Another great day at RCSE! The club was excited to see Cody Hetzel (who is on LOA) join us for lunch - thanks for coming, Cody! Garlana Matthews spoke to the club about the upcoming Boo Bash hosted by HUGS on October 27, 2018. If you would like to attend, please contact Cindy Kelley. Once all business items were discussed, Ed Hissam introduced our speaker Terri O'Neill who is the Executive Director of Savannah Philharmonic.
Savannah Philharmonic is celebrating their 10th Anniversary this year! It runs a full orchestra season which is from September - May. Their musicians are contracted and are comprised of world class professionals. They have 8 full orchestra concerts per season as well as 7 spotlight concerts. The spotlight concerts are focused on students and young professionals and last for one hour on a Sunday afternoon. Savannah Philharmonic also hosts Picnic in the Park. Their goal is to educate and provide enrichment in our community. They do this by relying on volunteers who contributed 432 volunteer hours last year.
Savannah Philharmonic also has outreach programs. One such program is called Orchestra Lab where they partner with Chatham County Schools grades 6th-12th. The students attend rehearsals and professionals go into the public schools and work with teachers. Another program is called Integrative Medicine. Once a month, musicians go to the Children's Hospital at Memorial and perform and three times a week they perform at the Cancer Center. They believe music helps in the healing process.
Savannah Philharmonic has a $1.8 million budget this year. 32% of their income comes from concerts. The rest is raised through annual fund donors and corporate sponsors. Terri believes the key to their success is Board involvement as well as the dedication and skill level of the staff. The next concert in on Saturday, November 17. To learn more about Savannah Philharmonic and upcoming events, please visit savannahphilharmonic.org.