Orchestra Newsletter article part 5 - Orchestra Board efforts

It’s a new year. This means new repertoire, new members of the orchestra, a fresh start. It also means that we have a new executive board, an excited and motivated group of individuals with big dreams for the orchestra. We have revamped the structure of the board this year and are excited about the new opportunities that this year provides.

We have kept a few standard positions: co-presidents, treasurer, and secretary. However, beyond this – with a few exceptions of positions that had already been in place – we have expanded the board by creating several new positions. Our hope is that by delegating smaller tasks to a greater number of people, we will be better equipped to achieve the large goals that have set for ourselves. In addition to the aforementioned four officers, the board consists of four committee chairs: social chair, fundraising chair, outreach chair, and publicity chair. These individuals will oversee and delegate in their respective efforts. Furthermore, we have added a number of other positions with specific goals in mind.

CCO representative – This year, we are trying to bridge the gap between CSO and CCO. The CCO representative will represent the ideas and interests of the CCO in orchestra board meetings and will report back to the CCO.

Webmaster – Our website is our primary method of contact with prospective students, alumni, and the rest of the world. We are working on a new design and a more user friendly interface.

Alumni Liaison – We are aware that many alumni cherish the experience they had in the Cornell orchestra and would like to stay in touch with us. Thus, this liaison will work to establish a current database of orchestra alumni and communicate with directly.

Orchestra Historian – This individual will be maintaining the orchestra’s records. We would like to focus these efforts on both the present (documenting our activities, taking pictures, etc) and the past (researching and digitizing information about the orchestra’s history).

Newsletter Editor – The editor will assign and manage revision of articles, as well as working on the layout of the newsletter and maintaining the mailing list.

The orchestra board is now meeting independently each week. After each week’s meeting, the minutes from the meeting are sent out via email to the orchestra members and posted on the website. In addition, important matters are discussed with Chris Kim. So far, through these weekly meetings, we have planned social events (including orchestra ice skating and an upcoming board game night), brainstormed publicity ideas and website plans, worked out ideas for our Halloween concert, and – most exciting of all – begun planning for our tour to Spain in January of 2009.

I could not be more excited about the dynamic group of people on the board this year. Despite the fact that every board position has yet to be filled, each current board member is happy to temporarily fill in for missing positions. As we work throughout the year to write bylaws for this governing body of the orchestra, we hope to set a precedent of efficiency and innovative ideas that will serve as a strong foundation for years to come.

We always welcome new members of the board and would love for as many members of both CCO and CSO to join us at our weekly meetings. We also would love to hear suggestions that can make this board even better! (Send ideas to co-presidents Melanie Adamsky [maa67@cornell.edu] or Sam Birmaher [sb397@cornell.edu].)

-Melanie Adamsky, Biological Sciences ’09