AGO National Committees and Task Forces provide summaries of their meetings to be posted here for members of National Council and the Board of Regional Councillors, as well as all other committee directors or members to view what is being discussed in meetings other than their own.
Committee on Membership Development and Chapter Support – Wednesday, August 30th, 2017
(John Wigal, Director)
Discussion centered around the soon-to-be revisions of the chapter management handbook.
The new version will be available soon.
The committee continues to work along with the marketing committee to create the chapter dashboard project.
Submitted by David Lamb, Councilor for Membership
Committee on Career Development and Support – Tuesday, September 12, 2017
(Marlene Hallstrom, Director)
Discussions centered around the revisions of several career services documents that are undergoing revisions in light of the FTC settlement.
Several new career services documents will be available to members soon.
Our best news is that the career services hotline is up and running.
Submitted by David Lamb, Councilor for Membership
Competitions Committee – Friday, August 18th, 2017
(Eileen Hunt, Director)
The NYACOP subcommittee had a brief WebEx meeting on 8.18.17 in order to discuss distribution of the required repertoire for the NYACOP semifinals and finals to be held in 2018. While the repertoire remains as originally posted, the committee decided to place the Demessieux Étude on the semifinals and the Durufle Scherzo on the finals due to the compass of the Richards-Fowkes organ at Village Presbyterian Church. This was the only item of discussion at our brief meeting.
Submitted by Dr. Eileen J. Hunt, Vice President/Councillor for Competitions & New Music
Committee on New Music – Monday, August 28th, 2017
(Louise Mundinger, Director)
The New Music Committee met by WebEx on Monday, 8.28.17. The discussion pertained to the Pogorzelski-Yankee Composition Competition. Applications for the next round are due by 8.31.17. The committee is in the process of finalizing judges for the upcoming competition. We also discussed ways by which to encourage additional performances of the newly commissioned works including possible collaborations with National and Regional Conventions, with NYACOP semifinals and finals, and with P-Y scholarship recipients. The committee plans to convene again within the next two weeks to finalize logistics for the upcoming competition, which will provide the winning composition to be premiered at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2019.
Submitted by Dr. Eileen J. Hunt, Vice President/Councillor for Competitions & New Music
Committee on Career Development and Support – Tuesday, July 12th, 2017
(Marlene Hallstrom, Director)
The CoCDS continues to discuss the reinvented document listing suggestions for items that might be appropriate for inclusion in a employment contract between a musician and a religious institution.
Discussion also included the possible rebooting of the mentorship program that was to start a couple of years ago and the workshop that the committee will present at the National Convention in Kansas City next summer. The CoCDS workshop will center upon the new member values that will be created and revised in light of the FTC settlement. Also the new AGO Career Support Hotline should be up and running very soon.
Submitted by David Lamb, Councilor for Membership
Committee on Career Development and Support — Tuesday, June 6th, 2017
(Marlene Hallstrom, Director)
Discussions during the CoCDS meeting by videoconference on June 6 centered around:
1) Getting the word out to chapter Deans about the FTC Compliance agreement.
2) We will make personal calls to Chapter Deans who are lax in getting their forms returned on time.
3) The need to make sure that the denominational music organizations remove AGO salary information from their websites.
4) the CoCDS Helpline is up and running with the presumptions that all messages will receive a reply within 24 hours if at all possible.
Submitted by David Lamb, Councilor for Membership
Committee on Career Development and Support — Tuesday, April 4th, 2017
(Marlene Hallstrom, Director)
The Committee on Career Development and Support met on Tuesday, April 4th by Webex and continued the discussion about ways that the committee can create new values for members in the area of career development and support.
Some of these new ideas include: revisions of documents such as model contract and hourly requirement sheet into educational documents that will include suggestions for the type of information that might be included in a contract between a musician and a religious organization. There was also discussion about creating a “hot line” where members could “call-in” to ask questions and seek support in the area of employment concerns in the time of crises.
Submitted by Dr. David K. Lamb, Councillor for Membership
Committee on Career Development and Support – Tuesday, March 21st, 2017
(Marlene Hallstrom, Director)
Discussion revolved around the revision of our professional development documents that are available to members on the national website. Now that the FTC settlement is nearing the end, our plan is to revise these documents into new formats. The code of ethics will include some new language and the sample contracts and the hour requirement sheet will be in the form of a list of suggested items that might possible be included in a contact between a religious institution and a musician.
Additional discussion revolved around new possibilities that we might offer to support our members in the areas of professional service and collegial encouragement.
Submitted by Dr. David K. Lamb, Councillor for Membership
Committee on Membership Development and Chapter Support – Wednesday, March 22nd, 2017
(John Wigal, Director)
Discussion centered on the revision of the Chapter Management Handbook to reflect the provisions and requirements from the FTC settlement.
There was also a mention of the new Chapter Dashboard project that has been created by the Marketing Committee. Comdacs will partner with the Marketing Committee in the pilot project for this new initiative to offer support to chapters.
The pilot project to launch the new Chapter Dashboard will take place with chapters in the Great Lakes Region.
Submitted by Dr. David K. Lamb, Councillor for Membership
Competitions Committee – Wednesday, February 8th, 2017
(Dr. Eileen J. Hunt, Director)
The NCOI committee convened on 2.8.17 to discuss one item: the visa requirement for Thomas Dahl, 2016 NCOI winner. Mr. Dahl has been invited to perform at the 2018 KC convention and the NCOI committee unanimously agreed to cover his visa fees from the NCOI budget. Additionally, we requested Harold Calhoun to add a provision to all performance competition rules to remind candidates that it is their responsibility to be in compliance with all US Government visa requirements.
Submitted by Dr. Eileen J. Hunt, Vice President/Councillor for Competitions and New Music