With so much talk about the next US President and countless Obamas, Clintons, McCains, and Romneys floating about, you may have forgotten that CASA has recently held its own election. The annual election of the CASA Board of Directors was held in January. I took a few minutes of the new President's time to let him tell you about why he should be.. er..uh.. IS the President.
New Pres, congrats! Are you excited? Scared?
Yes. Excited and scared. This is a tremendous time to be involved with
CASA. We have worked to bring together the a cappella community for well
over a decade now, and we're proud of those efforts. At the same time,
there is so much more we can be doing. I expect to see big changes in CASA
over the next several months and years. It's not going to be easy, but
we're going to have a good time along the way!
The presidency has bounced between board members Jonathan Minkoff and Deke
Sharon several times over the past few years. How do you differ from them?
I've worked a lot with Jonathan and Deke over the past few years, and I
consider them both good friends. We all talk daily. I admire what they've
each done with the organization, and they each serve as an inspiration to me
in different ways.
As the youngest member of the Board of Directors, I'd like to bring a fresh
face to CASA and its mission. I grew up in the Bay Area (Deke's home), and
pretty soon I'll be moving to New York City (Jonathan's home). And in
between those two coasts, I've been fortunate enough to sing with some
incredible groups, attend various a cappella summits and festivals, produce
some recordings, teach some master classes and workshops, and produce a
number of ICCA events. A cappella has brought me together with friends I
might never have had - even some ol' Brits and a singer/songwriter in
Singapore (Hi Tat!). What I've learned in my short a cappella career is
that this really is a community. It's so exciting to meet people who love
what you love, people who do what you do. I'd like to see CASA do more to
reach out and bring all these magnificent people together. Our community is
too small to be splintered - we need to all work together.
What is your highest priority as president?
Gosh, just one? We're already moving on a number of fronts - updating our
outdated programs, rethinking our membership program, getting more from our
website, and improving our communication with the community. All of these
are crucial if we're going to serve our members better.
What makes CASA so special?
Well, we don't often stop to think about how special we are. We're just a
bunch of folks who have fallen in love with this art form so much that we do
all we can to share it with those around us. We work our tails off trying
to serve those who love what we love. And we hope you'll join us for the
ride!
Briefly, what are some issues you want to tackle this year?
--Survey the a cappella community more effectively to learn how we can help
them.
--Increase advertising for our existing programs, so people can take
advantage of our resources: Awards, training, blogs, reviews, arrangements,
a cappella radio, mp3s, discussion forum, info databases, podcasts, etc.
--Build a greater network of volunteers to help us carry out our programs to
benefit the community
--Update old programs, make them more relevant
--Improve ambassador system
--Introduce new benefits for our members
--Increase our outreach to younger people and others who aren't familiar
with contemporary a cappella
Okay, that's a lot for one year, but I want to get crackin' on this list!
Who's your VP?
Signor Deke Sharon.
How will things change for CASA with you at the helm - at a board
level? At a member level?
How things will change at a board level depends largely on what the Board of
Directors wants to do. Although I am the president, the Board still has all
the voting power, and they are the ones who ultimately control the
organization. I'm going to propose more accountability for Board members,
increased reporting, and a standardization of our practices. I would also
like to bring aboard (pardon the pun) more distinguished members of this
great community. All hands on deck.
As far as members go, that's one of the first things we've already begun
working on. A committee has been discussing ways to improve the membership
system, and improve the benefits of being a member. We want being an a
cappella singer to be synonymous with being a CASA member. We know that
we're going to have to provide an environment conducive to that kind of
relationship, and we especially know that we're going to have to give you
the kinds of benefits you want. That's what we're working on before
anything else right now.
Let me also suggest that anyone reading this article is welcome to send in a
suggestion on how we can improve CASA and its members. Please! Our door is
open to you. Just send me an email to dave[at]casa[dot]org, and let me know
what we can do for you.
How does a new president affect the readers and members at large?
How does a team captain affect the fans? By getting the team to work
together and to work hard. And since we have the resources to serve you a
cappella singers and fans, why not do all we can to better your experience
in this community? My job is to keep us on task, to listen to your
suggestions, and then work with my team make them a reality.
Rumors float around about what, if anything, the CASA board does.
What has the board done in the past (with you as a member) and how do
you intend to change things down the road.
I used to wonder that myself. The truth is that we take our job very
seriously. Look around the casa.org site. You'll see the craftsmanship of
our never-say-die workhorse Freddie Feldman, and his small team of helpers,
who try to keep this site going. Although this is a professional website,
it's done on volunteer labor, by folks who love a cappella. Our awards
program is administered by Julia Hoffman and former board member Jon Pilat,
purely because they like what they do. Our incredible summit, co-produced
by the fantastic group Blue Jupiter, is produced by Jonathan Minkoff and
Diana Preisler. The amount of time they put into that event is unthinkable,
and they receive ZERO pay for what they do. Same for Chris Tess, who, when
he's not working as a physician, sends donated a cappella CDs to high school
choir programs, purely to help promote and foster a cappella at the teenage
level. Deke Sharon runs the new CASA Contemporary A cappella League, which
is already off to an unbelievable start, and may be the future of CASA. Joe
Antonioli and Bill Hare run our ambassador program, trying to reach out to
all parts of the world, and unify us into a big family. Joe's recently
stepped in to do double duty as CASA's treasurer, helping us get our books
in order.
All of these people work for no pay and expect no fame. They manage all
this in addition to their full-time jobs, side projects, spouses, and often
children. They just want to help YOU enjoy a cappella more. As Jonathan
always says, we want "more, better a cappella, everywhere."
And we're not alone - we have lots of volunteers, ambassadors, and friends
who are part of the effort. We'd be nowhere without them. But even after
all this work, we're still not satisfied! We want to build this community
even further. We want to give you what you need, make it more useable, and
help bring this great art form to more people around the world.
How old is Deke?
Ask Wikipedia, and ye shall find.
But let me put it this way: I think he still writes more emails to the Board
than anyone. Don't even suggest that he retire; he'll punch you in the
face.
Any last words?
Just please know that we're here to serve you. If you want ANYthing, please
holler. We're pointless without you.
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