Over the last two years MYC has rapidly grown, quadrupling our numbers. We now enable 140 choristers from 3-20 years old to experience the transformational power of community singing and step-by-step music education. Choristers thrive in our encouraging, growth-oriented community, learning self-confidence, building friendships and establishing a real sense of identity and belonging. To meet ...
Melbourne Youth Chorale Inc
2025: The Gift of Music
GOAL
$28,000
Australia > VIC > Metro
Field of Interest
- Arts and culture
Target Population
- Young people (6-25)
- Asylum seekers, refugees, migrants and people from CALD backgrounds
Melbourne Youth Chorale Inc
At Melbourne Youth Chorale we believe that every child deserves the gift of music. We provide quality music education to anyone aged 3-20 without audition and regardless of background and ability.
Through our 10 different choir groups (including a choir for children with additional needs) choristers develop the self-confidence to find their voices and express themselves, finding a sense of identity and belonging in the team. In small-group tutorials choristers learn the building-blocks of music theory and thrive as they discover the value of progress through practice. MYC’s culturally diverse community provides a place of warmth and acceptance in which choristers and their families build friendships, reflecting the quality of music as a universal language. In addition to music education, MYC provides leadership-training through a junior-conductor and intern training program. We regularly share the gift of music with the wider community through performances. Community events such as workshops or MYC's Retirement Villages program facilitate cross-age connection through music.
Music has a low profile in state primary schools and the cost of private music education is prohibitive for many families in today's financial climate. MYC's programs are provided on a 'donate what you can afford' basis to enable all families to access the academic, developmental, wellbeing and social benefits of group music education.
Your support will enable MYC to continue its current programs as planned through 2025, changing the lives of our program participants as they work towards identified personal growth & development goals while learning the building-blocks of music.
Project Summary
Over the last two years MYC has rapidly grown, quadrupling our numbers. We now enable 140 choristers from 3-20 years old to experience the transformational power of community singing and step-by-step music education. Choristers thrive in our encouraging, growth-oriented community, learning self-confidence, building friendships and establishing a real sense of identity and belonging.
To meet this profound community need, we have opened new choirs, employed more staff, instituted a tutoring program to enable children to learn at their own pace, and initiated a Junior Conductor program in which senior choristers learn to become teachers.
We need your support through a contribution to our 2025 organisational budget. While we rely on our wonderful team of volunteer parents, it costs MYC around $1000 per chorister per year to operate. This covers paying our experienced artistic staff, weekly rehearsal venue hire, performance costs including marketing and venue hire, special activities such as community workshops including paying workshop presenters, purchasing or commissioning new music, relevant copyright and performance licencing.
Project Outcomes
MYC's primary outcome goal is to ensure that each and every chorister grows and develops in some way through the program. This is looks different for different choristers, depending on their areas of interest and focus, and what their families value in the program.
We track chorister progress through chorister goal-setting and review, surveys of parents & choristers, informal discussions and stories and feedback from performance audiences.
Examples of different kinds of outcomes that we track and value include learning to pitch accurately, learning to sing a harmony, making progress through the Bronze Theory Book, developing the confidence to sing a solo, taking leadership initiative, building friendships, working as a team, navigating a changing voice, memorising a song for performance.
We also love to hear about the way MYC's programs are enabling choristers in other areas of their lives – improved social interaction and communication, improved focus, involvement/leads in musical productions, music competition scores, individual initiatives such as leading singing groups in other contexts and arranging small performances in retirement villages.
Another kind of outcome relates to community participation and integration. Community workshops events attract people of all ages, and our Retirement Villages program enables choristers to interact with our senior citizens. Choristers in our choir for kids with additional needs are taught the skills required for participation in mainstream choirs, and families of a wide variety of cultural backgrounds are drawn together into MYC's social community.
Your support will enable us to continue to facilitate these outcomes.
Budget Breakdown
TOTAL BUDGET: $136,000
FUNDING
| Funding source | Amount |
|---|---|
| Start of year balance | $30,000 |
| Member donations | $25,000 |
| Other private donations | $20,000 |
| Membership fees, concert tickets sales etc | $10,000 |
| Internal fundraising activities (pie drives etc) | $10,000 |
| Private Grants | $3,000 |
| Local Government Grant | $10,000 |
| Funding gap | $28,000 |
EXPENSES
| Expense item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Staff wages | $90,000 |
| Rehearsal venue hire | $7,000 |
| Insurance, subscriptions, licencing fees, accountant etc | $10,000 |
| Performance & event costs | $12,000 |
| New repertoire and other printing costs | $5,000 |
| Stationery, uniform stock, Bronze Books and miscellaneous supplies | $6,000 |
| Advertising/marketing | $6,000 |
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