Press
Sierra Style - November 2008


RSVP Choir
Music Making Lives Easier 

By LeeAnn Dickson

Photo by Dante Fontana.
Music has always brought people together. Depending on the tune and tempo, it has the ability to relax or stimulate. It has been used from the beginning of time to encourage and motivate. It can ease a broken heart or make someone laugh or cry. 

Artistic Director Julie Adams wants to use music to inspire people in the Sacramento area to help support charities of all kinds. In 2000, Adams envisioned a musical group that would help feed people emotionally, spiritually, and if at all possible, physically. “I wanted to bring people together for the good of our community,” says Adams. “It is important to showcase what we all have in common…not our differences.”

For nearly a decade, she and the non-profit Reconciliation Singers Voices for Peace (RSVP) have been doing just that. RSVP has successfully brought together music, people in need and those that can help. “We use our singing voices,” Adams says, “to help those who do not have a voice in our society.” Homeless, hungry, illiterate and many more have benefited from RSVP’s passion for helping others.

RSVP is made up of 16 extremely dedicated professional musicians. They come together every Monday night to rehearse from Labor Day to Memorial Day. “We are a diva-free zone,” says Adams, “we all like each other and work together for a common purpose.” Along with the weekly rehearsals, each member has the intense homework of memorizing each song. 

Although not all members are lucky enough to have music as their career, they are all university-trained singers. A mailman, physicist, company president, high tech professionals and others, work very hard to bring the music alive. “There is such goodwill within the group and in what we do,” Adams explains, “it rubs off on to the audience.”

First, RSVP identifies a charity in need, (past recipients include Adopt an Elder, Mustard Seed School, and Rebuilding Together) then Adams creates a musical program that will complement the charity or its cause. 

During the free concert, a representative from the charity makes a presentation on their mission or cause and concert-goers can donate if they wish. The charity receives 100 percent of the proceeds of the concert.

Since RSVP operates on a “shoestring budget,” they rely on many benefactors to bring their message to the community. They do not advertise and depend on word-of-mouth to help expand their ever increasing mailing list. 

RSVP aims to provide an uplifting musical experience now, while building a strong base of ongoing and future philanthropy. “We are real people doing extraordinary things,” says Adams. “We want to continue to help our community by building bridges between people.” The next RSVP concert is scheduled for January 2009, and will benefit WEAVE.
 
The Voice Of Chorus America - Summer 2007

Missions With Might

The power of purpose plays out everyday

by Heidi Waleson

We take it for granted that every chorus—indeed, every nonprofit—develops a unique mission statement to guide its work. For all the effort it can take to craft a statement, the words can quickly be forgotten after the strategic planning process ends. Or not. For a handful of choruses, the mission galvanizes their entire community—singers, board, audience, and staff—and is the organizing principle around which all else revolves.

Serving a Greater Need

...The Reconciliation Singers Voices of Peace (RSVP) in Rocklin, California, an ensemble of 16 semi-professional and professional singers, also donates 100 percent of its concert income to charities and tailors its programs for the group that will benefit. “I love this part,” says director Julie Adams, who founded the group in 2000. She seeks out small, local charities “for which $6,000 or $10,000 could make a difference” and builds programs around them. A concert to benefit the Adult Literacy Council was entitled “Shakespeare Sings,” and was all settings of Shakespeare. “Mourning to Dancing” supported a group that takes women out of violent homes.

The idea, Adams says, is to create a good concert experience for the audience and to give a voice to the charity. A representative of the charity makes a brief presentation at the concert. “People sign up; they become donors,” says Adams. “It feels like we are doing a service that may be planting seeds for other things, making our audience aware of the great things that are going on every day.” The concerts are free. “We say, ‘Tonight’s concert is our gift to you; if you feel compelled to support the charity, you can.’ Some give $1—some write a $250 check. We struggled with the idea of setting a ticket price, and our board has asked, ‘Why not take 10 percent for the chorus?’ But I think it works because we do the 100 percent donation.” No one, including Adams, is paid. Because of its purpose, RSVP attracts contributors who value its vision—donations of rehearsal space, administrative support, and concert venues have come from the community.