Wesley Music Foundation (ACT)

Annual Report on Activities 2009

The Wesley Music Foundation through the Wesley Music Centre and Friends of Wesley Music had another very busy year in 2009.  There were more than 130  concerts and other public music events and more than 800 bookings managed by the Music Centre Office volunteers.

Two major events were held during the year.  The first was on the weekend of 30 and 31 May celebrating 15 years of the Wesley Music Scholars’ Program from 1994 and 10 years of the Lois Dunn Wood wind Scholarship and 10 years of the operation of the  Wesley Music Foundation from 1999.  Twelve former Scholars came from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra to participate in the celebrations. On Saturday 30 May a public concert was held in the Wesley Music Centre, there was a special service with current and former scholars on Sunday 31 May at 10.30am and a public concert with former scholars was held on the Sunday afternoon.  These events were well supported and were a wonderful opportunity for scholars and the Wesley community to enjoy special music making and fellowship.  For the occasion a 66 page booklet entitled “Celebrating Wesley Music Scholars 1994-2009” was produced. This contained stories with photos of 52 talented and inspiring young musicians in their journeys from a total of 70 scholarship holders from 1994 to 2009.

The second major event was a National Seminar on Word and Music in Worship, ”Celebrating our Faith”, held from 16 to 18 October 2009.  This was sponsored by Charles Sturt University and its Public and Contextual Theology Research Centre (PACT), Wesley Uniting Church, Kippax Uniting Church and the Wesley Music Foundation (ACT). There were three outstanding international speakers including John Bell, Iona Community, Scotland, Michael Hawn, Professor of Church Music, Perkins School of Theology, Dallas and Colin Gibson, a leading NZ author and composer of songs and hymns. Other facilitators included Rev. David and Dale MacGregor from Indooroopilly, Brisbane;  Ann Perrin, Convener of the Interim Music Development Committee of the NSW Synod UCA; Rev. Gordon Ramsay and Jill Robertson from Kippax Uniting Church; and Rev. Tom Stuart from Parkes NSW. Rev. Gregor Henderson was the Seminar Chair and Garth Mansfield the Program Director. There were 210 registrants from all States and the ACT and 45 volunteers assisted for morning and afternoon teas, a lunch and two dinners.

Seminar evaluations from a majority of delegates were very positive indeed with many using superlatives to describe the inspiring leadership of the speakers and other aspects of the seminar.  A meeting of the theological students during the seminar proposed a follow-up event for students under the leadership of Professor Michael Hawn.  This has been booked for July 2011 and will be an accredited course under the aegis of Flinders University, Adelaide but available for students from other universities.

A special initiative during 2009 was the mounting of a number of concerts to complete fund raising for the new Music Centre Yamaha Grand Piano acquired in September 2008. Benefit concerts were generously given by Robert Schmidli and Anthony Smith (piano), Louise Page (soprano) and Phillipa Candy (piano), Hilda Visser-Scott (piano) with an instrumental ensemble, Arnan Weisel (piano), Christina Wilson (mezzo-soprano) and Alan Hicks (piano), and Marcela Fiorillo (piano).

A successful venture during the year was a series of four organ concerts by leading international performers including John Scott (New York), Frantisek Vanicek (Czech Republic), Sarah Kim (Paris) and Dong-ill Shin (Texas).

Regular music activities include practices by the Wesley Choir, the Wesley Scholars and associates, plus a great variety of choral, voice, organ and other instrumental  concerts (soloists, ensembles and choirs), workshops, seminars, U3A courses, recordings, individual lessons and private studio recitals. Regular teachers at the Music Centre were David Pereira (cello), Christina Wilson (voice) and Hilda Visser-Scott (piano).

Wednesday Lunchtime Live concerts have tapped a new audience since 2008. During 2009 the ANU School of Music introduced a new initiative involving the accrediting of Professional Performance Units (PPUs) for students selected to organise three Wednesday concerts and to participate in one of the three. Alan Hicks, Head of the Voice Area at the ANU School of Music and a member of the WMF Board, has been closely involved in this initiative which will be further developed in 2010.

Activities for the year included an outstanding series of cello concerts with David Pereira and associated artists, a series of excellent piano concerts by Marcela Fiorillo, joint ventures with many outstanding pianists and instrumentalists, a continuing successful series of concerts organised by Art Song Canberra, and a fund raising concert for the Janice Battisson Memorial awards for young pianists..

The Foundation provides the bulk of support for the Wesley Music Scholarship Program.  In 2009 there were a total of 5 voice scholars (Bronwyn Douglass, Bec McCallion, Ellen Malone, Tim Knight and Joshua Burke) and scholars for trumpet (Alex Ross), oboe (Philippa Clark, Lois Dunn Scholarship), cello (Jack Hobbs) and organ (Marko Sever, John Perrin Keyboard Scholarship).

The ACT Organ School continued with Philip Swanton travelling each week in term to teach very young talented students.

On-going support for the Foundation is strong as evidenced by the inflow of donations, the diverse program of activities as well as support from congregational members, various music groups and community people.

As at January 2010 there were 180 Friends of Wesley Music, including many new members. Numerous Friends and other volunteers have assisted in the management of music events.

We thank our many volunteers in the Wesley Music Centre and other Foundation operations who have enabled us to staff the office on weekdays from Tuesday to Friday 10am to 3pm and manage a huge program of activities. They include Linda Collings, Simon and Helen Cowling, Alison Craswell, Matt Dillon, Chris Emery, Toni Law, Margaret Mansfield, Jill Roberts, Stan Sismey, Dan Sloss, Ann Sutton and Don Whitbread. Throughout the year Bruce Bowman has again provided valuable help in recordings of various events and giving assistance to others undertaking recordings. During the year the Foundation continued arrangements with ArtSound FM for recordings at Wesley which can be used for community broadcasts or for the production of CDs.

I wish to record my appreciation of the work and guidance of members of the Board of the Foundation. Board members during 2009 were Rev. Gregor Henderson, Elysia Camp, Simon Cowling, Chris Emery, Alan Hicks, Glenda McDowall, Garth Mansfield, Stan Sismey, and Don Whitbread.

I also wish to record appreciation for the support of the Canberra Central Parish community including members of the congregations, ministers, staff and volunteers and not least for the generosity of donors who have contributed greatly to the success of the Wesley Music Centre and other activities of the Foundation.

Garth Mansfield

Secretary, Wesley Music Foundation and Director of the Wesley Music Centre

17 January 2010

The Foundation was established in March 1999. It was included on the Federal Government’s Register of Cultural Organisations in June 1999. Its Public Fund enables the Foundation to receive tax deductible donations. The Wesley Music Centre, completed in September 2002, has been financed from the Public Fund and a loan from the NSW Synod Trust Association. The Foundation has received no grants or financial support from the Parish, the Synod or Federal or ACT Governments.