, Azschrielle Jackson, Ryan Mack,  and Latonio Nichols are accomplished singers, each one capable of inspiring listeners when in performance.  We take the greatest pride in being able to showcase their considerable talent on a pre-professional level. In a unique twist, this year’s outing will draw artistry from the ranks of our Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra in the person of Principal Horn Mark Fischer, who will join Mr. An in the debut of a new work by renowned composer-arranger Jacqueline Butler Hairston; the spiritual There’s A Man Goin’  Round, set for solo voice and French horn.  You must hear the striking effect of this tonal pairing to appreciate its haunting beauty as perfectly revealed by the Hairston score.   As if all that is not enough, I can also reveal that there will be a  surprise musical presentation on the program that involves voices connected with the Foundation but from a highly unexpected source!  I will drop a hint or two as we get closer to the event.  You, meanwhile,  need to make plans to attend ‘Suitable Airs’ XI and enjoy the fresh faces and new sounds on display.

It hardly seems fair, but a large number of high schools, colleges and universities are staring the end of summer in the face and laying plans already for a return to campus life.  For many such learning places the pursuit of knowledge is to some degree cloaked in the visual or performing arts and expressed by administrators, faculty persons, or students who love music as a creative discipline.  Schools where the humanities thrive are special to me, particularly those that boast an emphasis in music.   I believe music makes us more — more human, more content, more enlightened.   I further believe  these communities of learners, educators and performers are important to the social fabric precisely because they are exploring music on behalf of the rest of us; trying to live and breathe the art form as a complete experience in order to tease out beauty from human culture’s every nook and cranny.   

Each time I visit such a community I am in touch once more with two of the things that interest me most: the well-being of young people on the verge of adult life and the state of music education in today’s society.  A good part of my average workday is spent thinking about  and appealing to various philosophies, theories and applications of curriculum that feed music education.  I spend many hours alone and with others trying to understand the experience of the artist and exploring ways to help young artists and those responsible for their formation.  I go to meetings, I talk to groups, I raise funds, I plan programs, I organize projects.  This sets me apart from people engaged in the actual learning and teaching of musical arts.  As music makers they are the ones who plumb the poetry, who parse the phrase, who tell the tales and paint word pictures that express life’s most important themes.  They sing our songs to us and for us. And just for doing this, just for the fact of being dedicated to the twin tasks of enlightening and elevating, they deserve to be admired.  

Several winners of this year’s GRADY-RAYAM PRIZE awards will enter college for the first time in the weeks ahead.  (Daniel Farmer will attend the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Ryan Mack will attend Tallahassee’s FAMU and Azschrielle Jackson will attend UNF in Jacksonville.)  Besides the tuition asistance grants they have earned, we are sending along with them the gift of song.  On your behalf, I offer them encouragement and love as well.  I urge them to cling fast to their dreams, and to remain attentive to the music of their souls. Fare ye well!

While in the course of interviewing to fill the post of Music & Education Director it behooved me to create a ’want’  list of things I desire to see happen for the Foundation in future years and decades.  Our Board of Directors unanimously approved the hiring of Tai Oney, and subsequently created a new standing comittee of the Board that will collaborate with him to stimulate growth in this crucial area of our work.   Only now does it seem appropriate to publish my somewhat silly list.  The act of doing so is my way of spreading stardust around to see if at least a few of my hopes and dreams can come true. 

 Ø      I want the “NS”SF to someday be known as America’s foremost authority on the arranged solo voice Negro spiritual song.

 Ø      I want the “N”SF to someday be known as Florida’s leading advocate for classical vocal education at the secondary level.

 Ø      I want “NS”SF to someday publish a book that tells why classical vocal education is important and how secondary level vocal music can best be taught to minority youth.

Ø      I want the “NS”SF to someday have a nationally-recognized choral unit dedicated to the performance of Negro spirituals and other sacred songs.

 Ø      I want the “NS”SF to be regarded by American artists as having one of the most desirable performance opportunity programs in the entire nation.

 Ø      I want the “NS”SF to someday have a touring program capable of touching lives in communities everywhere.

 Ø      I want the GRADY-RAYAM PRIZE to someday be universally acknowledged as the most prestigious and valuable award of its kind given to high school singers in America.

 Ø      I want to the GRADY –RAYAM PRIZE Competition opportunity to someday be available to any African-American child in the continental United States who would like to enter.

 Ø      I want the GRADY-RAYAM PRIZE Competition to have an international component.

 Ø      I want America’s higher education institutions to someday be begging GRADY-RAYAM PRIZE winners to consider coming to their school for college and beyond.

 Ø      I want the “NS”SF to someday have healthy and secured endowments in place to fund all of its scholarship grants and much of its music and education program needs.

So, there you have it! I am betting on the talent and integrity of our Board, the dedication of my staff, and the generosity of our funding friends to build castles that will house such hopes and dreams!  Stay tuned…..

In earnest,

Rudi Cleare

This blog entry was delayed by one week pending the Annual Workshop/Retreat with  members of our Board of Directors and staff in attendance.  The meeting took place on Saturday 20th June 2009 on the campus of Rollins College, courtesy of the Crummer School of Business and Donald Hale, Director of Alumni Relations and Development for the school.   Our thanks to Don and his staff for offering both hospitality and direction in preparation for this important strategic session.  Central Florida is fortunate to have an institution that so clearly demonstrates its interest in helping nonprofit ventures remain viable and credible. 

Our annual workshop is the equivalent of one of those family meetings that take place whenever something  important  enough to demand everyone’s attention and input (a dangerously weak economy in this case) comes up.  The troops gather, knowing the session might either breed real solutions or heighten frustration levels.  Although necessary, an exercise of this kind is  never without anxious moments and always a risk.  In our case, this year’s meeting spawned a satisfying degree of clarity about the ”mission-driven” nature of our enterprise, a renewed commitment to careful strategic planning, and serious teamwork intended to put our fundraising in high gear. 

We welcomed new Directors to the fold, giving them historical context and current information needed to begin their engagement with us.  We adopted a budget that places most of our resources at the service  of the two main components that are essential for fulfilling our mission:  music and education.  We aligned the Board’s standing committees to work more closely with  staff in achieving the agency’s goals.  In a very important development, board members resolved to create a climate of friendship within their ranks – a “culture of our own”  you might say — that would be conducive to even more successful outcomes from their joint efforts.  Lastly, we made full use of a  tracking tool unique to us that allows our agency to carve big tasks into manageable portions and quickly gauge our ability to meet or exceed goals related to them.  All of this led us to tangible progress and a “can-do” feeling  which caused us to end the workshop on a high note.

I want to thank outgoing Board Chairman Cal Ledbetter for faithfully leading  the Foundation at a difficult moment when the axe of economic distress struck its hardest blows.  And I want to thank incoming Chairman Craig Bethel for courageously taking the helm as we regroup, recover, and continue to grow. There is a  Negro spiritual which says ”On mah journey now, Mt. Zion, on mah journey now.  Well I wouldn’t take nuthin’ for mah journey now!“  I am delighted to be on the journey to greater success with “NS”SF in the coming season.  You should come along too!

In earnest,

Rudi Cleare

I recently sorted through the few pieces of mail that had made their way to my home and found a printed fundraising appeal from a political candidate preparing for an upcoming election.  The sheet pointed out many of the problems facing our society, and stressed how much it REALLY matters to our collective future for the right candidate to win.  This set me to thinking about what matters most to me and others involved with the work of the “Negro Spiritual” Scholarship Foundation.

The answer is quite simple really.  What matters most in all of this is that young people are given opportunities to learn and to grow.  The historical preservation, the musical performances, the  competitions, the work of staff and Board members, the money you give in support: all of it serves one end.  We exist to provide opportunities, and we do so with no guarantee of what will result.  The simple acts of opening a new door for young people, presenting them with a new challenge, introducing them to the public in a new light, assisting them with their transition to a new phase of life — these are the fruits of our labor.  This is what we are called to do. Period. End of story. 

This all came home to me with startling clarity while standing beside a chain link fence last Friday night to watch as one of our 2009 (Florida) GRADY-RAYAM PRIZE finalists was hugged, kissed and back-slapped repeatedly in celebration of his graduation from high school.  It was a fine moment for him, for his mother, for the handful of relatives who had travelled to be with him, and for the horde of classmates and friends swarming around.  Later on, his mother and I talked about the flow of life as she had experienced it in raising him to young adulthood.  She accepted my words of praise for her role in his upbringing, but was convinced that every stage of his growth had been engineered by forces greater than him or her.  Near the end of our conversation she looked at me directly and said with utter conviction:  “We invited you to come to his graduation so we could tell you that we believe only God could have made it possible for my child to gain the benefits that have come to him from being involved with this Foundation and its programs.  He is the kind of child who only needs an opportunity – he can do the rest.   I hope your Board members and staff know this, and I want you to tell them we thank them, and that we thank God for them and for this Foundation.”  Smiling, I hugged her as I left their home.  I saved my tears for the drive home.

The month of June is dedicated to raising funds from all our friends who believe in the work of our Foundation. You should consider your contribution of either $25 or $50 as an opportunity grant invested in our young people and their futures. Please go to the website, download the form, and become a Funding Friend now, while you are thinking of it.  The parents of students you may never meet or know will be grateful to you.  As will I.

In earnest,

Rudi Cleare

This week sees our office staff and a handful of volunteers packing, hauling and unpacking our office effects as we prepare to leave the Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts.  Moving on and into temporary quarters will require us to streamline our operation, so we are taking with us the minimum amount of  “stuff” needed to conduct business on site in the transitional space.   Other essential furnishings, files, supplies and materials will be stored, while whatever we come across that is useless will be discarded. 

By mid-week, our new telephone exchange will be in use as the following: 407/841-NSSF (6773). How cool is that? 

Last Wednesday our Foundation held its Annual Corporate Meeting , during which we looked back over the current fiscal year and looked ahead to the next.    Our ability to make the strides we hope to make in 2009-2010 will rely hevily upon increased board strength and renewed board leadership.  While the Board spared me from eating the dreaded asparagus vegetable by not meeting their May 13th deadline for full enrolment, they continue to add to their numbers. 

Among new Directors already elected for the coming term were Lucas Boyce (Orlando Magic Director of Multicutural Insights and Government Affairs), retired executive Joe Cleveland (representative for Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church), and businesswoman Deede Sharpe.  Newly-elected board officers include Bank of America’s Craig Bethel as Chairman, Merrill Lynch financial advisor Rawn Williams as Vice-Chairman, and JCB Construction President/CEO Brian Butler as Treasurer.  Re-elected as Directors were Lyman Brodie, Cal Ledbetter, S. Allister Fisher, Junie Monroe, Marcia Hope Goodwin (City of Orlando), Harold Mills (ZEROCHAOS), Donald Slaughter (Darden Restaurants), the law firm of Holland & Knight, Sharon Molthen, Curtis Rayam,  and Jean Jackson Moore.  Rudolph Cleare was re-elected as Executive Vice-President while Sherina Johnson will continue to serve the Board as Secretary. 

The “NS”SF staff is excited to begin working with the new officers of our Board to ensure that the agency remains visible, credible and solvent moving forward.  I know you will all be with us every step of the way!

In earnest,

Rudi Cleare

Three days ago I chatted with a younger friend and music colleague about “social responsibility” as a necessary part of adult life.   We mostly talked about skills and habits seen in mature persons who are responsible to the world and responsible for creating a better world as well.  My advice to my friend was based in my recall of Gabriel Moran’s book A Grammar of Responsibility  (a text that holds an almost biblical significance for me) where he asserts: “Responsibility requires responding to the situation we are in.”  In my last entry I promised a further report of how our Foundation would respond to the shutdown of the Orlando Opera Company, and I can now deliver on that promise.  It is also my duty to ask for your help as we respond to the changed situation we find ourselves in.

The most immediate effect of OOC’s bankruptcy is a logistical one that requires us to relocate our operations to different office space, since our current leasing arrangement will only be available on a month-to-month basis after May.  In response – and by the generosity of Board member Harold Mills and his team at ZEROCHAOS — the “NS”SF will move its physical operations to a nearby downtown location that will provide  us with essential space, technology, and furnishings needed to run an office for a period of about six months, during which time we must prepare to occupy a more suitable, practical and long-term place of business.   Our staff of three (Sherina, Darin and I) has created a comprehensive plan that covers everything from securing our  communications capabilities (phone, fax, internet, e-mail,  regular mail, ) to accessing or moving equipment (computers, copier, postage meter, printers) to transferring or storing documents  (archival records, music and resource library, accumulated corporate files).  We will entirely vacate the premises of the Dr. Phillips Center For Performing Arts at 1111 North Orange Avenue before the 30th of May.  We will complete the move over a period of three weeks alongside our regular duties.  Those of you in proximity to us here in Orlando should be forewarned that we will call for some volunteer assistance with the move at points along the way.  Please help if you are called upon and able to do so.

If you live or work in the area, the move to an interim location will likely interfere with the ease and frequency of your visits to our workplace.  There are new considerations regarding traffic, paid parking, building access, security and the like that will make it less convenient than before for you to quickly hail us, drop something off, or ask a question in person.  (We pledge to go back to our “user friendly” ways when we have our own, more permanent digs.)  In response, we are begging you to use e-mail, the postal service, and telephones to assure that we can maintain our contact with you.  All e-mail addresses will remain the same throughout relocation(s): rucleare@negrospiritual.org + sjohnson@negrospiritual.org + dwhyland@negrospiritual.org.    Our new postal mailing address is PO Box 547728 + Orlando FL 32854 and can be used effective immediately. Telephone contacts will change near the end of May upon relocation but they remain the same until futher notice.  Please help make the transition smoother by staying in touch, and checking in beforehand when you need or plan to visit us.

After thirteen years our agency finds itself without the widespread (if not completely accurate) public perception that we are an offspring of the Orlando Opera Company, and without benefit of the many ways in which having an operational partner helped to subsidize us on a daily and sustained basis.  Even though we are a tiny agency, the need to move (coming unexpectedly as it has) adds immediate costs for us on top of our regular expenses. It also dictates radical adjustment to our budget projections for coming years of operation, something which was already being considered in the current planning process.    In response, our staff  must work as a team to raise our local and national profile as a freestanding entity.  Our Board of Directors must redouble its efforts to meet current income needs while projecting budgets that are sustainable over three to five years of economic recovery.  And all of you who believe in the cause must contribute ideas and dollars to help protect our future.  On the ideas front, I am moved by supporters like the married couple in Maitland, Florida who will introduce our agency to a group of friends gathering informally at their home soon and invite them to become supporters as well (shades of the Obama campaign!)  Everyone can do that.  As for your own giving, our annual Funding Friendship drive gets underway this month and I am hoping to be overwhelmed by your response to our need.  Check your mailbox and our website for details.

In earnest,

Rudi