How You Can Make a Difference

More people participate in choruses than in any other performing art in America. At 30 million strong, choral singers are a mighty force for good in their communities. Choral singers volunteer more, give more, are more politically active and support culture and arts to a greater degree than the general public. Choral Impact Study, 2003.

As a group, choral singers have the power to make a difference both close to home and nationally. Singer Network invites choral singers everywhere to join their voices on behalf of choral music making.

Volunteer: Bring the Singing to Your Community

Your chorus may already have a tradition of outreach-going to boys and girls clubs, hospitals wards, nursing homes and other settings where people need the uplift that only music offers. But there are many other ways to encourage full participation in choral singing-sponsoring a community sing, putting on a special volunteer concert, or leading a choral workshop for children or seniors, or any group of people that loves to sing. Here's help for spurring your creativity.

• Community Sings: Reaching a Point of Pure Joy Together in Why We Sing describes the philosophy and values that guide Singer Advocate Ysaye Maria Barnwell as she takes the joy of music out into her community.

• Creativity Matters: The Arts and Aging Toolkit. How to set up participatory arts programs to enhance the health of older adults.

Advocate: Bring the Singing to Capitol Hill

Congress appropriates millions of dollars every year for arts grants and arts education. Does your representative know how important singing is to you, and the positive impacts the arts have on your family and your community? Singers are an engaged and powerful army for singing and the arts! It just takes two minutes to let Congress hear your voice.

• Go to Americans for the Arts website and let your voice be heard.
• Learn about grants that are available through the National Endowment for the Arts.
• Learn about state and regional arts agencies that support the arts.

Educate: Bring the Singing to the Schools

Music benefits learning, cognitive development, and well-being. Yet time and funding for music in the schools are shrinking. Get involved in bringing music back to the schools. By introducing children to music performance early on, we are creating the next generation of singers.

• Go to SupportMusic.com for resources and tools to help you advocate for a complete education that includes music instruction for every child.

Tell Your Story: Bring the Power of Singing to Your Local Media

Does your singing group get the attention it deserves? Does your community know about the many benefits of participation in the choral art? These resources can help you tell the story.

• Choral Impact Study. Chorus America's landmark study about the impact of choral participation on choral singers and on their communities.
• The Arts and Civic Engagement: Involved in Arts, Involved in Life. The NEA study found that those who participate in the arts are much more active in community life than those who do not.
• Get the Media Attention Your Chorus Deserves. This article from the Winter 2006/07 issue of The Voice of Chorus America shows you how to tell your chorus's story in a compelling way to your local press.

Build the Repertoire: Support Commissions of New Choral Works

You can honor a special person in your life or a special occasion and give your chorus a gift that will live on. Consider supporting choral composers and the choral art by commissioning a new choral work.

• American Composers Forum.The web page answers basic questions about how individuals can commission a piece of music.
• Commissioning Music: A Basic Guide. Information on commissioning pieces for many different arts forms, from choral pieces to musical theater.
• An Individual's Guide to Commissioning Music. Eight stories of individuals and couples who have a love of music and showed it by commissioning pieces.

Donate: To Organizations that Champion the Choral Arts

• Give to Chorus America through Singer Network