Florida State University Libraries

Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School

2009 Attributes of Community Chorus' Success and Longevity: A Case Study with the Turtle Creek Chorale of , Craig Allen Gregory

Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS, THEATER, AND DANCE

ATTRIBUTES OF UNITED STATES COMMUNITY CHORUS‘ SUCCESS AND

LONGEVITY: A CASE STUDY WITH THE TURTLE CREEK CHORALE OF

DALLAS, TEXAS

By

CRAIG ALLEN GREGORY

A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Art Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2009

Copyright © 2009 Craig Allen Gregory All Rights Reserved The members of the Committee approve the Dissertation of Craig Allen Gregory defended on February 16, 2009.

Pat Villeneuve Professor Directing Dissertation

André Thomas Outside Committee Member

Anne Hodges Committee Member

Marcia Rosal Committee Member

Approved:

David Gussak, Chair, Art Education Department

Sally McRorie, Dean, College of Visual Arts, Theater, and Dance

The Graduate School has verified and approved the above named committee members.

ii

To sing like this, in the company of other souls, and to make those consonants slip out so easily and in unison, and to make those chords so rich that they bring tears to your eyes… This is transcendence. This is the power that choral singing has that other music can only dream of.

- Garrison Keillor

iii For my parents, David and Joyce, and the many ancestors who instilled in me that a quality education is priceless. Being an educator is much harder than being a teacher.

To all the turtles and supporters in my life…especially the ones singing from above: Thank you for your dedication, your service, and your voice.

To grandness: the bigger the better, the more the merrier. Organized chaos is thrilling! The final product is nothing short of perfection for the audience and participant.

To everyone singing! Singing as a profession, as a hobby, as a service to something greater than all of us….and I would be remiss if I didn‘t mention those that sing to the radio or in the shower. Keep a smile on your face and a song in your .

Last, but certainly not least, to the many friends that have come and gone in my life. Each one of you brings a light to share in this world. Thanks for sharing yours with me.

iv ACKOWLEDGEMENTS

Turtle Creek Chorale œ the unquantifiable dedication to be the finest men‘s chorus in the world and the willingness to share the experience with others - for being the over achievers: whether to prove ourselves to one another, our family, co-workers, or closest friends. And to the Board of Directors for allowing me to research this phenomenon: may those men‘s voices be raised forevermore.

Art Education Department for its openness and tenacity œ Dr. Pat Villeneuve for not stepping into the shoes of Dr. Charles Dorn, yet placing hers beside his; Dr. Penny Orr for committing at the last minute: best of luck in your future endeavors.

College of Music for settling for nothing less than the best - Dr. Anne Hodges: I was drawn to the program because artist should be leading the arts. You must be proficient in your instrument to pursue an upper level degree in Arts Administration at Florida State University. It is the truth. I hope and pray this philosophy sustains for generations. And to Dr. André Thomas: truly a global inspiration in the choral world.

The joining of two departments with one purpose œ the arts œ my doctoral committee and Dr. Melanie Davenport for encouraging me to pursue that which I am so passionate about: community chorus and specifically the gay and lesbian choral movement, our newest generation of community chorus.

Tallahassee Community Chorus for bringing this Texan into their family œ showing me how a board can become a cohesive working unit with smiles and no back stabbing. Everyone plays well in the sandbox. To reiterate what I have told the travelers to China, Washington, DC, and to the Board of Directors: It is true, everything we need to know we learned in kindergarten: raise your hand, stand in line, be kind to your neighbor, use the buddy system, you‘re not in control, and tie your shoe…be flexible, the teacher has the answer.

Chorus America œ providing an avenue for communication, administration, and uniting the choral community through community, symphony, and professional choruses

American Choral Directors Association - ensuring singing remains a part of the school day - how many times do we have to prove the arts make for a well rounded student, increases tests scores, etc… Yet, the arts are the first to go and it makes no sense.

v TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Tables ix List of Figures x Abstract xi

I. INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the Problem 2 Brief Choral History of the United States 3 National Endowment for the Art 4 Chorus America 5 The American Choral Directors Association 6 The New Generation 7 Stonewall 7 Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses 8 AIDS 9 Historic Measures of Artistic Success 10 Historic Measures of Arts Administrative Progress 11 Nature and Purpose of Study 11 Successful Choruses 13 Great Choruses Today 14 Turtle Creek Chorale 16 Phenomenology and Heuristic Inquiry 17 Definition of Terms 19 Summary 20

II. LITERATURE REVIEW 22 Artistic 22 Rehearsal Techniques 22 Vocal Pedagogy 23 Performance Practices 23 Administration 23 Arts Administration 23 Labels, Cycles, and Stages 24 Micro Components 25 Finance 25 Board 26 Current Choral Statistics 28 Audience 31 Current Research 31 Academic Discoveries 31 Success 32 What is Success? 32 Success Criteria Model 32 What is not Success? 33 Fear of Success 34

vi Summary 34

III. METHODOLOGY 36 Case Study 36 Research Questions 37 Research Design 38 Data Collection 39 Primary Sources 40 Secondary Sources 40 Published Resources 41 Electronic Resources 42 Analysis of Data 43 Interviews 43 Documents and Coding 43 Financial Analysis 45 Measurement 45 Limitations 46 Bias 46 Delimitations 47 Assumptions 48 Anomalies 48 Further Research 49 Timetable 49 Preliminary Discovery 49 Permission and IRB 50 Summary 50

IV. FINDINGS 51 Research Question 1: Artistic and Administrative Leadership 51 Research Question 2: Staff Development 55 Research Question 3: Brutal Facts of Current Reality 57 Research Question 4: Mission Statement 62 Research Question 5: Technology 63 Research Question 6: External Factors 66 Summary 69

V. CONCLUSION 71 Summary of Findings 72 Success 74 Longevity 75 Recommendations for Further Research 75 Reflections 76

APPENDICES 78 A. Interview Questions 78 B. Letter of Consent 80

vii C. Human Subjects Response 81 D. 15th Anniversary Founders Dinner transcription (1995) 82 E. 25th Anniversary History (reprint from concert program) 124

Interview Transcriptions with Author Summaries:

F. Anderson, Peter 130 G. Black, A. G. 139 H. Butler, Margaret —Trigger“ 151 I. Curry, Daryl 160 J. Davidson, Scott 171 K. Davis, Wayne 180 L. Emery, Robert 192 M. Flake, Chet and Knight, Bud 201 N. Jones, Don 227 O. McBryde, Kenn 239 P. Mitchell, David 248 Q. Palant, Jonathan 255 R. Pollan, Rudy 264 S. Ray, Randy and Victor 273 T. Rieger, Russ 283 U. Seelig, Tim 290 V. Shore, John 307 W. Spencer, Antoine 315 X. Wilkinson, Kay 323 Y. Williams, Paul J. 337 Z. Young, Ed 346

REFERENCES 357

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 365

viii LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Research Questions and Data Collection Method 39

Table 2. Recordings Quantity Ordered 1990 through 1999 64

ix LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Financial Synopsis of 11 Outstanding Community Choruses 15

Figure 2. Chorus Population, Chorus America (2003) 28

Figure 3. Singing Population, Chorus America (2003) 29

Figure 4. Arts Organizations by Genre 30

Figure 5. Ten year review of revenue, expenses, and assets 53

Figure 6. Factors in the cause of growth (percentage of total responses) 60

x ABSTRACT

Business endeavors either for-profit or not-for-profit take product, people, and management skills to obtain profitability and sustainability. Collin‘s (2001) Good to Great highlights six components for a company to achieve greatness in the market system. Through analysis of financial documents, published timelines, and interviews with key persons within the organization, the same principles applied in recreating that moment of greatness for the Turtle Creek Chorale of Dallas, Texas. This historical compilation and case study of success and longevity of a community chorus provides detailed analysis and accounts of events which molded the chorus to receive national and international acclaim. Much of the current literature available examines micro components such as finance, marketing, legal issues, and board development of the not-for-profit organization (e. g., Byrnes, 2003; Dreeszen, 2003; Miller, 1997). There is currently a lack of information investigating the macro, which is, auditing the overall organization to determine how the micro components work together in concert to benefit organizational long term success. Theoretical applications are essential for foundational development, yet an emotional component is priceless, incalculable, and necessary for building community and creating a family atmosphere within the organization. Political and social issues of the time may hinder or accentuate growth of the organization depending upon the environment, mission, and membership. Artistic success is based upon three components: 1) artistic vision, 2) quality and diversification of repertoire, and 3) performance venue.

xi CHAPTER I ATTRITBUTES OF UNITED STATES COMMUNITY CHORUS‘ SUCCESS AND LONGEVITY: A CASE STUDY WITH THE TURTLE CREEK CHORALE OF DALLAS, TEXAS Fulgham (1986) published a best selling book entitled, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Kindergarten activities provide foundational learning in preparation for educational experiences and life lessons. In my four decades of experience with community choral arts organizations, I have found that Fulgham‘s title could not be truer. The following nursery rhyme finger game appropriately expresses this case study of successful, long lasting community choruses in the United States: Here‘s the church, And here‘s the steeple. Open the door and see the people. - Anonymous Make the following adjustments and repeat. Church = Art Steeple = Administration People = Audience The above exercise is a minute synopsis of this 21st century case study of the community chorus. Many scholars may shun the preface as elementary. To deny this simplistic analogy is to deny this very study of community chorus history, success, and longevity. Inference to other art forms, success and longevity may correspond to my findings. Business endeavors either for-profit or not-for-profit take product, people, and management skills to obtain profitability and sustainability. Even in the 501(c)(3), not- for-profit environment, the over-arching philosophy of the above nursery rhyme must be considered to establish a long-term arts product. For example, the performance venue and patron support may dictate the administrative level of activity. Higher donor and patron volume would suggest larger staffing and hall rental per performance requirements. Lower donor and patron figures require minimal staffing unless growth is anticipated,

1 and then specific areas of staffing increases may occur either in the development, artistic, or general operational areas of concern. Programming is a collaborative balance between supply and demand and patron and staff. Experimentation and revision are needed for performance. To increase attendance and develop a loyal audience base, the product must be appealing to a broad range of patrons. Therefore, the staff must be aware of patron attitude toward the product and make necessary adjustments to enhance the product to please a majority of patrons. Audience feedback assists in product development. All the above is managed by administration to form a cohesive working unit (Cherbo & Wyszomirski, 2000). In other types of businesses, such as sports, frameworks for success exist that can benefit not-for-profit organizations through focusing efforts in achieving their goals. Just as successful sports teams must address various micro components and talent, arts organizations likewise must balance their various institutional components and talent to achieve success at the macro level. Advancing beyond the three-leg analogy of offense, defense, and special teams - artistic, administrative, and audience - this case study will strive to identify those components within community choruses that are key to their success and long-term sustainability. In my view, community choruses in the United States may benefit from comprehensive frameworks that identify factors contributing to success and recognize current trends in progress. Attending to each aspect of the choral organization - the art, the administration, and the audience - is necessary for overall achievement. Yet where and to what extent should an emerging organization direct its energy to achieve optimum results? What makes a chorus successful? What makes some choruses more successful than others? What are the factors beyond the basic business plan that foster the longevity and development of a financially successful and self-sustaining community choral organization? Statement of the Problem After reviewing literature discussing organizational success within the for-profit and not-for-profit enterprises, I have discovered little research specifically intended to identify the combination of micro issues that determine macro success or promote greatness within an arts organization. Although much of the literature examines micro

2 components such as finance, marketing, legal issues, and board development of the not- for-profit organization (e. g., Byrnes, 2003; Dreeszen, 2003; Miller, 1997), there is a lack of information investigating the macro, that is, auditing the overall organization to determine how the micro components work together in concert to benefit organizational long term success. ñ How does artistic and administrative leadership affect success? ñ How does staff development affect success? ñ What unforeseen factors of the current reality are faced during the formation of a chorus? ñ To what extent does loyalty, or lack thereof, affect success? ñ To what extent does technology play a role in the organizations growth? ñ What external factors contribute to the growth, or lack of growth, of the community chorus? According to the Chorus America 2002 study (Chorus America, 2003), there are approximately 20,000 professional and community choruses and 28.5 million singing members in the United States. I have identified 11 of the 20,000 choruses that exhibit greatness within the field of community choruses according to my outlined parameters, professionals in the field, and correspondence with national choral organizations. In an attempt to consider previous research of artistic and administrative components within the community chorus, the findings were minimal. The only theoretical implications would be that of Klein (1956) who wrote that the formation of community choral singing is based on organized recreation for the adult population. Hammer (1984) wrote, choruses provide a —rewarding experience through group dynamics“ (p. 33) and a —communal reward for the participants“ (p. 34). After a half a century from the time when Klein wrote his dissertation, the community chorus continues to be considered as a recreational outlet, yet has developed into a business endeavor vying for a share of the arts market dollars. Brief choral history of the United States Commonly associated with sacred worship, community choruses became in demand for orchestral works during the rise of orchestras in the late-19th century. Determining the oldest established community chorus in the United States is difficult.

3 The Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia (1874) states they are —one“ of the oldest choruses in the country. The Chorus North Shore of Rockport, MA states, —The oldest community chorus north of Boston“ (Chorus North Shore, 1931). Harvard University, established as the first university in the United States, boasts the Harvard Club as the undisputable —oldest college choir in America“ (Harvard Glee Club, 1858). Prior to 1858, Baltimore Singing Circle (1837) and Cincinnati —German Singing Alliance“ (1838 or 1839) established not only men-only choruses, but song festivals for men (Archivia.com, 1901). These activities promoted glee clubs throughout the Midwest and northeastern United States. Community choruses began to form and dissolve over the following 100 years, with some surviving as independent 501(c)(3) arts organizations and some folding into orchestra and opera choruses. National Endowment for the Arts Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) provides government grant support, acknowledgement, and advocacy for the validity of the arts in the United States. Although the NEA has provided predominantly moral support at the national level for the flourishing of music education and the arts, its origins were difficult to establish. In its published chronology, the Arts Endowment notes that between 1879 and 1963 more than a dozen efforts to establish, in some form, a federal arts agency (advisory, coordinating, or funding) were defeated or allowed to die quietly in congressional committees (National Endowment for the Arts, 2001). During the formation of the NEA in 1965, the choral arts flourished with a number of community choruses and arts organizations forming across the United States. Many remain quite successful today. The National Endowment for the Arts (2004) does not dictate arts policy to the United States; instead, it enters into an ongoing series of conversations about our culture, from which emerge thousands of collaborations, large and small, national, regional, and local. It operates effectively by fostering and sustaining a high level of partnerships among a broad range of artistic products. Choral advocacy by the NEA is mandated: To develop a practical system of national information and data collection on the arts to assist choruses in obtaining greater status in the musical establishment and explore ways

4 of assisting and strengthening the administration and management of American choral ensembles. (U.S. Code Title 20, Chapter 26: I, section 954(q)) (Addendum One) Shuster (2001) states, —Arts-funding agencies are beginning to become much more sophisticated in thinking about how their procedures and their decision reflect the public interest, and they will have to become even more so“ (p. 84). Furthermore, Shuster: Argue(s) that we need to take account of three broad sets of changes in order to understand how museum-funding (or any arts funding) controversies are likely to play out: changes in the arts-funding system itself, changes in museums themselves, and changes in the attitudes of citizens. (p. 73) It is my firm belief that advocacy for all art forms is positioned with the National Endowment for the Arts, yet individual art forms must then rely on various national agencies and associations for promotion, further advocacy, and funding, i.e., Chorus America, American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), The Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA), Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America (SPEBSQSA) among others. Chorus America Chorus America was founded in 1977 by the professional choral music community in response to clear and demonstrated needs for more public awareness, financial support, and experienced organizational management. (chorusamerica.org). The mission of Chorus America is to strengthen the choral community and increase appreciation of choral music so that more people are enriched by its beauty and power. This mission statement simply states, we want to be heard. Choruses want the community at large to appreciate choral music as much as the singer enjoys presenting and performing fine choral music. As the findings of this study show, choruses also want to give back to the community beyond their singing talents. Sadly, the National Endowment for the Arts is losing its focus of the various art forms and is advocating for survival of art in general. Independent agencies such as Chorus America are now lifting the banner for choral music: —No other organization currently offers the array of programs that support the public presentation of choral music“ (chorusamerica.org).

5 By hosting an annual convention and premiering selected choruses from across the United States, Chorus America is able to promote choral singing in metropolitan areas every year. Bi-annual Chorus Management Institutes (east and west coast) offer arts administrators the opportunity to discuss issues such as marketing, fundraising, programming, and audience development, with peer panels from around the country. The American Choral Directors Association Founded in 1959, the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) promotes excellence in choral music through performance, composition, publication, research, and teaching. In addition, ACDA advocates are heightening awareness of choral music and education throughout the United States. The following is an excerpt from the April 2007 issue of the Choral Journal entitled, —Who and What is ACDA?“ We are a nonprofit organization whose goal is to promote excellence in choral music. We are a group of choral professional whose joy comes from the performance, composition, publishing, research, and teaching the fine art of choral music.

From the smallest towns to the largest cities across America, we strive to elevate the role of choral music and the way it touches our society.

We inspire and lead over a million singers nation-wide, combining individual voices into an instrument of incomparable beauty. (American Choral Directors Association, 2007, p. 40) The American Choral Directors Association is the educational representative of the national choral agencies. Annual conferences across the United States highlight outstanding choruses in the areas of elementary, middle school, high school, college,

6 community, and professional ensemble achievement. Each conference‘s focus is to enrich the lives of choral singers and conductors through the presentation of the finest choral music the United States has to offer. The new generation In addition to a significant increase in community choruses throughout the United States during the 1960s due to the formation of the NEA, the late 1970s witnessed the birth of a new community chorus generation. Gay and lesbian choruses emerged around the globe in response to a myriad of human rights issues. Two major components of the movement were the riots of Stonewall in 1969 and the outbreak of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) during 1980s and 1990s. The riots of Stonewall propelled the gay and lesbian movement into the public eye, and the AIDS pandemic united a community suffering from an excessive loss of lives. The Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA) international membership currently includes over 100 choruses with more than 10,000 singers. More than 600,000 individuals purchase tickets to one or more member concerts per year and the combined audiences of member choruses through community appearances and television and radio broadcasts exceeds 5,000,000 individuals. (GALA, 2006) The new generation is making an impact. The question now remains, how are sustainability and success measured alongside more established choruses? Stonewall Prior to 1969, New Yorkers had witnessed a series of violent conflicts between lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender persons, and police officers of City. It was not until 1:20 A. M., the morning of June 27, 1969, that the community stood up for their rights of all gays and lesbians in the Stonewall riots (www.thestonewallinn.net; Skillings, 2007). Stonewall is a small bar in Greenwich Village between 9th Avenue and the intersection of Christopher and Gay Streets. Considered the turning point for the modern gay rights movement worldwide, the occupants on June 27, 1969 fought back, barricading the police inside the bar. The Stonewall riots lasted for five days. According to lore, on the fourth night of riots, an estimated crowd of over 2,000 stood up to over

7 400 police officers. Gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender were out of the closet and now fighting for acceptance in the open. Dissanayake (1988) wrote of art rising from the community with meaningful significance: —…do something to enhance the survival of species whose members posses that behavior œ artistic behavior in that sense obviously has value to the lives of human beings“ (p. 9). The riots of Stonewall are the pinnacle moment in which the gay and lesbian culture rose out of society and came into its own. Through violence, turmoil, disease, and oppression, an art emerged: one example being the art of the gay and lesbian chorus. The numerous ends that violent behavior seems to serve - release, communication, play, self-affirmation, self-defense, self-discovery, self- destruction, flight from reality, assertion of —truest sanity“ in a particular situation - are very like the motivations that are often proposed to underlie art. (p. 139) Thus, the beginnings of a new generation of art emerged and a new generation of community choruses sang in protest, sang in love, sang for acceptance, and sang for survival. The Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses In 1975, Anna Crusis Women‘s Choir of Philadelphia, the country‘s oldest feminist chorus, made its debut performance. The first gay men‘s chorus formed in 1977 as the Gotham Male Chorus of New York. On November 27, 1978, residents of the San Francisco community gathered on the steps of city hall for a memorial hymn sing to slain City Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Mascone. Through this tragedy, the San Francisco Gay Men‘s Chorus (SFGMC) formed. In the spring of 1981, SFGMC performed in Dallas, New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Seattle. This tour was the catalyst for the formation of gay and lesbian choruses across the nation (Coyle, 2006). The Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA) formed in 1982 bringing national support and recognition, as well as bi-annual and quadrennial choral festivals throughout the country. The Mission/Vision of GALA is, —Supporting gay, lesbian, bi- sexual, and transgender choruses as we change our world through song“ (galachoruses.org). Leadership conferences for artistic and administrative management

8 are held annually. Conferences discuss, in depth, the same managerial issues as Chorus America, yet are affirming for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender membership of all sizes and budgetary levels. The following quote from the summer, 2005, The Voice of Chorus America article on gay and lesbian choruses simply states that which the essence of community chorus is: togetherness and acceptance through the human voice. Choral singing celebrates the single human voice and the collective voice of humanity, all at the same time. It‘s not a gay or straight lesson; it‘s a choral lesson, and universal in its appeal. (Sparks, 2005, p. 44) AIDS The Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) pandemic devastated friends, families, and a number of gay choruses. Many chorus members found themselves literally singing for their lives as they wasted away to this horrific disease. The plague unified a community through social and cultural outlets (Sullivan, 2005). AIDS walks, bike rides, fundraisers, concerts, and street-corner educational programs occurred among not only the same sexes, but also united men and women in support of each other and each others‘ causes. Because the highest impact of the virus originally spread through the gay community, the effect and affect to the gay chorus was astonishing. I recall a choral conductor sharing his recurring nightmare; due to so many untimely deaths he feared of loosing his chorus to this disease. His recurring nightmare was the sentiment of the time. According to Advert.org (2008), the first cases of AIDS were reported in June of 1981. During the 1980s, there were rapid increases in the number of AIDS cases and deaths of people with AIDS. The peak of cases appeared in 1993 with the expansion of the AIDS definition. By the end of 2005 more than half a million had died of AIDS in the United States of America since the beginning of the epidemic. The following from Dissanayake (1988) sums the emotional impact in which choruses flourished for the art and weekly support of the rehearsal: Art is said to be both a pleasurable and advantageous because it is therapeutic: it integrates for us powerful contradictory and disturbing feelings (Stokes, 1972; Fuller, 1980); it allows for escape from tedium or permits temporary participation in a more desirable alternative world (Nieztsche, 1872); it provides consoling

9 illusions (Rank, 1932); it promotes catharsis of disturbing emotions (Aristotle), and so forth in. (p. 65) As this sub-culture emerges from anonymity, community rises from the silence and develops into a physical geographic location within the community and in many ways, —…something to enhance the survival of species whose members posses that behavior œ artistic behavior in that sense obviously has value to the lives of human beings“ (p. 9). Dissanayake continued, —One could suggest that it is making-believe, acting-out, or formalizing, or distancing that is therapeutic, not art“ (p. 66). For the membership it is possibly therapy and advocacy. For the artistic director, it is possibly power and leadership. Together, there is comfort and progress in numbers in conjunction with creating art. Therefore, the arts administrator must not take lightly the cross-cultural expressions, programming, offerings, and exchanges with those of the community and beyond. The artwork of any culture is meaningful and educational. Historic measure of artistic success The importance of human aesthetic response is acknowledged by Seelig (2005) when he described artistic success as an emotional connection with the audience: —They may not remember what you sang, but they‘ll never forget how they felt“ (p. 152). Seelig consciously programmed each of his group‘s concerts to include a laugh, a tear, and a goose bump because he perceived this to be the definitive aesthetic formula, which, in his view would draw the audience into the overall musical presentation. By numerous measures, the aesthetic qualities of a performance are the basis for judgment of a choir‘s public and peer acceptance and success. It is not denied that questions concerning artistic value œ such as ”—What is beauty?“ —Why do human beings find art (or anything else) beautiful?“ —In what manner is work X better then work Y?“ —Why do some, or all, men respond to beauty or grandeur?“ œ are of the utmost fascination“‘ (Dissanayake, 2002, p. 9). In my experience, the aesthetic component is only one aspect of a community chorus‘s overall endeavor. As Executive Director for The Tallahassee Community Chorus, Inc., former Assistant Conductor and Director of Artistic Operations for the Turtle Creek Chorale, and with three decades of choral music education experience, I have an interest in examining the factors that contribute to the success and longevity of

10 community choral organizations. Examining factors beyond artistic excellence, such as staff and board support, as well as audience development and loyalty, will provide a formula for maintaining the organization and choral art form for future generations. Having been an active member in the American Choral Directors Association, Texas Music Educators Association, and the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses, it is apparent to me that very few community choruses become exemplary, 501(c)(3) organizations without the financial and in-kind assistance of churches, symphonies, or universities. The provocative question becomes how do some choruses succeed on their own? What factors contribute to the longevity and success of an exemplary, self- sufficient, 501(c)(3) community chorus in the United States? Does the answer lie in programming? Is there a formula for individual, corporate, or grant funding which secures loyal and sustainable attendance? Is the answer in board and staff development, loyalty of membership, or in, to quote the realtor mantra, —location, location, location?“ Historic measure of arts administrative progress The total number of people in the United States who participate as members of a community chorus is staggering in comparison to artistic participation in other art forms. An estimated 28.5 million U.S. residents sing in a choir every year (Chorus America, 2003). If choruses received funding proportional to membership, they would benefit greatly from individual, corporate, and government resources. By examining a large, successful community chorus, I identified the relationship between patron loyalty, administrative soundness, and artistic product that contribute to the success and longevity of choral organizations both locally, within their individual communities, and at the national and international level of recognition. Limited information currently exists to the success and longevity in the choral arts. This study focuses upon the community chorus as one type of non-profit organization, and identifies factors that contribute to the success of selected choral groups that might serve as models to others. These findings have practical application for emerging choruses and will hold interest and utility for arts administration professionals dealing with organizations during varying levels of development.

11 Nature and Purpose of Study A community chorus must have an administrative base to sustain the quality product expected by the patron. It is not uncommon for: ñ Orchestras to change conductors ñ Operas to change lead singers ñ Museums to rotate exhibitions ñ Theaters to rotate productions and directors within a specified number of years ñ Community chorus administrators must consider long-term stability to maintain the organization over time. Through arts advocacy, preservation, financial support, and public policy, society is able to sustain, encourage, and protect its artistic endeavors and heritage (Cherbo & Wyszomirski, 2000). Proper planning and securing of a foundation at the administrative and patron levels will assist a smooth transition and longevity of the chorus through multiple conductors and generations of singers. Findings from my study provide insight into 20th-century choral history and offer an administrative formula for success to assist non-profit organizations in the implementation of a quality artistic product and sound business and financial practices within their respective communities. By identifying and examining a specific community chorus that exemplifies success and longevity according to carefully defined criteria, I present previously unacknowledged factors, both and shared, that contribute to their individual successes. Numerous resources discuss the various components for framing a non-profit arts organization, i.e., legal and business issues, finance and funding options, board and staff duties, policies and procedures, human resource requirements, marketing necessities, and audience development. However, rare are sources that discuss a combination of fundamentals that catapult such organizations to a higher level of administrative and artistic success. This case study addresses this combination of fundamentals by examining the aforementioned components as they relate to one of the most successful community choruses: Turtle Creek Chorale, Dallas, Texas.

12 Successful choruses In an effort to define successful community choruses through budgets, earned and unearned fundraising efforts, membership, repertoire, and subscription specifics cover the administrative and artistic issues of the organization, the following parameters provide a clear delineation from other choruses listed within Guidestar.com, opinions of professionals in the field, and email and phone correspondence with national choral organizations: ñ 501 (c)(3) Community Chorus Parameters of this study are within the United States of America. We are becoming a global economy and arts community through the advancement of communication systems. ñ Primarily adult (18+) I have excluded children‘s choruses. However, a number of children‘s choruses would fit nicely with the criteria set forth for this research. Considering longevity of membership within the organization and parental funding, it does not seem like a fair comparison. ñ Stand-alone organization œ no substantial financial affiliation with an orchestra, church, opera, or university My primary reason for the exclusion of the orchestra, church, opera, and university chorus is to limit the funding base. Stand alone organizations are not relying upon one centralized source of income to fund multiple organization. Donors, grants, ticket sales, advertising, merchandise, and endowments place everyone on an even playing field competing for arts dollars. ñ Performs a wide range of repertoire My definition of a wide range of repertoire is an unspecified genre of choral literature, i.e., Barbershop, Masterworks, or Broadway. Just as the membership is maximized, I am looking for choruses that stretch themselves and their audience through a varying repertoire. ñ Budget in excess of $1 million dollars

13 Just as $100,000, $250,000, and $500,000 are mental financial benchmarks, so is one million dollars and beyond for the larger organizations. My research has shown the next tier of choruses to hover above and below the half million dollar range. ñ Singing membership in excess of 120 members In the ever-changing urban demographics, decline of rural populations, and an endless stream of immigration to the United States, community involvement and lack of a membership cap provide a macro sense of community through diversity, race, gender, and sexual orientation. ñ Subscription season with multiple concerts Yearly seasonal subscription programming shows organization, planning, and loyal audience base. Delving into key individuals, chorus voicing, geographical location, and concert attire, as well as, audience, staff, and board size are not important at his point. I assume with a million dollar budget and choruses in excess of 120 singers that marketing and human resources are plentiful (Sigman, 2002). Great choruses today Three generations of choruses surfaced from the criteria listed above. Two choruses maintain strong activity since the 1940s. The Collegiate Chorale was formed by the late Robert Shaw in New York City in 1941. The Cathedral Choral Society, while not affiliated with the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., continue to reap the benefits and name recognition of a magnificent space for rehearsal and performance. ñ Cathedral Choral Society, Washington, D.C. Founded in 1941(a) ñ Collegiate Chorale, Inc., New York, N.Y. Founded in 1941(b) The formation of the National Endowment for the Arts and the outpouring of public expression during the 1960s brought to fruition a number of choruses still performing today. Six choruses fit the above criteria with three based in the Washington, D.C. area. The remaining choruses reside in the Los Angeles, California area and VocalEssence in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ñ The Washington Chorus, Inc. Founded in 1961 ñ Los Angeles Master Chorale Founded in 1963 ñ Choral Arts Society of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1965

14 ñ The Master Chorale of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1967(a) ñ Pacific Chorale, Santa Ana, California Founded in 1967(b) ñ VocalEssence, Minneapolis, Minnesota Founded in 1969 Three of the new generation choruses have achieved greatness within the last 25 years. As part of the gay and lesbian choral movement, the all-male choruses formed during 1979-1980. Geographically diverse, these choruses are located in Dallas, Texas; Seattle, Washington; and Los Angeles, California. ñ Seattle Men‘s Chorus, Seattle, Washington Founded in 1979(a) Dba: Flying House Productions ñ Gay Men‘s Chorus of Los Angeles, California Founded in 1979(b) ñ Turtle Creek Chorale, Dallas, Texas Founded in 1980 Initial data from the most recent Internal Revenue Service 990 Form provides basic descriptive statistics for analyses. The following is revenue, assets, and liabilities for 2005 or 2006 by organization.

Most Recent Financials

$5,000,000 $4,500,000 $4,000,000 $3,500,000 $3,000,000 Revenue $2,500,000 Assets $2,000,000 Libilities $1,500,000 $1,000,000 $500,000 $-

a b 1 a b a b 0 41 41 65 67 67 69 79 79 9 9 96 9 9 9 9 9 9 98 1 1 1 1963 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Figure 1. Financial Synopsis of 11 Outstanding Community Choruses

15 Preliminary review of the above data shows the west coast choruses (1963,1967b, and 1979) having a much larger revenue and expense compared to the central and eastern choruses. The exceptions seem to be the Choral Arts Society of Washington (1965) and VocalEssence (1969). This finding could be due to the cost of living on the west coast contrasted with that of Dallas, Texas, Washington, D.C., or New York City. The 2005/2006 reporting of Net Assets show The Cathedral Choral Society of Washington, D.C. (1941a), Los Angeles Master Chorale (1963), The Choral Arts Society of Washington, D.C.(1965), and VocalEssence (1969) have prepared for future growth with assets exceeding two million dollars. These organizations have maintained liabilities to a minimum. The Seattle Men‘s Chorus may show revenues in excess of $2.5 million, yet present liabilities approaching $1 million. Turtle Creek Chorale Due to my professional vocation as a choral educator and avocation activity with the Turtle Creek Chorale, I chose to use this organization as a case study for success and longevity based on the framework of Collins (2001). During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Turtle Creek Chorale moved from a locally recognized community chorus to an internationally lauded male chorus. From inception in 1980 until its 25th anniversary, the mission statement of the chorale was simple and quoted by membership, administration, and media: To enhance the musical and cultural lives of its audiences through the presentation of male choral music and other musical activities and to promote harmony and spread good will throughout the world. Modified in 2004, the following is the updated mission statement and current biography of the Turtle Creek Chorale: The mission of the Turtle Creek Chorale is to entertain, educate, unite and uplift our audiences and members through music that is distinguished for its innovation, diversity and artistic excellence. Entertain - Presenting quality male choral music and other musical activities that make a distinctive and significant contribution to the musical landscape.

16 Educate - Celebrating a positive image of the gay community and partnering with artists and organizations that share our values and mission. Unite - Attracting a diverse audience and membership and building bridges to a greater awareness of our shared humanity. Uplift - Touching hearts and changing lives in a nurturing and affirming environment through the universal and unifying power of music. (Turtlecreek.org, 2008)

With over 200 singing members, the Chorale presents a full subscription concert series at its , the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, performing annually to live audiences in excess of 50,000. All members of the Chorale are dues paying volunteers who donate over 100,000 hours to rehearsals, service projects and as many as 50 benefit performances annually. The TCC has several sub-groups: Chamber Chorus, ENCORE!, New Texas Symphony Orchestra (NTSO), and Strangerettes.

Performances by the Chorale have included two state, two regional, and three national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association as well as a regional convention of Music Educators National Conference. The Chorale has traveled to Europe, performing sold out concerts in Barcelona, , and as well as two appearances at Carnegie Hall. (turtlecreek.org, 2008) Phenomenology and Heuristic Inquiry Clarification of phenomenon is best described by Van Maanen (1990): a universal which can be described through a study of the structures that govern the instances or particular manifestations of the essence of that phenomenon. In other words, phenomenology is the systematic attempt to uncover and describe the structures, the internal meaning structures, of lived experience. A universal or essence may only be intuited or grasped through a study of the particulars or instances as they are encountered in lived experience. (p. 10) In 1990, I joined the Dallas based Turtle Creek Chorale as a hobby while teaching choral music at the secondary level in the Arlington and Richardson school districts.

17 Artistic Director Dr. Timothy G. Seelig and the Board of Directors soon offered me a full-time position with the organization as Assistant Conductor. It was during my employment with the chorale that my experience and skills broadened through the artistic product and administrative assignments. During my tenure, I worked with several Executive Directors whose lack of arts exposure and experience left them unable to relate to the artistic director, and corporate experience left them inadequately prepared to address the needs of a not-for-profit organization. Despite the negative lived experiences, the phenomenon of success continued, and the organization expanded artistically, financially, and garnered international attention. My personal experience and insight into the years in which the Turtle Creek Chorale moved from an outstanding and admired arts organization within the city of Dallas, Texas, to a nationally recognized, Guinness-record holding, and internationally known male chorus of greatness are invaluable to the exploration of this case study. Thus, the use of heuristic inquiry by having been in the midst of this phenomenon brings personal familiarity and insight to enhance the investigation and analysis. I experienced this —thing“ as it grew (Patton, 2002). Basing this case study on Collins (2001), I show chronologically where the shift occurred from good to great with the Turtle Creek Chorale and use the following components to determine prevailing factors for success and longevity: ñ Level 5 Leadership œ Leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into a larger goal of building a great company. —Level 5 leaders are ambitious first and foremost for the cause, the organization, the work œ not themselves œ and they have the fierce resolve to do whatever it takes to make good on that ambition. A Level 5 leader displays a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.“ (Collins, 2005, p. 34) ñ First Who, Then What œ the key point of this idea is not just about assembling the right team. The main point is to first get the right people doing the right job. —Those who build great organizations make sure they have the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the key seats before they figure out where to drive the bus. They always think first about —who“ and then about what.“ (p. 34)

18 ñ Confront the Brutal Facts œ All good to great companies began the process of finding a path to greatness by confronting the brutal facts of their current reality. —Retain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, and at the same time have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be“ (p. 34). ñ Hedgehog Concept œ A Hedgehog Concept is not a goal to be the best, a strategy to be the best, an intention to be the best, a plan to be the best œ you just are the best at what you do. —Greatness comes about by a series of good decisions consistent with a simple, coherent concept œ a Hedgehog Concept. The Hedgehog Concept is an operating model that reflects understanding of three intersecting circles: what you can be the best in the world at, what you are deeply passionate about, and what best drives your economic or resource engine.“ (p. 34) ñ Building your Company‘s Vision œ A company‘s vision is built from two components: a core ideology and envisioned future. Membership buys into the vision and a culture of discipline is developed. —Disciplined people who engage in disciplined thought and who take disciplined action œ operating with freedom within a framework of responsibilities œ this is the cornerstone of a culture that creates greatness. In a culture of discipline, people do not have jobs; they have responsibilities.“ (p. 34) ñ Technology Accelerations (The Flywheel) œ moving forward also means keeping up with the latest technology and using it to the organizations advantage. —In building greatness, there is no single defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary lucky break, no miracle moment. Rather, the process resembles relentlessly pushing a giant, heavy flywheel in one direction, turn upon turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough, and beyond.“ (p. 34) Definition of Terms The following is a list of terms and governmental references used throughout this study: 1. 501(c)(3) œ Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code provides tax exemption for the organization and ability to accept contributions, i.e., religious,

19 charitable, scientific, public safety, literary, educational, and preventing cruelty to children or animals to name a few. 2. IRS-990 œ Internal Revenue Service tax form for non-profit filing: examines revenues, expenses, special event fund raising, key personnel salaries, large donor contributions, and board member disclosure. 3. Community Chorus œ auditioned or non-auditioned choirs open to all interested individuals with no limitation to the size of the organization and members receive no remuneration for their participation. In many cases, members pay monthly or yearly dues. 4. Financial Support œ Funds derived from individual contributions, corporate sponsorship, endowment, and tax supported grant sources. 5. Nonprofit Organization œ —An organization that does not pass its income to its members or shareholders, but instead uses the income to further a goal that benefits the community or some part of the community.“ (Warda, 2004, p. 1) 6. Hedgehog Concept œ the culmination of three areas: 1) What you are deeply passionate about, 2) what you can be the best in the world at, and 3) What drives your economic engine (Collins, 2001, p. 96). 7. Level 5 leadership œ —Builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.“ Level 4, Effective; Level 3, Competent; Level 2, Contributing team member; Level 1, Highly capable individual (Collins, 2001, p. 20). Summary In my experience, public perception is a large measure of success. Invitations to state, regional, national, and possibly international conferences via or word of mouth provide notoriety and marketability for a chorus of any size and makeup. —The music director is responsible for keeping the artistic side alive“ (Chorus America, 2007). —Because one chorus in three is led by its founder and many of them have had lengthy tenures, the choral field faces significant leadership transitions in the coming years“ (p. 4). The administrative staff, board, and leadership must firmly be in place to maintain the organization if the transfer of artistic power is to occur and attendance levels sustained. Collins (2001) examined such components within the corporate world. Examining the same modifiers within the Turtle Creek Chorale will benefit existing choruses and

20 persons considering formation and implementation of a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit community chorus. Artistically, choruses achieve success through awards, ticket sales, convention performances, and peer purchase and review of recordings. The administrative backbone must be in place for longevity and sustainability to maintain the supportive structure of funding, marketing, leadership, patronage, and fiduciary responsibilities. This case study shows how maintaining a balance of successful managerial practices along with staff and board is as valid as finding the appropriate artistic leadership. Allowing the patron to feel as if there is a smooth transition within the arts organization ensures a loyal audience base year after year. As stated in the Americans for the Arts, (2007) Arts & Economic Prosperity III report: Communities that invest in the arts reap the additional benefits of jobs, economic growth, and a quality of life that positions those communities to compete in our 21st century creative economy. (p. 1)

21 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW With an inordinate amount of literature available for choral rehearsal techniques, vocal pedagogy, and performance practices, the choral art form lacks an informative balance of administrative proponents beyond the lip of the stage. This study is not about the transition of artistic leadership; however, it is concerned with the community chorus and its development into a successful, sustainable business within a growing arts market. The artistic leadership and product are but one component necessary for the long term. Artistic Rehearsal Techniques Various tried, proven, creative, and published rehearsal techniques are available for the new and seasoned choral conductor (Collins, 1999; Jordan, 1996; Robinson, Seelig, 2005). Techniques used for educational purposes in the choral classroom or the community setting can range from memorization of music (Root, 2001, Seelig, 2007), the use of movement during rehearsal (Chagnon, 2001; Hibbard, 1994; Nelson & Blades- Zeller, 2002), to psychological aspects between conductor, chorus members, parents, and administration (Chuang, 2005; Seelig, 2007; McGill & Volk, 2007). A major component of the choral classroom at all levels and ages is the development of sight-singing and ear training skills. Methods and techniques are available through numerous resources (Berkowitz, Fontrier, & Kraft, 1997; Demorest, 2001; Kuehne, 2003; Snyder, 1993, 2007) Whether the choir is selected by audition or open to everyone with interest, personality, and ability must be at the subjective decision of the conductor in order to prepare for the performance or competition. Inclusiveness of sight- and hearing-impaired membership is now mandated by federal law. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 provides accessibility considerations for rehearsal and performance space. The advancement of technology has aided conductors in the inclusion of disabled students during the rehearsal and performance process (Schaberg & Krout, 1991). Music publishers such as Hal Leonard, Shawnee Press, or Alfred Music offer publications of choral octavos in multiple voicing. Many times these choral offerings may be performed in tandem with each other or produced in specific keys for the

22 changing voice. Each printed publication is chosen for its range, educational contribution, and marketability. Vocal Pedagogy Partnered with rehearsal techniques in the choral setting is the concern for vocal health among the chorus members. Often reserved for private vocal instruction, vocal pedagogy has become part of the choral classroom curriculum. Choral conductors must be concerned in not having the chorus mimic the vocal production of the conductor. Better yet, the conductor must teach proper vocal concepts to produce a free and natural sound from each singer. Not to be confused with the blend of the chorus, this is strictly related to the individual musculature of each singer (Corbin, 1982; Decker, 1976; Jones, 1986; Lamartine, 2003; Lupica, 1996; Seelig, 2005; Weiss, 2001; Wilson, 1995). Performance Practices Once the rehearsals and teaching are completed, the culmination of all the efforts is placed on stage for the performance or competition. Conducting techniques (Garretson, 1998; Jordan, 2004; Kaplan, 1985; Lamb, 1974; Thomas, 1971), performance notes (Ballweg, 1987; Shaw & Blocker, 2004), and implementations of systematic evaluations of English diction during a choral performance (Fisher, 1991) are but a few features of the successful performance for the conductor to consider (Telfer, 2005). Administration Arts Administration According to Sikes (2000), the arts administrator consciously or subconsciously carries the cultural torch of three metaphors when managing the arts: warrior, explorer, and architect. First, the warrior is dedicated to advocacy, education, and connecting cultures through the various art forms and organizational makeup, e.g., board, staff, membership, and patrons. This warrior is the peacekeeper in setting policy and goals pertaining to cultural divisions. Second, the explorer must become educated as to transfer knowledge within programs and understand the complexities of the administrative issues. Third, the architect is sensitive to multicultural issues of diversity, accessibility, and equality. Above all, the administrator is the educator so that future board, staff, members, and patrons are able to analyze and plan accordingly.

23 Labels, cycles, and stages Various life cycle formulas offer assessment of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the arts organization. Simon and Donovan (2004) rate age, size, growth rate of the industry, social environment, and leadership as the five factors influencing where the organization lies within the five life stages. The Logic Model (Callahan, 2004) incorporates inputs (resources needed for the program), activities (what happens during the program), outputs (what does the program produce) and outcomes (how will the clients or constituents be different as a result of the program) at a given point in time. Both models offer an overview of the organization with no strategic plan offered to mobilize an organization to this point other than increase productivity within a specific component. Chorus America (2007) considers three stages for a chorus: 1) founding, 2) organizing, and 3) maturing. Maturity, according to Carlson and Donohue (2005), involves crisis and restructuring playing a role in planning, structure, and programming. Chorus America provides no further detail to the aforementioned labels of founding, organizing, and maturity. Each member chorus is to determine their own level of membership based on size, years of operation, and budget without specific guidelines or requirements placed upon each label. Kotler and Scheff (1997) explored the five stages of growth within a non-profit organization. Phase One (growth through creativity and founder driven), Phase Two (growth through direction and becoming more professional), Phase Three (growth through delegation and departmentalize with job titles), Phase Four (growth through coordination and competing departments), and Phase Five (collaboration as the highest form of productivity within the organization). According to the aforementioned cycles, stages, and labels, the Turtle Creek Chorale exudes exemplary productivity and is well established as an outstanding force within the community chorus art form. The Turtle Creek Chorale is secure in structure, service, and have recognized players in their field. How did they get there? Measured on governance, staff leadership, finances, administrative systems, staffing, products, services, and marketing endeavors a priori tells us they are successful. Again, the questions arise, how did they get there, and is it sustainable?

24 Micro components There are a myriad of books containing business models and components of not- for-profit organizations. Dreeszen (2003) is a quick reference for detailed outlines within each organizational component. Systematic approaches to forming a not-for-profit organization are presented by Mancuso (2002) and Warda (2004). Beyond the organization and its formation, various books focus upon micro components of the 501(c)(3), e.g. Carver (2006), is about board dynamics; Allison & Kaye (2005), present strategic planning for the organization; Dropkin and LaTouche (1998), provide step-by- step budget-building for the not-for-profit; and Lavender (1995), offers various marketing techniques. What does not exist in the literary offerings, however, is a formula for combining these micro components into a system of implementation allowing for longevity of the arts organization. The following subsections of finance and board are but two legs of the three- legged stool discussed earlier in this paper. The third, audience, incorporates public relations, fund development, and marketing aspects of the defined art‘s target audience. Finance. Dependant upon the depth of financial inquiry, there exist an array of resources to assist the artistic administrator. McGill and Volk (2007), briefly outline rudimentary procedures such as fund raising, cash management, school district rules, and creative fund development for the public and private choral educator. The aforementioned resource provides the novice educator with the tools and tried and proven funding opportunities. The experienced educator may also benefit by exploring new resources for departmental funding. According to Dropkin and LaTouche (1998), —the tools available for budgeting are difficult for anyone other than highly specialized financial professionals to understand.“ (p. xv) The Budget-Building Book for Nonprofits is a step-by-step guide to assist in the development of a first time budget, review process for newly formed organizations, and a simplistic approach to budgeting for the volunteer board member. Drake and Dingler (2001), offer an in-depth reference for finance and accounting. Concepts used for interpreting, predicting, and planning financial matters are expressed in laymen‘s terms for ease of implementation. The novice, amateur, and professional administrator must handle the day to day financial issues, and yet the global economic

25 impact is felt on a daily basis through patron giving and ticket sales. (Heilbrun and Gray, 2001; Drake and Dingler, 2001; Wolf, 1999). Board. According to Duca (1996), the central function of any board is to keep the organization mission in focus. With a strong drive to maintain the mission, policy setting and fiduciary responsibility become operational as it relates to board activity. Acquiring resources and managing resources build relationships with the community and patrons to ensure longevity and continued support. —Board members need to put the community and organization‘s interests first œ ahead of the interests of the music director and ahead of their own interests.“ (Chorus America, 2007, p. 23) The Board of Directors become the cheerleaders for the arts organization. Wolf (1999), —Her (Mary Clarke, Compton Community Center) philosophy was that enthusiasm is contagious and it is enthusiasm that builds community organizations.“ (p. 45) Collins and Porras (1994) and Collins (2001) found that homegrown leaders focused on building the organization rather than personal reputation. The charismatic and larger than life leader is not necessary for the Collin‘s —level 5“ leadership role. Again, Duca (1996) focus on the mission. Board of Directors are nominated, ratified, selected, appointed, and in some cases bequeathed. Aside from diversity, each member brings a profession, or viewpoint to benefit the organization. Separation of personal and professional issues must be paramount to achieve a cohesive productive unit. Bolman and Deal (2003) provide insight into dealing with the various personalities and angles in which to approach any given situation. The four frames, or —coherent set of ideas that enable you to see and understand more clearly what goes on day to day“ (p. 41) are structural, human resources, political, and symbolism. ñ Structural œ —The structural frame looks beyond individuals to examine the social architecture of work.“ (p. 41) Hierarchy, partnered with vertical and horizontal integration of techniques, provide clarity in the organizational structure. —Understanding the complexity and variety of design possibilities can help create structure that work for, rather than against, both the people and the purposes of organizations. — (p. 67)

26 ñ Human resources œ —The human resource frame centers on how characteristics of organizations and people shape what they do for one another. — (p.111) Organizational reality and productivity are enhanced when human needs become part of the focus. The relationship between the commodities of organization and people are mutual. —Many highly successful organizations (prescribe to the philosophy of) investing in people on the premise that a highly motivated and skilled workforce is a powerful competitive advantage.“ (p.132) ñ Political œ Authoritative persons hold powers which vie for clout with contenders baring varying degrees of values, beliefs, and interests. —There is no guarantee that those who gain power use it wisely or justly.“ (p. 201) ñ Symbolism œ The symbolic frame focuses on the individual‘s creation of meaning, belief, and faith through, —a specific person, group, place, or event.“ (p. 239) In contemporary organizations, stories, fairy tales, and lore develop into symbolic frames serving as —powerful modes of communication.“ (p.269) Approaching each decision, both positive and negative, with the knowledge of the above frames, offers the administrator options in decision making. Duca (1996) —Inactive members defeat the collective purpose of a board.“ (p.35) I would like to offer the converse as truth. The overactive member defeats the collective purpose of a board. —The board-executive relationship should be a dynamic one, in which roles are adapted to the changing needs of the organization. The primary concern should be the effective functioning of the organization rather than who is in control.“ (p. 91) Wolf (1999) developed six responsibilities and duties of the trustees: policy making, planning, fiscal responsibility, fund raising, hiring and working with the check executive, and communication link. The aforementioned may need modification and flexibility to sustain an organization during leadership transitions, and modernization of products and services. At times, restructuring is healthy to insure future growth. (Bolman and Deal, 2003) Breakdowns in leadership, governance, or policy are often blamed on a given individual. Carver (2006) contends, —The failures of governance are not a problem of people but of process.“ (p. xv) —Governance is ownership one step down, not management one step up.“ (p. 26) In these instances, opportunity for leadership is great

27 and job design for leadership is poor. The central function of any board is to keep the organization mission in focus. (Duca, 1996) Current choral statistics National organizations such as the American Choral Directors Association (1959) and Chorus America (1977) provide a unified voice and support system for the formation of professional choruses, community choruses, and educational choral ensembles. According to the Chorus America 2002 study, there are approximately 20,000 professional and community choruses and 28.5 million singing members in the United States (Figure 2 and 3):

Chorus America 2002

Prof. and School Comm. Choruses Choruses 38,000 12,000 15% 5%

Prof. / Comm. Choruses

Church School Choirs Choruses 200,000 Church Choirs 80%

Figure 2. Chorus Population, Chorus America (2003)

28

Figure 2. Choruses, Chorus America (2003)

28.5 Million Sang in a Choir within

a 12 month period

Prof. School, Comm., 1.32 4.33 5% 15%

Prof. / Comm. Church, School 22.8 Church 80%

Figure 3. Singing Population, Chorus America (2003)

The following chart (Figure 4) shows the current number of active membership from various national offices of alternative arts genres:

29 Professional and Community Arts in America

14,000

12,000

10,000

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0

s s ras er est useum M Theat Opera Co.'s Orch Choral Org.'s

Figure 4. Arts Organizations by Genre

Orchestras 1,000 youth and adult orchestras League of American Orchestras (2008) 2005-2006 Orchestra Statistical

Operas 108 U.S. Professional Company Members according to OPERA America in 2005

Museums 3,000 institutions according to the American Association of Museums and includes government museums in 2004

Theaters American Association of Community Theater represents the interests of more than 7,000 theatres across the United States and its territories in 2004.

Dance Ballet, Ballroom, Modern, Square-Dance, ethnic (more for profit) in 2004

30 Audience Current Research Reported audience numbers typically refer to specific concert attendance, media statistics of airtime, individual ticket sales, and season subscribers. Tracking multiple years of loyalty through ticket sales and fund raising dollars is maintained close to the organization and does not appear in local, regional, or national reports. Surveys such as Chorus America (2007) and Americans for the Arts (2007) provide yearly numbers for review and comparison among similar size arts organizations. Audience development is ongoing and not prevalent in research findings. Marketing, however, is the predominant thought process for developing an audience. Identifying market segments, understanding the audience, and communicative strategies are developed from marketing concepts (Carr, 2007; Kotler & Scheff, 1997; Lavender, 1995; Wolf, 1999). Academic discoveries To date, only one master‘s thesis, (Miller, 1997) addressed fund development as a specific administrative component within the community chorus genre. Miller‘s thesis directly studied The Gay Men‘s Chorus of Washington, D.C. 14-year fund development campaign, a micro component of the overall administration. This master‘s thesis is one of the few scholarly writings with emphasis on breaking down the administrative component of an arts organization. Study after study examines performance, rehearsal techniques, and artistic expression. If there are three sides of the operation: artistic, administrative, and audience, then we must begin to advance our studies beyond the stage and practice hall and into the heart of the activities surrounding longevity, security, and success. Klein (1956) espoused community choruses as a recreational outlet for the average community member interested in singing. He also espoused the administrative structure to be encouraged through the notoriety of leadership and committee structure from within the organizational membership. Likewise, a master‘s thesis by Wilburt (1950) and Branstrom (1965) did not anticipate the complex administrative issues of the community chorus in the 21st century arts market.

31 Success What is success? A fundamental question for this study is how to define success for a chorus. Scholars have suggested varying definitions, with little agreement. —Success is difficult to define because it means different things to different people. It even means different things to the same people at different times“ (MacInnis, 2005, www.workopolis.com). Among the myriad definitions of success are: 1. The achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted (an event that accomplishes its intended purpose) 2. An attainment that is successful a. The gaining of fame or prosperity b. The extent of such gain (www.freedictionary.com, 2006) For the purposes of this study, I will define success for choral organizations in line with definition number two above, —The gaining of fame or prosperity (and) the extent of such gain.“ For a community chorus, this may manifest itself through the number of performances, tickets sold per event, donor and subscriber support, and from internal and external perception. What defines success for a community chorus? What defines success for any arts organization? According to Chorus America (2002), —the most important component of the successful chorus is the most elusive: artistic excellence“ (p. 13). The common wisdom in sports is that every team must have an offense, defense, and special teams, all of which contribute to success, a.k.a., a winning season. For an arts organization to have a —winning season“ they also must stand on a three-legged stool, balancing audience development, administrative activities, and artistic quality in order to be considered successful and be recognized over time within the broader arts community. Success criteria models Deloitte & Touche, (2003), published a —Success Criteria / Model Framework for the UK Sport National Governing Bodies of Sport.“ consisting of 12 key components for successful organizations. Their 12 —Success Criteria“ are as follows:

32 UK Sports Framework US Chorus Components 1. Effective Corporate Governance Administration 2. Sports and Business Administration Effectiveness Administration 3. Financial Management Administration 4. Exploitation of Commercial Opportunities Administrative and Artistic 5. Performance Management Artistic 6. Talent ID / Development & Elite Performance Artistic 7. Coach Education & Development System Artistic 8. Services to Members Administrative and Audience 9. Volunteer Management Administrative and Audience 10. Event Management Administrative, Artistic, and Audience 11. Partnerships with Local Authorities, Education, and Commercial Sector Administrative, Artistic, and Audience 12. Structure of Sport Administrative, Artistic, and Audience In reviewing the above list, each of the components corresponds to terms applicable to many community choral organizations within the United States. Guidelines may be followed in talent and administrative areas to rank the organization from a Category Five organization to a Category One. Likewise, Simon and Donovan‘s (2001), —5 Life Stages“ are created from a matrix associated with a questionnaire concerning finance, long range planning, administration, governance, and products and services. Sustainability is the goal with recognition of miss-steps and opportunities for improvement as the organization maintains parameters considered to be successful within their art form. It was not until I read Collins (2001) that longevity of success played an important role in moving from a good company to a great company. What is not success? If success is excelling to the top of one‘s field, becoming great and maximizing potential, then the antithesis is simply settling for a comfortable status quo. Lack of motivation and desire to achieve higher levels of goals and strategic planning will certainly cause an organization not to maximize its potential either artistically or administratively.

33 Reviewing Collins‘ (2001) components of good to great, it becomes apparent that many choruses lack one or more key components in an effort to excel within their artist genre. Proper leadership, staffing, vision, commitment, technology, and a clear reality base must be aligned in order to achieve greatness. Fear of success —Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great“ (Collins, 2001, p. 1). I would be remiss if I did not approach the fear of success, or that which is not considered success. In a past professional life, I heard a conductor say, —Some choruses just can‘t see past their own backyard.“ In many cases, the organization is lacking in one of four areas: 1. a clearly defined sense of mission (feasible, motivating, and distinctive), 2. a strong leader and culture that motivate the organization to fulfill its mission, 3. an involved and committed volunteer board that provides a bridge to the larger community, 4. and an ongoing capacity to attract sufficient financial and human resources (Kotler & Scheff, 1997, p. 52) The fear of personal and organizational success is real. The Journal of Personality Assessment (Pappo, 1983) uses low self-esteem, a preoccupation with the evaluative aspects of situations, a competitive orientation, repudiation of competence, and self- sabotage as offsetting the approach or attainment of success. Summary Choral literature for administrative reference and —how to…“ books of success do not exist for the choral art form. Micro components such as budget, board, and marketing are readily available yet must be formulated for the specific organization and demographic area in question. Chorus America is the national organization for choral advocacy and presents annual data compilations based on budget, attendance, giving, and activity. This annual report is a benchmark for all organizations to weigh themselves against the ordinal data collected nationally. Artistic literature from repertoire to vocal and conducting technique spans centuries. With 28.5 million of the U.S. population singing in a chorus, the potential for grant funding, donor support, and artistic impact is endless (Chorus America, 2003). As

34 Klein (1956) professed, community choral organizations are for recreational activity. However, choral organizations are now vying for grant funding, individual contributions, and corporate sponsorship along with their symphony, orchestra, dance, and theater counterparts. How does an organization with little overhead sustain its marketability against the larger grant recipients and their much higher overheads? Why do so few make it to the level of greatness in comparison to orchestras, operas, theaters, and dance companies? In an effort to identify that which sustains success and longevity, the second definition of —success“ begs the question to what extent of such a gain is placed in comparison to what factors (www.freedictionary.com, 2006). Examining the larger picture of comparison within the United States, I have only identified 11 choruses as setting themselves apart from others via budget, community involvement, and broad repertoire offerings. Looking beyond the labels of one to five (Deloitte & Touche, 2003; Simon & Donovan‘s, 2001), and attaining specific benchmarks of success, there must be more to the equation than follow the leader. As I studied the Turtle Creek Chorale for its movement from good to great (Collins, 2001) the benefits for other organizations are limitless. It must be more than benchmarks and step-by-step movements associated with gathered norms. It must be more than the artistic product. It must be more than audience support. What internal and external factors propel the organization far above the others within the community chorus genre?

35 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY Upon completion of the 2002 survey of United States choruses, Chorus America identified 28.5 million singers involved in one or more of the approximately 20,000 professional and community choruses across the United States (Chorus America, 2003). Yet, only 11 community choruses have achieved a budgetary level in excess of one million dollars, perform a wide range of repertoire, and maintain a singing membership at, or above, 120 people. The previous literature review revealed three broad areas for further study as it relates to the choral art form. First, there exists an inordinate amount of literature associated with the artistic product from rehearsal strategies and vocal pedagogy to performance techniques, yet very little associated with the administrative needs of maintaining a choral organization. Second, in an effort to show growth of an organization, labels and levels are attached to the current status of operations. Third, success is an idea attained through fame. My question continues to be how and what creates a successful community chorus beyond the step-by-step progressions and current statistical labeling. Case Study Research based on the case study method provides for a qualitative collection of personal and social components within the complexities of a situation and open for interpretation or meaning by the investigator and reader (Stake, 1988; Stokrocki, 1997). —Interpretation is concerned with uncovering the multilayered meanings of a phenomenon and understanding them more deeply“ (Stokrocki, p. 36). Collecting the lived experiences of key components allows the researcher to validate historical data and open to interpretation as to the how and why a phenomenon or given circumstance occurred. Hays (2004) stated that case studies are —best understood by reading them“ (p. 219). Basing the researcher‘s findings against an already proven reality, again, allows for validation, interpretation, or the opportunity for modification. Explaining a meaning of an event by putting it in its context, bringing it to life, what happened in the past and present, and possible reasons for current behaviors comes from the diverse, yet poignant collection of data (Eisner, 1991).

36 Simply stated, the use of a case study for examining an issue is applying the grounded components of A to B and allowing the researcher and reader to interpret, or modify, the findings to benefit their investigative situation (i.e., possible modifications in short and long term planning, budgetary obligations, membership loyalty, and more drastically, a shift in mission and vision statements). This case study of community chorus success and longevity explored the shift from good to great of the Turtle Creek Chorale. Archival material and interview data corresponds with the following Collins‘ (2001) six framed components of good to great companies: ñ Level 5 Leadership œ leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into a larger goal of building a great company. ñ First Who, Then What œ the key point of this idea is not just about assembling the right team. The right people must be doing the right job. ñ Confront the Brutal Facts œ all good to great companies began the process of finding a path to greatness by confronting the brutal facts of their current reality. ñ Hedgehog Concept œ a Hedgehog Concept is not a goal to be the best, a strategy to be the best, an intention to be the best, or a plan to be the best œ you just are the best at what you do. ñ Building your Company‘s Vision œ a company‘s vision is built from two components: a core ideology and envisioned future. Membership buys into the vision and a culture of discipline is developed. ñ Technology Accelerations œ moving forward also means keeping up with the latest technology and using it to the organizations advantage. Research question My main research question is, what factor(s) contribute to the success and longevity of the Turtle Creek Chorale as an exemplary, self-sufficient, 501(c)(3) community chorus in the United States? What event(s) based on Collins (2001) framework poised the organization to become great? My sub-questions are as follows: ñ Level 5 Leadership - How did artistic and administrative leadership affect progress? ñ First Who….Then What - How did staff development affect progress? ñ Confront the Brutal Facts - What brutal facts of the current reality were faced during the growth period?

37 ñ Hedgehog Concept and Building your Company‘s Vision - To what extent did the mission statement, —To be the finest men‘s chorus in the world“ and membership loyalty affect progress? ñ Technology Accelerations - To what extent did technology affect the organizations growth? ñ Building your Company‘s Vision - What external factors contributed to the growth of the community chorus? Attending to each aspect of the choral organization, the art, the administration, and the audience, is necessary for long term sustainability. The answers to the above questions provide insight and attainable benchmarks for an emerging organization to direct its energy in achieving optimum administrative and artistic results? Research Design History is often divided into the four main focus areas: intellectual, political, social, and cultural. (Rousmaniere, 2004) Through primary and secondary sources of archives and open records, all four of the aforementioned historical references are probable for comparison and possible anomalies pertaining to movement from good to great by the Turtle Creek Chorale. —History is more than stringing together of facts; it is the shaping of an argument based on the research and insights of other historians“ (p. 49). As I delved into archival materials for this study, analysis and interpretation of archival information produced gaps and anomalies which in part contributed to the success and longevity model for community choruses. Chronological charts and graphs show contrast and comparison of events at various stages of the organization‘s existence in which success was achieved or anticipated. Total compilation of facts and interpretation of data (Stankiewicz, 1997) assist in formulating the stories of the subject chorus and: ñ Prevalent factors that contribute to the success and longevity of the community chorus ñ Development of a framework that can serve as a guide for new, emerging, and self- sufficient choruses ñ Assist in issues for long-term and strategic planning

38 Data Collection Through personal and corporate archives, historical records of events, and media accounts, an in depth chronological exploration into the operational and artistic workings of the Turtle Creek Chorale should emerge. Interview narratives based on the pre- designed interview questions (see Appendix A œ Interview Questions) with current and former board chairs, membership presidents, staff, and longtime patrons provided data for analysis and interpretation. Interview and archival materials provide answers to the following over-arching questions encompassing Collins (2001) concept of good to great.

Table 1. Research Questions and Data Collection Method

Research Question Possible Methods and Sources of Data How did artistic and administrative Interviews with current and former board leadership affect progress? chairs, presidents, staff, and longtime patrons

How did staff development affect Interviews with current and former board progress? First Who….Then What? chairs, presidents, staff, and longtime patrons

Archival data (employee history)

What brutal facts of the current reality Interviews with current and former board were faced during the growth period? chairs, presidents, staff, and longtime patrons

Archival data (media archives)

To what extent did the mission statement, Interviews with current and former board —To be the finest men‘s chorus in the chairs, presidents, staff, and longtime world“ and membership loyalty patrons affect progress?

To what extent did technology affect Interviews with current and former board the organizations growth? chairs, presidents, staff, and longtime patrons

39 Table 1 - Continued

Research Question Possible Methods and Sources of Data What external factors contributed to the Interviews with current and former board growth of the community chorus? chairs, presidents, staff, and longtime patrons

Archival data (ticket and merchandise sales data)

Primary Sources I considered three sources of data collection as primary for this Turtle Creek Chorale case study. First, interviews of key personnel, inside and outside the organization, affected and effected by the chorus‘ movement from good to great provided transcript data for coding and analysis coinciding with Collin‘s framework. First-hand accounts of historical events are invaluable to the chronological mapping of events. Second, 1995 was the 15th anniversary of the Turtle Creek Chorale. A Founder‘s Day dinner was held at the Bronx Diner on Cedar Springs Road. with attendance to include all living founders and founding members, presidents, and board members. I was charged with recording the event. As part of this case study, I transcribed the archival cassette tapes in an effort to gain insight into the beginnings of ”good‘ and assist in the discovery where ”great‘ occurred. Third, as discussed earlier, heuristic inquiry of the phenomenon garners invaluable material and data to analyze the Turtle Creek Chorale. Through my vocation and avocation experience, numerous best practices and non-best practices surfaced during my tenure with the organization. Each artistic and administrative lesson learned, or experienced, enlightened this case study of success and longevity among community choruses; specifically, the Turtle Creek Chorale. Secondary Sources Involved in the choral arts for more than four decades from artistic to administrative duties, I have developed a number of friendships and colleagues in the field. I value their opinion and trust they were forthright and honest when approached to

40 discuss perceptions as to the success and longevity of the Turtle Creek Chorale. These discussions were not recorded and therefore only reinforced discovery.

Published Resources Published materials range from historical archives to annual financials, rehearsal notes to concert reviews, and multiple mediums of technology. National and local media clipping compilations are archived for review and offer insight into the growth of the chorus. A wealth of information and timelines of achievement are found in the thirty plus recording booklets self-produced by the Turtle Creek Chorale and professionally produced by Reference Recordings. The chorus has been featured in Public Broadcasting Service documentaries for various social and cultural issues and the chorus‘ stories surface within these productions. June 1993 was the premiere of the EMMY award- winning documentary, After : AN AIDS STORY produced by Ginny Martin and Dallas, Texas PBS affiliate KERA (KERA, 1993). The Turtle Creek Chorale and Putnam (2003) published the book Breathe! as a 25 year retrospect of the membership, activities, and current artistic director through poetry, stories, and pictures. The book includes a compilation disc with musical selections corresponding with the poetry. PBS Award-winning director and producer, Ginny Martin, teamed with the chorale once again for a 25th Anniversary documentary entitled The Power of Harmony (KERA, 2003). Ten years subsequent to After Goodbye: AN AIDS STORY, The Power of Harmony examines the lives of gay men in roles of child adoption, family relations, and the healing power of music within the lives of chorus members. As a lifetime member and former employee, verbal permission was granted for full access to all archival records. Formal permission from the Turtle Creek Chorale Board of Directors was granted by due process during the March 2008 meeting. Administrative resources for choral leadership are limited to Chorus America bi- annual presentation of weekend management institutes and networking among choruses. The Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses offer an annual leadership weekend and various opportunities of networking for the artistic and administrative staff. Publications such as The Voice of Chorus America, Choral Journal, GALAgram, are heavily concentrated in the performance and repertoire aspects of the educational institution,

41 professional and community choruses. Rarely do these publications offer administrative advice pertaining to staff and board. The Voice of Chorus America (2007) currently maintains a departmental heading in its quarterly publication entitled Board Room. Volume 30, Number 4, Summer 2007 discusses the usage of the annual choral survey as a tool for informing members, staff, board, and community how they place in relation to other choruses with a similar size budget, ticket cost, board demands, etc… Again, the resources are limited to micro components of a much larger composition and statistics are associated with the most current year of the survey. Electronic resources The Turtle Creek Chorale has an extensive public website, as well as a —members- only“ section. The all-volunteer committee updates the website frequently with events, merchandise, letters from staff, and member profiles. As a lifetime member of the organization I am able to access all informative sites for archival data and analyses. E- blasts are frequently distributed to patrons and members for upcoming events and important TCC announcements. Chorus America currently utilizes eVoice as the electronic member newsletter in conjunction with The Voice of Chorus America publication. The only electronic specific choral related publication is the International Journal of Research in Choral Singing. Volume 2(1) recaps rehearsal, performance, and participation of community chorus members in the United States based on previous Chorus America findings (Bell, 2004). To develop a perspective of choral arts and its association with the larger arts world, there are three electronic sources for consideration. The following sources are all free subscriber based and arrive daily or weekly to your preferred email address. First, The NonProfit Times Weekly is heavily funding based with an occasional administrative component beyond finance. The most significant aspect of this electronic offering is the simplicity and step by step methods to achieve projected goals and objectives. Second, Arts Journal œ Free Daily Newsletter categorizes the daily arts news into the following categories: ideas, dance, issues, media, museums, people, publishing, theatre, and visual. This is an excellent source to obtain current news and events of the arts world at large. Third, American‘s for the Arts‘ Listserve solely relates to arts policy in the United States

42 and around the world. Listserve is an excellent resource for news and regulations in a larger arts market. Analysis of Data Interviews Interviews of key persons involved in the organization prior to and after the transition from good to great provided valuable information for a chronological coding of events. The following list provided numerous opportunities for interviewees. Coding of each interview is discussed further in this section. ñ Board of Directors Chair ñ Chorus officers (2/3 of the Board of Directors) ñ Chorus membership ñ Current and former staff ñ Longtime subscribers and donors (See Appendix A for Interview Questions and Appendix B for Letter of Consent) I anticipated follow-up interviews with key personnel to confirm or explore my findings in greater depth. Validity and accuracy were maintained by member-checking, the use of thick description, and officer/staff confirmation of factual or sensitive information. In accordance with 501(c)(3) rules and regulations, financials and archive references are public record and available through Guidestar.com to assist in validating information collected. Documents and coding The following documents and published materials were examined for chronological information. ñ Articles published in local and national periodicals. Bound archives are available for perusal. ñ Computer files available from the Data Administrator: annual membership, Board of Directors, staff, and subscriber rosters. ñ Books, published choral series, and recording booklets written about the Turtle Creek Chorale and/or its Artistic Director published either by the Turtle Creek Chorale or by outside observers.

43 ñ Choral reference materials, such as the GALAgram, Voice of Chorus America, and Choral Journal. ñ Annual financial reports (IRS 990), analyst reports, and any other materials available during the transition era. The above print items and interview transcripts were coded in six categories. Coding category 1A, B, and C through 6 received an additional coding of positive (+), negative (-), or neutral (o) to reflect the interviewees tone and assessment expressed through the transcript analysis. Coding Category 1A œ Artistic leadership components to include conductor, assistant, and ancillary staff Coding Category 1B œ Membership leadership components to include chorus officers during the transitional period Coding Category 1C œ Board of Directors leadership components to include board officers and members Example: Personalities are as diverse as opinions. The aforementioned personalities may be reflected upon as doing well for the organization or using their power to promote themselves. Positive, negative, and neutral coding will assist in determining the overall outcome and feel during the transitional period. Coding Category 2 œ Administrative staff to include present and former personnel Example: Staff rotation has been frequent over the 28 year history of the Turtle Creek Chorale. Undocumented discussions of staff turn-over seem to be related to the inability to work with the Artistic Director. Positive and negative coding will provide documentation to accept or deny the preconceived ideals of former staff. Coding Category 3 œ Outside environs, i.e., AIDS, the —G“ word, and community relations in and out of the arts district Example: Were these environs seen as a positive, negative, or neutral in the movement from good to great? Though it sounds insensitive, did the AIDS pandemic act as a catalyst in the success of the organization? Coding Category 4 œ Symbolic reference: the —thing“ that is the Turtle Creek Chorale, the —it“ factor or Hedgehog concept as referred to by Collins (2001).

44 Example: First and foremost the love for the organization and witnessing its success is paramount. Coding Category 5 œ Dedication to the organization through rehearsal, performance, retreat, and travel obligations Example: Ancillary activities provide a social life for many members. Category 5 may be seen as a positive or hindrance to progress. Coding Category 6 œ Use of technology, i.e., cassette to CD, dance LP, video enhancing CD, video, and DVD Example: The Turtle Creek Chorale produced a number of choral recordings in a short period of time. Was timing an issue in the production and presentation of recordings? The timing and withdrawal of cassettes from the catalogue alienated patrons or elevated the chorus‘ status in the technological community? Was over-production seen as a positive or a negative? Financial analysis Pre- and post transitional financial materials are presented in chart and graph form reflecting the years in question with accompanying narrative when necessary. Data analyses include: ñ Ticket revenue ñ Season subscriber growth ñ Individual donations and growth ñ Corporate sponsorship ñ City, county, and federal grants ñ Merchandise sales (recordings and apparel) ñ Staffing liabilities proportionate to budgetary mandates Measurements Based on historical inquiry, primary and secondary sources, interview coding, and member-checking; data offered reflection, analysis, and interpretation related to the movement from good to great of the Turtle Creek Chorale. Measurement will be a chronological time line and comparison of events that occurred to identify at what point and what factors surrounded the breakthrough to great. Interviews are coded for consistency and all interviews were reviewed by the interviewee for accuracy.

45 Limitations Research projects are limited by factors such as funding, time, personnel, availability of subjects, or other challenges. I anticipated some limitations to this study as well, primarily: the lack of research regarding community choral organizations, and more specifically, the lack of research on administrative issues within the choral art form. Community chorus administration is a relative new field compared to orchestra and opera; therefore, extensive literature does not exist concerning definitions or formulas for success within this non-profit genre. There are a number of key people I would have liked to interview for this case study. Time and scheduling limited some possibilities. Every effort was made to interview a broad spectrum of the organizations key players in order to create a true and un-bias case of events. Bias As stated earlier, my involvement with the Turtle Creek Chorale is extensive: ñ Singing member œ baritone and soloist for 12 years ñ Staff member œ Assistant Conductor, Artistic Assistant, Concert and Recordings Producer, and Director of Artistic Operations for 10 years ñ Lifetime member œ Voted in 2003 by the membership ñ Fan œ wants nothing more than to see this organization prosper for the chorale arts and for the gay and non-gay audiences of future generations. In addressing any bias that I may presume as it relates to the multiple opinions and outcomes of the interviews and analysis, it is my duty as researcher to, —Simply write the story“ (Stokrocki, p. 45). My opinion may or may not be expressed by the interviewee; however, as the researcher, I must look for frequent recurrence or emotional intensity for weight or importance. —Interpretation is concerned with uncovering the multilayered meanings of a phenomenon and understanding them more deeply“ (p. 36). This is the portion of the study where my heuristic aspect is beneficial. The opinions and analysis are then based on data, as well as, the perceived historical truths as told by the various interviewees and media presentations. Although subjective, the participant being directly involved in the endeavor is the most effective judge of the program due to experience and personal impact. (Garaway, 2004) In this case study, bias

46 is used as a positive in separation as a qualitative researcher and gatherer of historical material to analyze the responses in order to create a larger picture of what may, or may not, have occurred over the suggested time frame (Hammersley and Gomm, 1997). Through a wide representation and varying viewpoints of historic remembrance, a quota sampling is used to achieve a cohesive and accurate account (Hutchinson, 2004). The following shows the division and activities of the 23 interviewees: ñ Artistic staff: (6) Butler (for Albritton), Jones, Palant, Rieger, Seelig, Spencer ñ Administrative staff: (4) McBryde, Mitchell, Pollan, Shore ñ Board Chairs: (4) Anderson, Flake, Wilkinson, R. Ray ñ Presidents: (2) Black, Davis ñ Membership: (6) Curry, Davidson, Emery, V. Ray, Williams, Young ñ Donors/Audience: (1) Knight, (Butler could be placed in this category) A number of the aforementioned enjoyed multiple views of the Turtle Creek Chorale. For instance, Chet Flake is former board chair, yet Flake and Knight have been donors, supporters, and audience members for 28 years. Mitchell and Pollan began as audience members and later became involved with leadership and staff positions. Four of the above represent the founding years to present. Sixteen represent the growth years of the late ”80s to mid ”90s. And for transitional purposes, the new artistic staff was interviewed. Delimitations In addition to these limitations, I placed delimitations around the parameters of this case study. My interest lies with the adult community chorus; therefore, children and youth choirs were not considered. I have also defined self-sufficient choruses as those that do not rely upon symphony, opera, or educational institutions for funding, nor considered part of an umbrella organization. Although there are a number of large and artistically excellent church choirs within the United States, their 501(c)(3) status is held by the church and not solely by the chorus. Funding and governance of such organizations are therefore part of a much larger structure, and for this reason, not considered for this study. Of the selected choruses, repertoire is diverse, yet they each perform to their respected audiences and available concert halls. Gaps in performance, budget, repertoire,

47 and geographical location were certainly factors in shaping interpretation and selection of the Turtle Creek Chorale for this case study. Assumptions I am assuming the artistic product of the Turtle Creek Chorale has attained broad recognition by their peers and most certainly by their demographics. A budget in excess of $1 million dollars will have a solid audience base and staffing to support such operations. I am also assuming that my tenure of 12 years as participant, observer, and lifetime member of the organization and subsequent departure in 2003 will not dissuade truth and honesty during the interview process. Information discussed during interviews will flow freely and honestly from those granting permission to be interviewed and my opinion will no way be reflected in the narrative. Anomalies Of the preliminary selected choruses discussed in Chapter One, four of the 11 rehearse and perform in the Washington, D.C. area. Geographically the choruses are active in heavily populated areas, i.e., New York, Dallas, Minneapolis, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Santa Ana. How can the Washington, D.C. area support these four excelling choruses plus the numerous area choruses not in this study? The Cathedral Chorus of Washington, D.C. retains office and rehearsal space in the National Cathedral complex. Is this association a factor in its success? Los Angeles Master Choral performs in the new Disney Hall, Turtle Creek Chorale performs in the Meyerson Symphony Center, the D.C. choruses perform in the Kennedy Center, and the Collegiate Chorus performs at Lincoln Center. Does the venue elevate the organization? The Turtle Creek Chorale has lost as many members as currently sing in the chorus due to AIDS, tragedy, or natural causes, yet the chorus continues forward momentum. Foremost, there may be as many former members in the community not singing today. The artistic leadership changed this year and it is too soon to tell what the economic and internal impact will be. Is the —thing“ as Patton (2002) discusses keeping this male chorus —stocked“ with singers and maintaining its large numbers of membership and positioning within the arts community?

48 Further research Preliminary research findings through Guidestar.com show that three male choruses from the new gay and lesbian choral movement meet the financial parameters set forth in this study: The Gay Men‘s Chorus of Los Angeles, The Turtle Creek Chorale, and The Seattle Men‘s Chorus (dba: Flying House Productions). For the sake of this case study in success and longevity, and the relative newness of this choral movement in comparison with other choruses discovered in the preliminary research, the gay and lesbian choruses will necessitate further research for sustainability over 50 and 60 plus years. Along with an in-depth study of this movement would be the juxtaposition of male, female, mix, and transgender choruses, in relation to audiences, budgets, and assets. This case study of the Turtle Creek Chorale is a minute examination into the community chorus and its ability to sustain itself through artistic leadership changes and economic fluctuation. Three generations of community choruses emerged from my preliminary discovery. Choruses from the 1940s, 1960s and 1980s offer a wide range of possibilities for future research in where the good to great breakthrough point occurred. Further study into educational programs, i.e., outreach, education, local charities, and health issues, will provide insight into why these choruses feel the need to give back to the community beyond performance and song. Is it possible that this is the key to sustainability and longevity? Timetable Upon gathering oral and written history, interpretation of facts through interviews, chronologies, graphs, and charts, obtaining informative accounts of moment from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale will begin to surface. Analysis and writing completed during spring and summer of 2008. Preliminary discovery Preliminary data was gathered between fall 2006 and fall 2007 for this prospectus. Parameters were set and culling of organizations consisted of Guidestar.com research, communication with professionals in the choral field, and numerous phone calls and emails to national choral arts related organizations. In-depth data gathering and interviews will occurred during winter of 2008.

49 Permission and IRB All forms and assurances pursuant to Florida State University rules and regulations in conjunction with the Institutional Research Board (IRB) were filed prior to all research activity. IRB noted that, —upon review, it has been determined that your protocol is an oral history, which in general, does not fit the definition of "research" pursuant to the federal regulations governing the protection of research subjects“ (See Appendix C for Human Subjects Response). Permission from the Board of Directors of the Turtle Creek Chorale was paramount to insure openness and full cooperation within their bylaws and 501(c)(3) status as a non-profit organization. Interview permission of current and former board chairs, presidents, staff members, patrons, and singing members granted, and signed, prior to any written or oral notation. Summary As a former participant, constant observer, and fan of the Turtle Creek Chorale, and aware of the administrative, artistic, and membership dynamics that have existed for 25 years, the interview outcomes still provided an element of insight and surprise. The use of questions from Figure 5 offered unexpected results into the good to great process during the years of 1988-1995. Each participant provided a unique perspective to this study. Much has been written about the Turtle Creek Chorale. Through the most recorded men‘s chorus booklets of CDs, news print and the multitude of media regarding the chorus, or books - published and unpublished - expounding the history of the organization, a story is there for translation. Through this case study all the above was examined as it relates to Collins (2001) framework of good to great. Humans are —something more“ than animals because they do not take their world for granted on its own blind terms, but interpret it, fashion their experience of it in multitudinous and multifarious way. Without human awareness, the world is a chip off a star, mechanically wheeling in a silent blankness (Dissanayake, 1988, p. 11).

50 CHAPTER IV FINDINGS The following findings for this case study‘s research questions characterize 28+ years of dedication by men and woman yearning to have a social voice heard through quality choral music. A voice willing to have jobs, family members, friends, and relationships placed in jeopardy and propelled into the public arena because the membership is primarily gay. Yet, through beautiful music, strong vision, and commitment it somehow eases the pressure of acknowledgment and provides a large support system. For gay Dallas, it is known as the Turtle Creek Chorale. Political and social issues over multiple decades play a large role in reactions, performances, leadership, and commitment for over 1,440 singing members and millions of listeners and viewers that now know the men of the Turtle Creek Chorale beyond the stage. Research question one: How did artistic and administrative leadership affect progress? The artistic leadership and vision of Dr. Timothy G. Seelig, Artistic Director number four (1987-2007), was paramount in the growth of the Turtle Creek Chorale (see Figure 6) and a large hindrance to the administrative leadership, Board of Directors, and an ever changing staff. Excessive administrative, leadership, and membership turn-over was primarily due to personality issues with Artistic Director number four. Long time member Robert Emery said it beautifully, —You will do what the charismatic leader wants to do, or you will go away.“ Or more plainly stated later in the interview, —If you didn‘t like it, you could get out.“ This protocol applied to membership, board, donors, audience, staff, and friendships. The Board of Directors, as of this study, has had difficulties through the years performing as a board. During the 15th Anniversary Dinner (Appendix D) Dr. Tim Seelig recalls his initial board experience in 1987: Seelig There were more of us by then. I went back and got the roster œ if you don‘t count who joined that fall and started joining œ it is interesting now in hind sight that people don‘t have a hard time believing but they have forgotten how horrible the first year was. It was not a good year. For me or the chorus. My first year was not a pretty time.

Pease You had full board support.

51

Seelig Well, Larry, your description of the board wanting a strong person and strong leader is not my impression at all. I came into the first meeting with the impression you wanted this strong leader and every attempt was made to convince me otherwise. The board I felt, the chorus was frightened of a strong leader.(All: YES!) It reeked of a Don Essmiller œ here‘s somebody that is going to lead us down this path again. No way, we‘re not giving up any control. I‘m fascinated by…so y‘all can describe the first year and all, but……

The board continually micro-managed the Artistic Director, staff, and leadership decisions and yet, everything through the late ”80s and early ”90s worked. Commitment levels to the organization averaged seven to 10 by those interviewed. Comments as to why the commitment level was so high ranged from leadership believability, trust, momentum, audience approval, method to the madness, and the bottom line was good. Former board chair, David Mitchell describes the commitment and alignment as, —…the vision of the Artistic Director and his ability to articulate and sell risk taking…without a plan in place.“ Risk taking took the form of publicity, production, commissioned works, recordings, and financial projections. Publicity and recordings will be discussed further in this chapter. The following chart shows a 10 year perspective (1988-1998) of revenue, expense, and asset growth.

52

1,400,000

1,200,000

1,000,000 TOTAL Operating Revenue & Support 800,000 TOTAL Expenses 600,000

Net Assets, End of Year 400,000 200,000 0

1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998

Figure 5. Ten year review of revenue, expenses, and assets

The conflict arose between the business and artistic minds. The board, continuing to micro-manage decisions during the growth period, wanted to slow down and save the revenue windfall for the future. The Artistic Director and staff were —spending as much as we made“ according to former Chair of the Board of Directors, Kay Wilkinson. Preliminary research through Guidestar, discussed earlier in this paper, discovered that many organizations utilize the following dollar amounts œ consciously or unconsciously - as benchmarks for budgetary targets: $250,000, $500,000, $750,000, and then the $1 million mark. As seen in Figure 5, Ten year review of revenue, expenses, and assets, the chorale followed the same pattern: $250,000 in 1991, $500,000 in 1992, $750,000 in 1993 and 1994, and then the $1 million mark beginning in 1995. According to the current Chair of the Board of Directors, Peter Anderson, the reserves/savings have been exhausted, yet the endowment currently stands at near $500,000 and has recently seen an increase due to a diversification of funds. According to governing documents of the organization, the interest is available to cover budget shortfalls when the reserves are depleted as witnessed in the last three or four years. This

53 researcher was aware that the reserves had been depleted sometime after 2005. Interest from the endowment was then being used to sustain programming and budget liabilities through this transition period from Artistic Director number four and five. Questioning from a number of persons through this process as to why the endowment wasn‘t growing came as a surprise. AIDS has slowed and deaths are not as predominant as they were in the 1990s. Planned giving through the Tortoise Society is still a viable program within the organization and the endowment will sustain growth in years to come. The interest will always be needed when the economy is poor, or available when poor decisions are made by the leadership. Decisions during the growth period of 1987-1995 were primarily that of the Artistic Director. The method by which these decisions were made is difficult to explain at best. According to a number of sources confirmed in the interviews, the following is a brief scenario by long time member Ed Young: They (the board) certainly didn‘t ask us (the membership) anything. And of course, there were a lot of times he would ask the board and if the board would say they didn‘t have enough money, he would say it in front of the chorus and they would have to figure out how to pay for it œ couldn‘t call the board a liar. That‘s how he got whatever he wanted to do. Sometimes they just didn‘t.

Former board chair Kay Wilkinson: Mostly we got, in the mid ”90s we would get letters. Long passionate letters. Ironically, they would always come on a Wednesday after a Tuesday rehearsal. So, we could always tell we were rallying 150 œ 225 people against any point that the Artistic Director or the singing members, the President of the singing members, you know, the XXXX XXXXXX of the world œ if they didn‘t like something, they were out there stirring it up with section leaders. We could always tell when we got a signed letter from the section leaders. We would be like….here we go…

It is this researchers opinion that Dr. Seelig wanted the best for the Turtle Creek Chorale for the first 10 years of his tenure. It was the last 10 years that began to be more about him than the organization. Falling perfectly in line with Collins (2001), Good to Great, with the leadership becoming coercive and egotistically and falling from level five to level four. Naturally, the notoriety and fame were in the name of Turtle Creek Chorale; yet, it seems that he began to promote himself through recordings, publicity, concerts,

54 and programming. At this point the Board of Directors had no control. Scott Davidson is a long-time first tenor. Davidson From what I understand, Tim had input into œ I mean he was the Artistic Director and he was a very strong leader…and very opinionated. And so, I feel, and I don‘t know all this from a fact, I‘ve just heard. Obviously, he had to report to the Board of Directors and obviously, they butted heads many times. I feel like his input œ his strong input. Obviously, he is a great Artistic Director. I feel like they listened to a lot of it. And if they wouldn‘t, then some of the decisions that happened he actually took to the chorus to get a feel that maybe the Board of Directors didn‘t think was there. Or he would go outside of the chorus for support to make things happen.

Kenn McBryde has worked as the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s Data Administrator for over 15 years. He sums the mantra of decision making during the growth period, —Asking for forgiveness is {better than}….. (laughter)…instead of asking for permission.“ Research question two: How did staff development affect progress? First Who….Then What? Historically, the artistic staff has maintained itself as the ”who.‘ Through a strong visionary leader, increased production values and membership over the years, the right people became involved to assist in the artistic presentations. Whether it was accompanists, small group conductors, choreographers, production specialists, or recording engineers, the artistic staff was a cohesive team in the ”90s. Some say the growth of the organization was based on karma, timing, location, or survival. Former President Wayne Davis described the growth period as, —…a really good convergence of things to give us a really unique place in the world.“ The artistic direction of the organization was always in question. As Daryl Curry recalls, when Artistic Director number three, Crawford resigned he said: —This group is growing in a way that I can‘t keep up with it. I can‘t explain it. You need someone that can lead you where this group is going.“ He suggested we look for a gay man to help direct us and use that as…and he said, —I can direct you from now on, but I don‘t have the capacity on any level to take this choir where it seems to be going.“

The lack of men‘s choral music pushed the artistic staff far beyond rehearsals on Tuesday and performances four times a year. Composers, arrangers, and orchestrators were always called upon to produce more and more as the organization grew in size and

55 notoriety. Building a cohesive artistic team took dedication on the part of everyone involved with the artistic product to create new, diverse, and quality music for men‘s chorus. Programming ideas were explored through GALA directors and choruses, American Choral Directors Association conventions, International Federation of Choruses, and in many cases creating shows during a retreat or vacation. Butler Absolutely. Conscious effort took the form of Craig and Tim and Antoine and Anne going to seminars, workshops all day and all night. A retreat format where you did absolutely nothing but brainstorm and plan and pick each others brains and say where do we go from here?

Historically, the administrative staff was the ”what.‘ Seelig Here I am at a fairly sophisticated level for Artistic Directors and had you, and some great help….oh my gosh, are you kidding? You, I look at that family season brochure where we‘re all over at the market and you just go œ dream team œ you, me, Antoine, Anne œ how could we !@#$ it up? We didn‘t. But on that side? Holy !@#$ they hired anything from County Seat to Jeannette worked for the SPCA, that qualified her. (loud cough œ giggles)…. It was just a string of people to taking whomever to run this million dollar corporation that had no….no. Joanna will tell you, cause this is her deal œ her deal was two things. That we never hired anybody to be the administrator that had non-profit experience. We hired people from the for-profit world, at one after the other.

Friends, relatives, board members, and consultants are just a few of the administrative staffing options over the years. In 2003, I resigned from the Turtle Creek Chorale to pursue my Masters and Ph.D. for that very reason. I was working for men and women who were not qualified to work for an arts organization, much less have the ability to deal with the ego and mentality of the artist. But the reader must keep in mind the discussion of research question one. The Artistic Director was making the decisions. If the administrative staff member didn‘t follow through, or disagree with decisions made by the Artistic Director, then the only option was to go away. With the hiring of Artistic Director number five, Dr. Jonathan Palant, the board is poised to now begin hiring the administrative ”who.‘ Current board chair, Peter Anderson:

56 This current evolution process has been open and transparent in decision making for the organization. Peter, the Board of Directors, and leadership have initiated the family feel back into the core of the Turtle Creek Chorale while concentration on having, the right person in the right seat on the right bus going the right direction…to steal a phrase.

Years of hiring the ”what‘ have seen no results other than reactive staffing as opposed to proactive staffing. Administratively, the Turtle Creek Chorale has been chasing the bus for 28 years. Research question three: What brutal facts of the current reality were faced during the growth period? The political and social environment during the 1980s and early 1990s played a major role in how the Turtle Creek Chorale presented itself to Dallas, Texas, the world, and internally as an organization. After the Stonewall riots of 1969 and the feminist movement of the 1970s, the gay and lesbian choral movement introduced new obstacles in the coming out process beginning in the 1980s. Co-founder Roger Wilson during the 15th Anniversary Founders Dinner (Appendix D): Wilson One of the first gatherings of the five was, one of the issues that we talked about it was what to call it. We had the model of the San Francisco Gay Men‘s Chorus and the New York Gay Men‘s Chorus and we knew that wouldn‘t fly in Dallas. We wanted to be geographically specific. Also Windy City had visited at that time too. We couldn‘t be the Big D Chorus. And geographically we also thought of Cedar Springs Singers. (laughter) That‘s when I came up with Turtle Creek Chorale.

Seelig Why?

Wilson Well, I went to graduate school at the Theater Center on Turtle Creek, umm, many wealthy and affluent people live on Turtle Creek, it had a good image, it was across from Lee Park, it‘s the center of our community…

Seelig So when you put an ad in the paper you said, —We are forming a gay men‘s chorus.“

Wilison We are forming a men‘s chorus called the Turtle Creek Chorale

57 Seelig Called the Turtle Creek Chorale

Man B Men‘s chorus or gay men‘s chorus?

(confusion)

Wilson Might have, who knows, I know all our advertising was in the gay media or gay bars

(confusion)

Wilson I personally went to two meetings of the Gay Alliance and told them we were starting a choir (Turtle Creek Chorale) and they thought it was a new gay bar

(laughter)

Morgan Some said, the reason we picked the word chorale was because it wouldn‘t limit the scope…

Wilson Yeah, the scope of the music…it was sort of open ended.

The mission of the chorus from the inception is to be the best men‘s chorus in the world. Gay was not an issue other than the membership happens to be predominately gay men. Tim Seelig at the 15th Anniversary Founders Dinner: Umm, I just didn‘t get it. It was a difficult time in my life but I don‘t think that really affected my work. I just didn‘t get it why this gay chorus….here I was, outed in front of 20,000 people at this Houston Baptist church and teaching at a Baptist University and here I was with this gay men‘s chorus in Dallas and they were more in the closet than I was. It just didn‘t sink with me. I didn‘t want to drag the chorus out of the closet œ that wasn‘t the point. What is this hang-up œ it‘s OK. I lost employment for being gay œ so I just didn‘t get it.

However, as the organization grew in size and quality and began to gain notoriety, the gay and lesbian activist wanted to see the —g“ word in the name of the chorale. As longtime supporter Bud Knight suggests, —Not our problem - we did what we did for our

58 community.“ Two term president, A. G. Black caught the brunt of this issue during the GALA conferences of 1988 and 1992: And we were expecting to be kind of on the grill. Especially because during the GALAs at that time you had sessions where the presidents and the business managers, and the executive directors would come together for the choruses and just have a brief work session œ well, not really work session œ a session. I remember going into that one thinking, —somebody in this room is going to stand up and ask… why does the Turtle Creek Chorale not have gay in their…?“ I just… Because, we knew it was kind of an under the surface issue with GALA œ even when we went to Seattle. I think the reason it didn‘t surface in Seattle is because we had never performed at a GALA. They wanted to see what we were all about and they wanted to hear us.

Gregory But, it‘s the Seattle Men‘s Chorus. Did they get the same grief?

Black Umm, no. It was because we wouldn‘t be a part of GALA for so long that they thought there was, that we thought there was some kind of a stigma thing about it. And then when we finally showed up at the GALA in Seattle, all of a sudden —Whoa! They are a great chorus; they really do know what they are doing.“ All of a sudden we do kind of become comparable with like the Seattle Men‘s Chorus and some of the others, or Twin Cities. But we had that period from Seattle to Denver that it became very politically and all of sudden, we were beginning to have recordings coming out and then all of a sudden it was like GALA wanted us to take it on and fight the fight for all of GALA. And we said, —No, we were not going to do it.“ Denver was, Denver was not a good experience for me personally. Plus, you know, I will absolutely never forget because that‘s where we did When We No Longer Touch and we handed out the book (How to Survive the Loss of a Love) after, in the lobby. And I actually had an officer of the Seattle Men‘s Chorus throw it back in my face and say, —This was just a PR trick on the part of the chorale“ and if you‘re not going to...you know, it just…I was just like, I don‘t understand what you‘re saying. It was almost that he said Kris had died the week before to make it that much more emotional at Denver. And I was over GALA at that point and I have never been back.

With so much consternation and national attention through GALA choruses regarding the lack of the —g“ word in the name of the organization, only two interviewees (3% of the total responses) mentioned name and branding. This clearly was not an issue within the parameters of Turtle Creek; Dallas, Texas; and what is considered to be the buckle of the Bible belt.

59 When interviewees were asked to consider the top five factors that contributed to or caused an upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff; of the 23 interviewees, there were 11 clear responses. I have purposefully placed HIV/AIDS at the bottom because it was a medical pandemic anomaly that occurred during the growth of the organization.

Community (external) 16%

Artistic Director 13%

Programming 13%

Family (internal) 11%

Political Issues 8%

MHMeyerson 7%

Recordings 5%

Social Issues 5%

Mission 3%

Name/Branding 3%

HIV/AIDS 17%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20%

Figure 6. Factors in the cause of growth (percentage of total responses)

Not to be crass, but did HIV/AIDS benefit progress? Did HIV/AIDS hinder progress? The organization has lost 170 singers (as of June 1, 2008) due to illness and the majority of the deaths were due to HIV/AIDS. It was, however, verbalized as the number one factor in the growth of the organization; possibly a catalyst for the remainder of factors to develop at a much quicker pace. Combining the external ”community‘ and the internal ”family‘ above, it becomes even at 27% with programming and Artistic Director. Second to this tie of emotional and

60 artistic components, then becomes HIV/AIDS. Thirdly, combinations of political and social issues appear at 13%. HIV/AIDS began to devastate the chorus. For a time in the mid ”90s there were funerals and memorial services once a week, sometimes more. Former public relations person, John Shore: I think we realized that AIDS was going to kill us as an organization if we didn‘t really embrace it as a daily fact of life and learn to pull together and share, cry, bitch, be angry, and that we had a choice in all those things. We could hold our heads up high and go forward or bury our heads in shame. This was before any drugs were really on the market as far as AIDS inhibitors. There was so much discrimination against AIDS and ignorance towards HIV and AIDS. We embraced what we had at the time. I think it was happening so quickly, I didn‘t have time to fear of what is this going to do to the organization.

The organization faced each HIV/AIDS related challenge head on. Former manager, David Mitchell, refers to the chorus as, —the AIDS choir.“ When We No Longer Touch and the EMMY award winning documentary After Goodbye: AN AIDS STORY (number one pinnacle moment with 26% of the interviewees) not only helped in the healing of survivors, the grieving process of loss, but family and friends in the non-gay community to understand this horrific disease and what was happening during this time period. As Bud Knight so poignantly said when asked how the Turtle Creek Chorale handled HIV and AIDS, he simply stated, —brilliantly.“ Amidst the —g“ word controversy and dealing with the death of partners, friends, and family members, there were many shining moments in the life of the chorus. The city of Dallas completed the new home of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, The Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. 22% of the interviewees placed making the Meyerson the home of the Turtle Creek Chorale as their number one pinnacle moment in the life of this chorus. Financially the move was risky because there was no money. Former patron, board member, and Development Director, Rudy Pollan: When gay men and women of Dallas…. Had an, first of all had a, at that time they had a need for social outlets. They had a need to come together as a community and celebrate their gayness… and the choral provided that at its concerts. To go to the Meyerson, to dress up, to be seen, to be, to be, have your name on the donor list. I am a major fiscal contributor. And there were really two forces going on

61 here in Dallas. There was the and the Turtle Creek Chorale. And those were the two… forces which enabled the gay community to come together and solidify the high of these two. So, it was not so much about the chorale and its greatness as much as the need that came to be within our community as we grew and became healthier in our own view of ourselves œ that the chorale felt. I think that‘s what contributed to it the most.

(pause)

Which doesn‘t happen in these much smaller... It did not have the means - for gay people to be more affluent, having more money, willing to spend it.

Research question four: To what extent did the mission statement, —To be the finest men‘s chorus in the world“ and membership loyalty affect progress? The mission statement is the driving force behind everything presented by the organization. Every member could recite the mission and was driven to believe they could achieve greatness. Dallas has a reputation for supporting winners. Texas has a reputation as being a choral powerhouse. Former Accompanist, Antoine Spencer sums it up by saying, —I‘m playing for this wonderful choir, let‘s look at music first and the other stuff doesn‘t really matter. When you‘re on stage in front of 2,000 people you don‘t think of being gay œ it doesn‘t even cross your mind.“ Shore It‘s hard to put my finger on it. I think being gay in the South is a little bit of a challenge. Also, I‘ve always said as a Dallas-ite, I always feel like we over achieve. My mom says that ever since the Kennedy assassination we have to prove ourselves. People wouldn‘t have a layover in Dallas because it was bad for their life or their business. But I mean, if you look at sports and the Cowboys and the Rangers and the Mavericks and the Stars and business and oil and fashion. We‘re a fashion mart, we‘re a design mart, and we‘re an arts mart. Tim probably had something to do with the seeds of the Arts District in one way or another.

I do think there are amazing quality singers here that are willing to risk coming out publicly. It was a big risk. And also I think some people hid. It was neat to attract a few straight singers.

That‘s my take. Unless you‘re from here…and really a non-answer, but unless you‘re from here and been in our shoes. We‘ve had hatred and it was Tim telling us stay strong, stay strong. I was surprised we didn‘t have protestors or throw eggs or call us faggot in the middle of a performance.

62 In 2004, Dr. Seelig created a new mission statement adopted by the chorus as it approached the 25th Anniversary season. The new mission statement is often abbreviated from five paragraphs to four words: Entertain, Educate, Unite, and Uplift. This researcher had a very difficult time finding anyone able to list all four, much less recite all five paragraphs. I have been quite vocal regarding the original mission statement being placed back in play: —to be the finest men‘s chorus in the world.“ It sums up 28 years of activity and provides a direction for the future. Entertain, educate, unite, and uplift are byproducts of being the best. Research question five: To what extent did technology affect the organizations growth? Pollan …and where they (leadership) wanted to take it in terms of the most recorded gay men‘s chorus in the world. That must have been something that‘s real important. Cause you and Tim were churning out CD‘s once every six months or something like that.

Technology played a large role in the marketing, public relations, and momentum of the Turtle Creek Chorale. The luxury of recording in one of the world‘s most beautiful acoustic performance halls, the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, set the momentum to preserve men‘s choral music forever. Again, the right people approached the organization in the late ”80s and ”90s to self-produce our own recordings through the TCC Records label, which in turn, drew the attention of the audio-file professionals of Reference Recordings label. There became a joke about town, —If you miss a concert there will be a CD at the next one…“ The following chart shows recording orders from 1990 to 1999. Again, being cutting edge, cassettes were no longer produced beginning with Let Music Live in 1996. This was not a popular decision as expressed by some patrons at the time, but definitely cost effective for the organization. As of 2008, future recordings are being considered for on-line mp3 purchase rather than full CD production. This decision is still being investigated for financial impact and probability.

63 Table 2. Recordings Quantity Ordered 1990 through 1999 Recording Title Year Quantity Ordered through 1999 From the Heart 1990 7,806 Peace 1991 10,999 WWNLT 1992 9,592 Everything's Possible 1993 2,551 United We Sing 1994 8,470 A Roamin' Holiday 1994 5,114 Family 1995 5,151 (Cassettes no longer produced at this point œ CDs only) Let Music Live 1996 4,028 A Gershwin Scrapbook 1996 4,112 Simply Christmas 1996 5,070 Twisted Turtle Tinsel 1997 3,457 Reflection 1997 2,959 Celebrate! 1997 6,619 Lifelong Friend 1998 4,265 Best of TCC 1999 3,506 The above listing does not reflect Reference Recordings production orders for: Requiem, Testament, Postcards, Times of Day, and Psalms TCC Recording titles from 1999 to present: Holly and Holy, To a Dancing Star, A Fond Farewell Reference Recordings from 1999 to present: Serenade,

Financially, the recordings produced a revenue stream for nearly 18 years. Scott Davidson provided seed money for the first recording and those proceeds were placed back into production costs for future recordings. Mr. Davidson also funded Dr. Seelig‘s final recording with the chorus, A Fond Farewell. Davidson I think it speaks for itself. We are the most recorded men‘s chorus in the world. There‘s a reason for that. Reference Recordings because of the sound we had. I mean, that is one that that every chorus in GALA knows the sound of the Turtle Creek Chorale. It‘s one that you don‘t have to have it on the outside cover that says Turtle Creek Chorale. Just listen to the music and the quality. When we applied for a blind audition œ there was nothing blind about it when it came across. And so many of the people, music directors or artistic directors taught from our…(phone)…have taught through Tim and our chorus.

The broad reaching capabilities of the recordings were present during the interview and audition process for the new Artistic Director. Dr. Palant shares his exposure to the chorus:

64 I‘ve heard of the Turtle Creek Chorale œ I don‘t know I heard of the Turtle Creek Chorale. I have ever only heard them once live in 1997 at San Diego ACDA. I remember the performance and people asked during the interview process, —What would you change about the sound from when you heard them?“ I said, that‘s not really a very fair question because I heard them in 1997 with very different ears from when I heard them in 2007. So, other than that, I had three or four CDs. I used the CDs as a model with my high school boys. We would play recordings of the Turtle Creek Chorale for the high school ensemble. But I never, other than that one time hearing them and knowing the reputation that was about the extent of my knowledge of the chorale.

I recall seeing a pop recording with embedded video during a site visit at Seagoville High School prior to a benefit performance at the school. Wanting to be the first, we began enhancing chorale CD‘s with promotional videos and videos from concerts. In 1999 Chorus America approached me to submit an article encouraging other choruses to enhance their CDs (Gregory, 1999). Recordings were not the only form of technology beneficial for the growth of the chorus. Ginny Martin, producer for PBS/KERA, approached the chorus during the time of the AIDS crisis and When We No Longer Touch, a song cycle for survival, to produce the documentary, After Goodbye: AN AIDS STORY narrated by famed actress Ruby Dee. The special aired numerous times in the Dallas Fort Worth viewing area and received multiple national feeds. During such a time of turmoil for the organization, the documentary won 12 national awards including the EMMY for best documentary. Public Service Announcements (PSA) were produced through local studios and ran on multiple channels prior to concerts and special events. With the assistance of BELO Broadcasting, owners of WFAA, Channel 8, and The Dallas Morning News, a 30 minute holiday special aired in the place of Wheel of Fortune between 2001 and 2003. The chorus continued to take advantage of technology when the world-wide web became available. The following is a synopsis from Bert Martin, one of the founders of www.turtlecreek.org.

Shortly before GALA (1996) in Tampa, Florida a few of us decided that we needed to join into the burgeoning online world with a website. At that point, websites couldn't really do anything; bandwidth was narrow all over. Most of our target market had dial-up and at those speeds it would take 10 minutes or more to download a simple non-stereo song. We made an announcement at a rehearsal

65 that if anyone was interested they should meet at the Sammons Center on a Saturday morning to plan out our website.

We started with a brainstorming session to suggest what pages our website would put up. We put each page on a large piece of paper (flip chart) and pasted one for each possible web page on the walls of the second floor. There were 12 or so people as I recall. We reviewed each page for general content and made a proposed format. Many of those formats have continued to this day, including the concept of a "Turtle's Only" area. (The name isn't ours, later committees would create that one.) I took the paper with me to GALA and sat by the pool at my hotel and missed almost the entire festival painstakingly changing the pages into HTML. I used a book on the HTML language as I was really quite inept at it. I also was assisted by others who were much more qualified.

We put our original idea on a computer and I honestly can't remember if it ever even made it online. Soon after we began to get help from people like Chuck Sweatt who was an expert in the area. Now we have an astonishingly (to me) level of professionalism.

Research question six: What external factors contributed to the growth of the community chorus? Research question six seems to dove-tail a number of issues with research question three regarding the brutal facts that faced the chorale during its growth. Again, the political and social atmosphere of the ”80s and ”90s dictated determination, productivity, and community growth. Each pinnacle moment for the interviewees reflects an external factor at its origin.

Number One: (26%) When We No Longer Touch and After Goodbye: AN AIDS STORY (1990). The chorus turned inward and became a nuclear family for each other and, at the same time, provided comfort and solace to a community in mourning and the non-gay community questioning.

Number Two: (22%) Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center opening (1990). By strategically placing the Meyerson as the home of the Turtle Creek Chorale it validated the chorus as a force in the arts community. The gay community reaction is summed up by David Mitchell when he says, —(It) legitimized the chorale and enabled them to expand beyond the ghetto…the gay ghetto.“

66 Number Three: (17%) American Choral Directors Association National Convention, San Antonio, Texas (1993). The legal system in the United States uses peer jury to judge innocents and guilt. Peer pressure is just as it sounds: pressure to perform at a level that our peers see as acceptable. The gay community can be its own enemy by over achieving as discussed earlier. To receive the accolades of the choral world outside GALA, Inc. were the crowning moments of legitimacy for becoming —the finest men‘s chorus in the world.“ The chorus has since performed at two more ACDA national conventions and regional conventions for ACDA and MENC.

Number Four: (9%) Sing for the Cure (2000). Relationships over the years afforded the co-sponsorship of this incredible work for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. . According to Peter Anderson, —It was a grass roots fund raising program which is what I was asked to create by Nancy Brinker because that‘s the most successful one. That‘s why Races for the Cure are so successful. This was our Race for the Cure, meaning for the chorale. It has legs and still has legs.

Miscellaneous factors listed: (22%) The Gay and Lesbian Chorus Association Seattle Conference (1988) and Denver conference (1992). The issue of not having gay in the name of the chorus was a grand topic of discussion at the national level. Carnegie Hall performance (1990). This was the first travelling performance in a non-gay setting outside Dallas, Texas. Others included Jesuit High School Requiem performance and it just happened gradually.

Few consultants and advisors were used administratively and artistically. There is always an annual board retreat to discuss budget, planning, and the upcoming season. Board members were seen as advisors if proficient in their area of expertise. Artistic networking with conductors of other choruses was on a continual basis. As GALA grew, administrative workshops began to be offered through the annual Leadership Conferences. The larger choruses and staff began to meet for additional retreats

67 throughout the year to discuss the issues facing them: political, social, financial, and artistic. The first consultant that made the biggest difference and could have made an even bigger difference, we went to a GALA Leadership Conference in Chicago. One of the seminars was led by the Development Director for the Minnesota Orchestra. We were smitten with this woman. We had no money. But it was Jack Pettit, Gary Lee, the whole crew was there. We came home and said, we have to get her here to consult with out board. Because we were just baby and didn‘t know how to get to the next level. Seriously, everybody gave a hundred bucks. We flew her down on a Friday night to work with our board and some of the leadership. It was life changing. There were three things she said œ two of which we did. One of them you will just go, oh gosh.

One...was always, doesn‘t matter what you do, have somebody answer your phone. Do not put it on a machine œ if you do, check it everyday and answer those phone calls. You remember there was one time when I didn‘t call them back and they hired the Vocal Majority for $10,000. Have somebody answer the phone. It will set you apart from all the other community choruses with machines that didn‘t get answered. One of the things I have always said is seize the opportunity. You don‘t know when it‘s going to come, but be ready and always answer your phone.

Number two was œ announce your season and sell season tickets in June. And we were like, we can‘t do that. And now everybody does it œ well, not everybody œ most people. It was that woman that year that convinced everybody. Dennis was still not doing it. Now we were all like doing it.

We were like, OK. We just had a flier and told what the season would be and we had money and cash flow (until the last couple of years).

Third, she said, everywhere the Turtle Creek Chorale name is, you put Tim Seelig. Everywhere. You are the brand…you are the brand. She would say, the famous music organizations are tied to their Artistic Director. She told everybody there œ she said, the organizations that change every two or three years, they just wander. You know, this is your name œ well, obviously it didn‘t fly past the…. And you know, Craig Gregory, that I never demanded it or asked for it or put it in my contract that you have to put my name…

Baritone, Gary Williams, began one of the largest annual outreach programs the chorus maintains today. The following is his account of how the annual holiday Toy Drive has grown over the years.

The Toy Drive started in 1990 when the Chorale's holiday show included a portion of the singing members singing from the aisles, dressed as children in

68 pajamas holding their favorite stuffed toy. Each member was asked to consider buying a new toy that would be collected after the run of the show and donated to the Pediatric AIDS Unit at Children's Medical Center. That year the TCC donated 14 30-gallon trash bags full of toys to the hospital. The next year, the Toy Drive was expanded to include toys donated by audience members. At a certain point in the show, Encore members (a small group of the chorus) were in the aisles and audience members passed their toys to the closest Encore member. That year the donation level went up to 30 bags of toys. The donation response was so great that the number ran a bit long because Encore members had to make trips back and forth from the stage to the audience to get all the toys.

In 1995, the Toy Drive was expanded to include the Pediatric Unit of Parkland Hospital, operated by Dallas County as a beneficiary along with Children's Medical Center of Dallas.

The Child Life Development Department at Children's Medical Center is charged with creating and maintaining an atmosphere for the patients at both facilities that minimizes the sterile and clinical feel of a visit to the hospital and they maintain a large storehouse of toys that must be replenished constantly. While they get a lot of toys from a lot of different groups and individuals throughout the year, CMC has confirmed that the Turtle Creek Chorale provides the largest single donation of toys each year.

The Toy Drive just completed its 18th year collecting these toys. Each year's donations generally averages about 50-60 bags of toys each year. We have had a few exceptional years where the donation levels approached 80 bags of toys! While no exact dollar value can be determined, we generally estimate that a single bag of toys is valued at approximately $100...... some more, some less.

While internally the Turtle Creek Chorale produced quality music and diverse programming, the paying audience opinion is paramount. The Artistic Director for the Seattle Men‘s Chorus, Dennis Coleman, encouraged Tim Seelig to do two things: 1) make the holiday concert not to be missed, and 2) network with everyone...everyone. Along with those two bits of advice there were always taste meters among the singers and patrons who had no qualms of stating the positive and the negative. In summary, external factors played a major role in the development and growth of this chorus. Summary Based on Collins (2001) questionnaire regarding good to great and an in-depth qualitative discovery into the historical accounts of 1980-2008, each narrative found in

69 the Appendix of this paper contains components relative to each over-arching research question: 1. How did artistic and administrative leadership affect progress? 2. How did staff development affect progress? First Who….Then What 3. What brutal facts of the current reality were faced during the growth period? 4. To what extent did the mission statement, —To be the finest men‘s chorus in the world“ and membership loyalty affect progress? 5. To what extent did technology affect the organizations growth? 6. What external factors contributed to the growth of the community chorus? I think it is best to allow Dr. Daryl Curry to sum up the environment in which this process of good to great occurred for the men of the Turtle Creek Chorale. Daryl shares a deeper grasp of causation in the internal and external dynamics of not only the gay community chorus, but the historical significance of events which guided the organization. Curry I think primarily, you have to look at the context of what was happening politically, what was happening socially, and what was happening locally. And also on a more global level (if you will) at least a nation-wide level. There was a time in the late to mid 80s when we first starting hearing about HIV and AIDS and we had the Reagan administration which wouldn‘t even utter the word. All that did was instill, I think, in the people fear, primarily and also the reluctance to talk about it made the people that were affected to have to force the issue œ it forced those people to have to do a more personal level. Does that make sense? As that whole historical perspective of that entity progressed through the 80s and early 90s œlong before were any effective treatment. And as people were dying and whatever there was a need for comfort. There was a need for a source of strength for people. There was a need for a source of society and camaraderie. And there was a need for a goal œ of working toward a goal. At that time the treatment was the goal. And maybe even the goal was awareness which would ultimately lead to treatment and cure whenever that may occur. I think that was the main thing. We were a community specifically, but we were also, I think you can broaden that to a county and even a world that was hurting and confused. And was in need of some thing to help assuage whatever that is. And it wasn‘t coming from any other sources, it didn‘t seem to be. So I think that was a big factor of why the TCC œ it was a good time for the necessary building blocks for a community chorus to blossom and grow to do so. Because we had the political intent, if you will. We had the need psychologically. We had the need and we had the where with all, a director that could carry that forward and nurture that and carry that forward and use it.

70 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION Can this good to great story be duplicated by another community chorus? It is entirely possible through an alignment of circumstances and timing. As shown in this study, factors far beyond the reaches of artistic, administration, and audience assist in the creation of an exceptional community chorus. The community becomes involved, the chorus becomes a family, and the audience becomes part of the organization, or in the case of the Turtle Creek Chorale, a family atmosphere of support and love for quality music and quality of life. Researching the organization during this transitional year seemed at times the clashing of two worlds. As stated by every person interviewed for this study, there is no doubt the outgoing Artistic Director, Dr. Timothy G. Seelig, played a major role in the growth and development over the last 20 years of the chorus through, first and foremost, a quality product and marketing skills both negative and a positive. Jonathan Palant will not attempt to fill the shoes of Tim Seelig, yet place his beside them. Tim Seelig is an exceptional visionary and exudes dynamic artistic skills. Not one person interviewed denied this fact. His association with the administrative issues systematically caused problems. Tim would find the money and support from membership and patrons; but, imagine the progress of the administrative leadership if it were allowed to grow at the same pace as the artistic product. Some would argue the leadership was incapable of sustaining the growth rate without the drive and ambition of the artistic staff. Thus, the arts administration field exists to ensure administrative growth comparable and continually in support of the artistic product. I am reminded of a poem by Patrick Overton presented to Tim Seelig by Randy Rhea, former Public Relations manager for the chorale. When you come to the edge of all the light you have. One of two things will happen. You will stand on solid ground Or you will be taught to fly.

The interface of the Turtle Creek Chorale Board of Directors and the dynamic leadership of Dr. Timothy G. Seelig for 20 years are summarized by Overton‘s poem and this response to the leadership dynamics of the chorale by Kenn McBryde:

71

His (Tim‘s) method of operation was usually to present it to the membership and be a rah, rah cheerleader and get the membership behind him and the board usually would fall in line… and give him the rope to hang himself or to walk upon.

Through tenacity, believability, technology, mission, and community the chorus maintained a level of success rarely achieved by a community chorus. This transitional 2007-2008 season is allowing the leadership and administration to be pro-active and resolve the years of reactive leadership, thus providing a stable transition for longevity. Twenty-three interviews for this study produced a combined membership and leadership in excess of 370 years. As with any volunteer organization the careers of the volunteers are vast. This study was no exception. The following is but a few of those professions: Doctor, Lawyer, Comedian, Hairdresser, Organist, Health Care Professional, Successful Business Persons, Real Estate Successes, High School Principal and Educators, and Professional Musicians. Four interviews were from members that have been involved since the founding years of the late ”70s and early ”80s. Sixteen interviewees represented the growth years of 1988-1995. And I was fortunate to interview three members of staff from the new generation of turtles for a fresh perspective on the future of the organization. Adding to the historical perspective was the transcription of the 15th Anniversary Founders Dinner (Appendix D). Many of those voices are no longer with us today. Many taken too early in life by HIV/AIDS. Summary of Findings Collin‘s (2001) Good to Great highlights six components to achieve greatness within a company. Through analysis of financial documents, published timelines, and interviews with key players within the organization, the same principles apply in recreating that moment which greatness occurs for a successful community chorus. ñ Level 5 Leadership œ leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into a larger goal of building a great company. o Having just been fired by Houston Baptist (1986), Dr. Timothy Seelig was the perfect motivational leader to take the Turtle Creek Chorale from a good community chorus to a great community men‘s chorus. His vision and dedication to the organization provided a quality marketable product. Dr.

72 Jonathan Palant provides a young fresh approach to the choral art form, and inspiration for a new generation of singer and leadership. ñ First Who, Then What œ the key point of this idea is not just about assembling the right team. The right people must be doing the right job. o Artistically, the Turtle Creek Chorale drew the perfect combination of people to the organization at the same time. This cohesive artistic team was unstoppable and wanted nothing more than to create success. Administratively, the leadership was reactive and not pro-active. But somehow it continued to work. Today, there is a focus by the Board of Directors to ensure a properly educated staff for the duties assigned. Placing the right person on the right bus in the right seat, etc. ñ Confront the Brutal Facts œ all good to great companies began the process of finding a path to greatness by confronting the brutal facts of their current reality. o Political and social issues of the 80s and 90s seemed to unite the chorus in becoming a family in which everyone takes care of themselves when illness prevails and shares in the joy of success. During a time when no one had an answer to the pandemic, the chorus provided solace, support, and strength to a much larger community. Days after 9/11 the Turtle Creek Chorale and The Women‘s Chorus of Dallas sang to an overflowing audience and raised in excess of $15,000 for the Red Cross Relief in less than two hours. The chorus maintains the pulse of the nation and community. ñ Hedgehog Concept œ a Hedgehog Concept is not a goal to be the best, a strategy to be the best, an intention to be the best, or a plan to be the best œ you just are the best at what you do. o No strategy for success surfaced through the interview process other than determination. Determination and buy in from 250 of your closest friends. Not to mention 1800 seats per performance that instantly became part of the family. Perception continues to be a key component to marketing the chorus locally, nationally, and positioning for international travel.

73 ñ Building your Company‘s Vision œ a company‘s vision is built from two components: a core ideology and envisioned future. Membership buys into the vision and a culture of discipline is developed. o When the mission statement is to be the finest men‘s chorus in the world, over time you begin to believe it. And the chorus did believe it. The Turtle Creek Chorale paved the way for men‘s choruses to expand their repertoire through commissions and arrangements. The first GALA chorus to not only sing at an ACDA national choral convention, but to date have sung at three, consistent sell-out audiences, and award after award for various endeavors. The chorus believed it the mission. Today, the mission is to Entertain, Education, Unite, and Uplift. I consider those by-products of the finest men‘s chorus. ñ Technology Accelerations œ moving forward also means keeping up with the latest technology and using it to the organizations advantage. o 84,000 CDs ordered during the 1990s. EMMY award winning documentary. First chorus to enhance recordings with video. A website unmatched by any chorus with an extensive —Turtles Only“ section for members and e-marketing for patrons. During my tenure I was proud to produce the first and last concert to use indoor fireworks at the Meyerson Symphony Center and also first and last to use outdoor lasers inside the Meyerson for the millennium concert. The phrase often used is —pushing the envelope.“ The current technological debate is to produce another CD or position as an mp3 online sale only. Success Some would say that the success occurred overnight and others would say it happened gradually. What is quite clear, and used as a mantra today, the chorus was big in the beginning and the chorus will be big in the end. The success level will come and go as membership, staff, and Artistic Directors come and go. The organization has difficulty moving past the $1million, $1.5 million budget. Rudy Pollan sums up some reasons why: They never made it past that juncture. It got caught in…never could move to the next level of governance that needed to take place for a healthy organization to do. He (Tim) continued to keep everything tight here next to Tim.

74 With continued artistic vision, dedicated membership, and cohesive administrative endeavors the Turtle Creek Chorale should reach new heights. Some will say that will occur overnight and others will say it will happen gradually. Only history will tell. During analysis of the interviews, I realized there may be some confusion with one of the interview questions. When did you realize the chorus went from good to great? Or, when did the organization go from good to great? Each interviewee had their special moment of greatness, yet the majority is in agreement that When We No Long Touch, a song cycle for survival and subsequent KERA documentary After Goodbye: AN AIDS STORY not only garnered national attention, it was the catalyst for the increase in membership, budget, season subscriptions, donations, and unbridled support. Longevity An all volunteer board and membership live busy lives and tend to prioritize the extracurricular activity above that which provides an income. The depth of qualitative and historical accounts since the inception of the Turtle Creek Chorale in 1980 to the current passing of the baton to the fifth Artistic Director in 2007, each interviewee offered a rare perspective into an organization in the midst of transition. All conversations, public and private, speak of excitement and support for this new era. The mistakes are recognized and leadership is willing to put forth the effort to support the product and move to new heights in the future. The future is unwritten, just as the past was unscripted. Recommendations for Further Research In this study of success and longevity I explored the newest generation of choruses, the gay and lesbian choral movement. In its 28th season the Turtle Creek Chorale offered insight into growth and transition, yet little assistance in the longevity of the chorus due to the transition of Artistic Directors. The newest generation of community chorus, the gay and lesbian chorus, will necessitate further research for sustainability over 50 and 60 plus years. Along with an in-depth study of this movement would be the juxtaposition of male, female, mix, and transgender choruses, in relation to audiences, budgets, and assets. Three generations of community choruses emerged from the preliminary discovery. Choruses from the 1940s, 1960s and 1980s offer a wide range of possibilities for future

75 research in where the good to great breakthrough point occurred. With the ever changing computer and seemingly lack of a paper trail, collection of historical data is beneficial to the organization to understand where and why growth occurred. Further study into educational programs, i.e., outreach, education, local charities, and health issues, will provide insight into why these choruses feel the need to give back to the community. Is it possible that this is the key to sustainability and longevity? Arts organizations tend to become surrogate families for those involved. The arts organization also invites the patron to become part of the family through product appeal and outreach. Parameters for this case study were based on all things large: large membership, budget, and repertoire. Choruses not associated with a school, church, orchestra, or opera narrowed the field of possibilities as well. Perhaps there is a deeper definition of success that takes into account the aforementioned factors as well as performance quality other than selection for regional, national, and international conferences. Reflections By virtue of becoming a lifetime member of the Turtle Creek Chorale, I have repeatedly shown my dedication in praise of the turtles. This outstanding men‘s chorus showcases all that I would hope my life to exude: Acceptance of everyone and outreach through quality music and production. Two men sitting on bar stools at The Crews Inn said, —Let‘s start a choir.“ Roger Wilson and Don Essmiller envisioned a community chorus of men performing quality choral literature. Historically, the Turtle Creek Chorale has taken advantage of, and created, opportunities to fulfill the mission of being the finest men‘s chorus for 28 years. The largest disappointment during the research process was the lack of historical and financial records from the 1980s. The lost financials of subscribers, grants, and wages is primarily due to cleaning the outdated records from the storage unit, repeated changes in computer systems, and poor administrative track record with staffing the organization. This document becomes the most comprehensive collection of historical accounts and recognition of factors showing movement from good to great. The family of Turtle Creek Chorale cannot forget where it‘s been in the coming out process of the organization, its members, and patrons during the ”80s and 90s. They must also retain loyalty within the community that held them to high standards and

76 accolades. There is a new generation of membership and patron that still struggles today with coming out, HIV/AIDS, breast cancer, and a yearning for quality choral music. It is with my vocation, education, and avocation experience that I hope the finest men‘s chorus in the world continues to perform its outreach to those in need. Always remembering the past, celebrating the now, and anticipating the future.

77 APPENDIX A INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

Could you please elaborate on the [top two or three] factors? Can you give me specific examples that illustrate the factor?

Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

[If conscious decision:] To the best of your recollection, when did the Turtle Creek Chorale begin to make the key decisions that led to the transition (what year, approximately)?

[If a conscious decision:] What sparked the decision to undertake a major transition?

What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

[If had confidence of 6 or great:] What gave you such confidence in the decisions?

How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

Can you cite a specific example of how this took place?

What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the short-term pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and c) making long-term changes for the future?

78 Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Are there any questions we didn‘t ask, but should have?

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241)

79 APPENDIX B

LETTER OF CONSENT

Dear Research Participant,

I am a doctoral student under the direction of Dr. Pat Villeneuve in the College of Art Education at Florida State University. My current interest is the success and longevity of The Turtle Creek Chorale as an exemplary organization representing outstanding accomplishments in the community choral arts.

Your participation in this case study interview process is voluntary. You always have the option to not participate or withdraw from the study at any time. The findings may be published as part of my dissertation. Prior to such publication, you will be given an opportunity to read the full manuscript and discuss with the researcher if you so choose. In case of publication, you will be offered the option of anonymity.

Data for this assignment will be in the sole custody of the researcher.

If you have any questions about your rights as a participant in this research or have further questions, please contact me at 850-575-3305 (home), 972-765-0378 (cell), [email protected], or [email protected].

Sincerely,

Craig A. Gregory

I give my consent to participate in the above interview and understand my rights as a subject of this assignment.

Name (Please Print) ______

Signature

This day of , 2008

Thank you very much for your time and dedication to the community choral arts.

Craig

80 APPENDIX C INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH BOARD - HUMAN SUBJECT RESPONSE

Subject Human Subjects Staff Review From Human Subjects Date Thursday, April 17, 2008 9:16 am To [email protected]

Human Subjects Application - For Full IRB and Expedited Exempt Review

PI Name: Craig Allen Gregory Project Title: Attributes of United States Community Chorus' Success and Longevity: A Case Study with the Turtle Creek Chorale of Dallas, Texas HSC Number: 2008.1297

Your application has been received by our office. Upon review, it has been determined that your protocol is an oral history, which in general, does not fit the definition of "research" pursuant to the federal regulations governing the protection of research subjects. Please be mindful that there may be other requirements such as releases, copyright issues, etc. that may impact your oral history endeavor, but are beyond the purview of this office.

81 APPENDIX D 15th ANNIVERSARY FOUNDERS DINNER TRANSCRIPTION (1995)

Turtle Creek Chorale Founders Day Dinner 15th Anniversary

Date: 1995 (transcribed April 2008) Time: 6:00pm Location: The Bronx, Cedar Springs, Dallas, Texas

Attendees: Tim Seelig, Artistic Director, presiding Craig Gregory, Assistant Artistic Director (recording) Roger Wilson, Co-founder; Ralph Blackburn, Chet Flake, Jake Jacobs, Scott Kennedy, Bud Knight, Rex Morgan, Jay Moorehouse, Larry Pease, Jack Pettit, John Thomas, Kay Wilkinson, Ed Young, plus many more and guests…

Seelig OK, Roger can you go back to the beginning…how it first started…

Wilson Well, everybody knows it was our reserved stools at the Cruise Inn. Me and Don Essmiller and once we came up with the idea, we said we wanted to pull in a few other people to be on a steering committee to get things started.

Seelig What month did that happen?

Wilson Probably October or November

Seelig Of what year?

Wilson ‘79 and then the first rehearsal was…

Seelig Why did you think of it?

Wilson Well, Don and I, both being church musicians, we had a lot more repertoire to sing than what we sang on Sunday morning, and uh…

82 Seelig Were there gay people that wanted to do it?

Wilson Yeah,

Seelig You hadn‘t heard San Francisco yet…

Wilson Yes we had, I had heard them, because my brother was in San Francisco, so I knew of San Francisco. And I knew of New York because I used to go to New York every year for a theater trip. I knew there was a music, gay music thing happening. So Don and I, the three other people we pulled in to be on the steering committee were Bubba Mitchell, and Gerard Hubert that did that first poster, that blue thing with the electric…

Seelig Who is still around…

Wilson Who is still around…

Wilson And Phil Gerber and we each took a voice part to be section leaders œ cover the music bases as well as organizational basis…Among the five of us, we divided up the ….

Seelig Where did you meet?

Wilson In the music rehearsal room of Holy Trinity

Seelig And how many people were there?

Wilson There were five of us

Seelig I‘ve never heard this. Has anybody heard this?

(confusion and laughter)

Seelig What Rex?

83 Rex Morgan Do you know of anything about Larry Pease, he told me that he tried to start a group in the mid ”70s. Are you aware of that?

Wilson I‘m not aware of that….

Morgan I don‘t know either…

Wilson In the mid ”70s Larry and I worked at the same restaurant, but anyway…

Seelig What month did you all five meet at Holy Trinity?

Wilson It was before Christmas of ”79, so I guess it was November œ besides the organizational stuff, we knew we needed to round up a conductor and an accompanist. And umm, Don was the one who recruited Harry Sharer and I brought in Julian Reed who was my accompanist at the Community Reconciliation Presbyterian. Once we had them on board, we then picked out the music we wanted to do for the first rehearsal and the date we wanted for that first rehearsal. We just kinda did that out of the blue. Whoever did the flyer spelled my name wrong, (surprise, surprise). And I was responsible for mainly answering the phone and making sure everyone knew where to go on that first, on February 19th.

Seelig February 19

Wilson 1980

Seeling Who was involved prior to the first rehearsal other than the five you‘ve already mentioned

Wilson The five of us plus the two music people

Seeling That‘s it?

Wilson Uhuh

84 Seelig Before the first rehearsal?

Wilson Uhuh

Seelig No auditions?

Wilson No auditions and I had a list of about 22 people who had called in and asked for directors and surprise, surprise about 37 showed up

Man A They put an ad in the TWIT because that‘s how I found out about it…

Seelig Does anybody remember the ad?

Man A Yeah, it said gay men‘s chorus, meet at Holy Trinity, February 19

Wilison We had already chosen the name œ it was already Turtle Creek Chorale

Seelig Can you expound on that?

Wilson One of the first gatherings of the five was, one of the issues that we talked about it was what to call it. We had the model of the San Francisco Gay Men‘s Chorus and the New York Gay Men‘s Chorus and we knew that wouldn‘t fly in Dallas. We wanted to be geographically specific. Also Wind City had visited at that time too. We couldn‘t be the Big D Chorus. And geographically we also thought of Cedar Springs Singers (laughter) That‘s when I came up with Turtle Creek Chorale.

Seelig Why?

Wilson Well, I went to graduate school at the Theater Center on Turtle Creek, umm, many wealthy and affluent people live on Turtle Creek, it had a good image, it was across from Lee Park, it‘s the center of our community…

Seelig So when you put an ad in the paper you said, —We are forming a gay men‘s chorus.“

85 Wilison We are forming a men‘s chorus called the Turtle Creek Chorale

Seelig Called the Turtle Creek Chorale

Man B Men‘s chorus or gay men‘s chorus?

(confusion)

Wilson Might have, Who knows, I know all our advertising in the gay media or gay bars

(confusion)

Wilson I personally went to two meetings of the Gay Alliance and told them we were starting a choir and they thought it was a new gay bar

(laughter)

Morgan Some said, the reason we picked the word chorale was because it wouldn‘t limit the scope…

Wilson Yeah, the scope of the music…it was sort of open ended.

Seelig Tell us a little bit more about what happened before February 19 to get ready? How many people did you think would show up?

Wilson I knew of at least 20…

Seelig And you had plenty of copies of music

Wilson Uhuh

Seelig And the pieces of music were…

86 Wilson The Last Words of David, we had decided that‘s how we wanted to start the rehearsal and the Battle Hymn of the Republic I think.

(confusion)

]Blackburn That was about it…It was not a long rehearsal

Wilson Yes, Bach, To Thee Eternal Evening

(group discussion)

It might have been Swing Low and Vive Le Moor

St. Mathew or Michael, or somebody like that

Seelig There‘s a recording from when?

Wilson June 1980 œ that was the first full concert…

Seelig February 19 - How many in this room were at the first rehearsal œ none of the 37 except Roger and Ralph

Wilson We outgrew our first rehearsal the first night. It was in the choir loft, the balcony at Holy Trinity

Seelig Holy Trinity…

Wilson In the choir loft, the balcony of Holy Trinity that first night and we were dragging up all the chairs we could find that first night.

Seelig Is that the same church that is still there?

Wilson Uhuh

87 Seelig Which we later backed up Victor Costa

Wilson Victor Costa….We were very familiar with that sanctuary

Man X For

(group discussion)

Wilson But I doubt that their archives could find a copy of that original ad

Man X Phil Johnson

Blackburn Yeah, I bet Phil Johnson has that ad

Seelig So February 19 there were 37 people œ and tell us what it was like œ you were elated

Wilson We were flabbergasted…that first chord of was (HHHEEEEEEE) that‘s exactly, it was this huge sound œ none of us had been in a men‘s chorus of that size before. It was overwhelming for the 37 of us

Seelig Was anyone surprised you were gay?

Wilson No

Seelig No

Wilson Well, I did most of the recruiting at the Crews Inn so…

(laughter)

Seelig OK, so where then did you go from there

88 Wilison Somehow or other we got an invitation to a town hall meeting œ something was happening politically

Seelig John Thomas knows this part…

Thomas Freedom 80 œ it was to get people to go to precinct conventions

Wilson It was like precinct training or something…

Thomas Big rally…

Seelig For gay people or straight people

Thomas, et al Gay people œ sponsored by the Dallas Gay Political Caucus

Wilson To open the program…

(group discussion)

Man X There was a recording made that evening œ there was a recording. Two guys that live over…I know there was a recording because I remember hearing it at a party he had afterwards…

Seelig You sang in that one?

Man X Yes

Seelig How many of you around the room sang in it? What month was this?

Wilson April

Man X It was the first public appearance ever

89 Seelig So, by that point, how many were in the choir?

Wilson 65 or 70

(group discussion)

Man X It happened over night

Wilson It was like two rows of 30…all the way across the stage

Seelig And you sang what

(group discussion)

Blackburn No, no, no œ Everybody sang The Star Spangled Banner, that was a unison thing œ and then we sang The Last Words of David, The Handsome Butcher, and the Battle Hymn of the Republic and that‘s all we sang.

Thomas They announced Star Spangled Banner and Battle Hymn by the new gay men‘s chorus, so that‘s why the chorale was invited

Ed Young It was a big crowd too œ there were 175 there

Man X Everything was brand…everything was new…

Wilkinson What did you wear?

Wilson The instructions were black slacks

All in unison and white shirt….oooooh

Wilson Well, that‘s all they had….Just coming out of graduate school and costuming I just wasn‘t content with just black slacks and a white oxford top. So, I showed up in those

90 wool navy things - 13 button things and a formal shirt that I had purposely removed the collar from just for that appearance.

Seelig Queen….queen….

Man X And we all talked about you…don‘t think we didn‘t!

(laughter)

Wilson Except that now I‘m the uniform queen…

Seelig Ok, so Jack Pettit was in the audience œ were you in the choir or the audience?

Pettit I was in the audience.

Seelig OK, so, Jack, tell us about it.

Pettit It was pretty stunning. There was such a big audience and they really did well. It was like, it was big…

Man X It was like the first formal showing of any…it was ground breaking and we didn‘t know it. I looked around and saw all these gay men doing all this and it was pretty neat. So it was like when you were the center of one act, you were in the middle of the political aspect. I didn‘t know, I thought the political aspect had always been around, but it was all happening at the same time, but once you become aware of it you think you‘ve been aware, but the awareness was at the same time it was happening.

Wilson It was that time that just before we went on somebody asked, —How do I introduce you?“ And the phrase was, —The men of the Turtle Creek Chorale“ œ that‘s exactly what we were back then. Used as an announcement before we ever made an entrance.

(group discussion)

Seelig Goodness gracious

(group discussion)

91 Seelig That was April

Wilison We did our first concert in June

Seelig What did you sing?

Wilson Vive le Moor, To The Eternal Evening… we didn‘t do a major work? Maybe Simple Gifts?

Man X I thought that came later

Young I don‘t remember

(group discussion)

Seelig OK, go Rex

Morgan Well, I remember this from the 10 year reunion. We had seen the Houston…

Et. al The Montrose Singers

Morgan As whatever they were called. We went down there. A bunch of us went down there to….

Seelig Now were you and Ed Young lovers at this point?

Young Now that‘s not part of the Turtle Creek Chorale!

(laughter)

Morgan No, we went down to Houston and they had this huge chorus of what looked like 10,000 to us, and they all had leis on because somebody had come back from Hawaii and bought them leis œ they all had leis on. And they sang a repertoire of about 70 numbers œ all from

92 music and that was just absolutely atrocious. So we decided we would not do our concert from music, but from memory.

Young And it was so bad…

Morgan And without leis…

Seelig Your conductor at the time was Harry…

Morgan, et al Harry Sharer

Seelig Did he go on the trip with you?

Morgan I‘m not sure…I don‘t think he was with us…

Wilkinson Harry who?

Et al Sharer

Morgan I‘m not sure…

Young I don‘t think he was there but you all came home and said we want to sing from memory,

Morgan We would sing from memory, but we were not prepared to sing from memory… Our dress rehearsal went absolutely terrible œ it was not good at all

Young It was so bad

Seelig Where was it?

Et. al Caruth

93 Morgan And we sang and we just did marvelously well œ just marvelously well

Seelig That was the electric blue poster…

Young Yeah, that‘s what that one was for…

Wilson And that little rail in Caruth was absolutely fabulous œ because in desperate circumstances you could put words on there and …

(laughter)

Young And we did I think….many times

Seelig Did you do one or two concerts?

Man X No, we did two shows…we did more than one night… we did two nights

Young And we had a pretty good crowd both nights

Seelig Were you in the audience Jack, or in the choir?

Pettit I‘m not sure…

Thomas I was in the audience - that was my first year….

Seelig Scott, you were in the audience

Kennedy Went to three of them before I joined…

Wilkinson Larry Pease was on stage

94 Thomas Yes he was…

Seelig Were you at the first rehearsal in February?

Pease No, no œ in addition to the circulation of men throughout the organization was not only to the gay media, like you said, both of you were brought up in church music. I learned of the choral through the director of music at First Presbyterian, who, along with his partner, were both, already were active with the choral or had just become involved (Lee Sorenson and Tommy…) So, they recruited me in time to be present and rehearse and perform in the first concert. I think it was moving around in certain circles, church music…

Seelig From gay church musicians

Young Word of mouth…

Wilson Especially the Presbyterian ones…

Seelig So you sang from memory at the first concert?

Et al Most of it…

Seelig Did you wear white shirts and black pants?

Young When did we go to white shirts?

(group discussion)

Wilson Were they khaki

Moorehouse No, the khaki came with the blue sweaters and short sleeve shirts

Young Gray slacks

95 (group discussion)

Moorehouse, et al We had gray slacks

Seelig It doesn‘t matter what we sang, but we looked good….

(laughter)

Young I still have those gray slacks….

Moorehouse That was the first thing we had to buy were the gray slacks….

Thomas Sponsored by Shades of Gray

Et al No, we bought ”em, we bought ”em….

Moorehouse And wore white shirts…white button down shirts and gray slacks

Seelig Is there a picture of this?

Moorehouse Yeah, it‘s actually, you should have it on file with one of the programs on the inside

(group discussion)

Seelig So, Scott, you were in the audience…did the audience just go crazy?

Kennedy As I remember yeah. I mean, As I remember, it was very novel that this evening was even happening. The first three concerts I went to….I was just loving it. I remember the crowd was real big and I remember going….it was such a novel thing…

Seelig Larry…

96 Pease I don‘t remember the size of the crowd, but I can tell you that anticipation and the excitement behind stage œ we were all just about to burst. We came out from, at the appointed side from both sides. One row came out from one side and one row came out from the other and we stood there for what seemed like an eternity. Before Maestro Sharer made an entrance and finally he came prancing out like only Harry Sharer can do. The crowd burst into applause before we ever sang a note. And he came out and took a bow, that gracious sweeping bow…

(laughter)

Young It‘s all coming back to you now, isn‘t it…

(laughter)

Pease I remember looking out and this was a pretty respectable crowd. And I also remember thinking, we were at a parochial school Looking back I can‘t recall what the quality of music was, but we couldn‘t hope for a more appreciative audience. That in itself was a remarkable achievement. They went crazy after every piece we completed. At the end of the concert everyone was standing and clapping and cheering, I don‘t recall, but I‘m sure we had something prepared for an encore and then came another standing ovation, we had nothing left to sing. We went backstage and it was an unbelievable explosion of celebration, acknowledgement, and affirmation…

Seelig And then Harry left the stage…

(laughter)

Seelig OK, John was in the audience

Young Tell your side of it John…

Thomas I was very, very, very moved… and had chills going up and down my spine because this was a gay event… (tape pause) I was singing in the Dallas Symphony Chorus and I said, one more time and then I joined. It was just astonishing in the excitement of the culture for the gay community to have those people up there. It was one of those great nights. I think the other irony, since Larry Pease was talking (since I met him not too long before he sang). It included some very, very closeted gay people.

97 Seelig The Chorus did?

Thomas Yes

Seelig Other than Larry

(laughter)

Thomas Larry‘s my best example….I mean, I had to pry his name out of him when I met him…

(laughter)

Seelig Never did get his last name… just Larry. Is that correct?

Pease That‘s correct. I was concerned with about who might be in the audience….a lot of us were… a lot of people were…

Seelig It hasn‘t changed….

Moorehouse But, we also knew that the recognition that you would get came from beyond the community. So, it‘s better that you don‘t tag yourself so you could get recognition based on the music that you performed. Already we had an audience. Sure, we had a tremendous gay audience out there and an awful lot of straight people. We had an awful lot of people out there and a great mix. We had families and friends; we had a lot of people, and so, if this is working then stick to it.

Morgan The first rehearsal I went to, I we told there was a photographer there and I was told he was from the Advocate and I left when those photographs were made œ I simply did not want my picture in there…

Wilkinson (inaudible)

(laughter)

Thomas I was going to say that œ Rex didn‘t mind having a personal ad in the Advocate, but…

98 (laughter)

Young You can talk about our director œ he only knew loud, louder, and scream…

Seelig Harry?

Young Yeah, how he did it? He just got bigger with his arms….at least that‘s the way I remember it…

(group discussion)

Jacobs He had trouble with his under arms

(laughter)

Thomas You could see from the audience and the stage

Wilkinson In audible

Thomas He sweat a lot…

(group discussion)

Blackburn One of the first concerts was actually sold out and we wound up putting chairs in the aisle. It was very illegal and we didn‘t know it. We just ran and got some chairs and threw them in the aisle. I don‘t know who told but the Fire Marshalls were just out in the hall…

(group discussion)

Seelig No, there wasn‘t a board yet…

Man X We didn‘t have a board of some sort, because that‘s why ticket sales…the rest of us just sang and… The board or something….pay dues, pay dues, everyday Pay Dues, Pay Dues.

99 Morgan We had , cause I went to sectionals with Michael Thomas. No, Michael Thomas was the first guy that died in the chorale….I went to his sectional…

Man X I don‘t remember that name at all…that wasn‘t Michael Thomas???

(tape change)

Thomas He may not have considered it before….

Moorehouse I don‘t know what it was called but somebody was taking care of ticket sales and the basic organization. Was it the charge of the officers then? I remember showing up in rehearsal two or three and the next thing we were doing was singing. I‘m not sure we ever knew of an existing structure, we just did it…

Seelig But you elected officers

Et al Yes, NO, Not yet….

Moorehouse Not yet we hadn‘t, not by the first concert. No time that we even knew there was a structure at all…

Seelig Is everyone through asking questions about the first concert? Because I‘m absolutely amazed.

Man X Have you heard a recording of it?

Seelig No, I haven‘t

Man X We revived it and sold them for $5 a piece

Seelig Well, I have one…

Man X It‘s fabulous….

100

Man X I want to echo John‘s sentiment because, when he said the audience was welling up inside. I don‘t remember anything about the crowd going crazy, but, I remember being and the people around me being like overwhelmed. That‘s what I meant by the novelty of it. It was something we had not seen at the same time. (inaudible) I remember the crowd being loud…And that‘s what I meant by I know I was because I was just so utterly overwhelmed that this being….

Seelig Any other memories from the first concert?

Morgan It was a class act…

Seelig Afterwards, what happened?

(silence)

Man X We went to a party

Morgan We went to a party at uh, at uh, Dr. what‘s his name house…

Seelig Who?

Morgan Dr. Martin McConnell some of the Houston guys were there….and we just had a grand old time…we had gone to their concert, so they came to ours.

Seelig But in the early years, you all basically gave concerts to have a cast party…

Man X It was a direct result of….

Seelig That‘s what rumor has it œ the parties were much grander than the concert

Man X …if you went home with somebody it must have been a good concert…

101

Seelig I want to know, after this incredible whirlwind Spring, phenomenal concert œ where everybody just shook their head œ what happened in July - what happened in you alls minds and the chorus life.

(silence)

Seelig OK, so when was the next concert?

Man X That was June

Man X By this time we already had a structure going and we had a schedule…

Thomas Yeah, and they got to the second concert and they decided they were good enough….so I auditioned…

Seelig When was it?

Wilson October

Man X Before Christmas, in Caruth

Seelig Y‘all were rehearsing at Caruth at this point, at SMU, weren‘t you?

Man X Which was the First Presbyterian? That was the Cherubini Requiem œ portions of the Cherubini - that was March of ”81

Seelig Ok, go back to October, can anybody remember it

Thomas I was there and equally moved… it was spectacular

(laughter)

102

Morgan I remember, that in the interim we had been rehearsing at Lovers Lane Methodist for two or three weeks and were asked to leave œ that was our first turn down…

Seelig OK, y‘all didn‘t hear that because Rex wasn‘t talking loud enough. You were at Holy Trinity rehearsing all the way up to Caruth? To the June performance

Morgan No, no, we had an interim space. Harry was the assistant conductor at Lovers Lane Methodist Church

Wilson, et al He was the organist

Morgan We went there to rehearse a few times. And we were asked to not come back…

Wilkinson Because of what?

Morgan Because of overt affection…

Young Boys were kissing in the hall

Seelig Boys were kissing in the parking lot?

Thomas You just can‘t stop us….

Seelig Now, was that you and Rex? (laughter) Never mind, he said boys.

(laughter)

Blackburn It was the first official reprimand of conduct unbecoming a choral member

(doubt and lots of laughter)

103 Seelig First reprimand œ first and almost only. So where were you rehearsing? You got kicked out of Lover‘s Lane.

Seelig Midway Hills Christian

Jacobs No, wait…we were rehearsing at SMU

Young Before we went to Midway - Forest and Midway

Jacobs That‘s where we were when I joined and before the last concert….

(group discussion)

Seelig So what did you all do in the summer? You rehearsed and no one knows what you did in October.

(Discussion of programs and archival files)

Seelig Well, you gave me copies of the program page, but not the program. You gave me Xerox of the program page, but not the program. We have plenty of them…..so there‘s not an October of……

Thomas I finally threw all mine away œ I thought y‘all had them

Seelig Ralph, you‘ve given me copies of the program page of every concert œ you Xeroxed them years ago, but not programs œ we have a lot of them, but not all of them.

Blackburn I have a lot of them

Wilkinson Did y‘all pay dues at this time?

Everyone Yes, we always paid dues…always!

104 Seelig I thought y‘all started paying dues when Michael Crawford came

Everyone No, we always paid dues. We paid dues from day one. Wilson I had to put up the first $50 to purchase music for the first rehearsal

Seelig There weren‘t Xerox machines at that time….mimeograph

Man X At that time rehearsal space was free…

(discussion)

Seelig OK, we skip October, then what happened

(group discussion - $5 a month)

Jacobs That was my first concert- October

Seelig What did you sing?

Jacobs I don‘t know. I got a hold of that first tape. I was living at River Oaks. I hadn‘t lived in Texas that long and I was having a tough time. Somehow my lover at the time (laughter) was Mark Miller. Got a hold of that tape and I listened to that tape and I sat one evening and I cried, I cried, and I cried because I had never heard anything like it. Then I joined for the second concert. They were rehearsing at the SMU facility at that time. I forget what we sang. It was quite impressively big. I have no idea of who sang œ I had no idea of how young the choral was. How lucky I am to sing with this organization. I didn‘t know the history of it œ we were so young. I just knew it was mammoth and I was so lucky… So anyway….

Morgan We sang Handel something or other….let your voices rise….

Seelig That uncertainty - you know that.

Jacobs We sang that….

105 Seelig Ok, but now, go back. Wait a minute. You were still standing and singing in white shirts and grey pants. John Moorehouse has not really worked his magic

Moorehouse I hadn‘t done anything until it was tuxedo time…we still have to go through polo shirts and khakis.

(discussion and laughter)

Wilson I still have those matching belts

Seelig Queen!

(group discussion)

Thomas That was the first mention in the Dallas Morning News œ singing at Square œ the Turtle Creek Chorale œ C-O-R-R-A-L

That preceded the June concert œ that was in May before our June concert.

Young It had just been opening, we were testing the acoustics œ there was nobody there but us.

Seelig Was Elizabeth there? No?

Blackburn That was Dr. Ralph Stone œ he went to New Mexico

All No œ but we did go back for Christmas

(group discussion)

Seelig Where were the October and Christmas concerts?

(group discussion)

We only sang at Thanksgiving Square and we went to St. Paul‘s.

106 Young We sang at tow or three different places. We went to a couple of different places and didn‘t charge - then we realized that we could make money at Christmas.

Seelig Duh!

Thomas If you don‘t charge, it‘s still a concert.

That was still our first paid concert……

Blackburn The first concert was $2.50 and the second was $5.00

Our first memorial concert was for Michael McConnell (?)

Seelig So Christmas we have ascertained. Were you there (Larry Pease)

Pease I think so

(discussion regarding ‘81)

Thomas He wasn‘t singing (crowd: Yes he was) Larry Pease quit when I joined and he‘s the one that encouraged me to join.

(chaotic discussion) Something about a church and wedding on Mockingbird

Molly Maroney

We‘ve done several Maroney weddings œ this was the first

Molly was ”84

Wilkinson Y‘all were singing at weddings (Inaudible) that is incredible (inaudible)

Seelig In the spring, which would have been the first anniversary of the chorus. Harry was the conductor and you did the Cherubini. You hawked the family jewels for the orchestra.

(discussion)

107 Under Harry was only a couple of movements at Holy Trinity œ under Harry we are not talking about the whole thing

Seelig Girls, girls, girls œ don‘t argue now œ I think it was a Tuesday, no it was a Wednesday œ No, I think it was a Thursday. A few movements at Lovers Lane for AGO with Clarice playing.

First Presb

Seelig With Clarice at First Presb and then the whole thing at Holy Trinity

Not the same spring œ it wasn‘t a choral concert

Thomas Roger, did you already mention your first picnic

Wilson Church‘s chicken and the choral would gather for Easter in the Park at Lee Park

Seelig What was the June concert?

(discussion œ inaudible)

Smith Another Opening Another show œ show tune medley œ choreography

(dramatic flashbacks)

We made hats….that was march of the…..by that time we were….cal surprise

That was our summer concert before August where we had a problem with Harry in preparation of our new season

Seelig OK, what happened Rex

Morgan Dick Flemming was the Testament of Freedom (October of ”81)

Thomas We got that- we got fall of ”81

108 Seelig OK, show tunes, and as John says, undulation, undulation, undulation - unbearable and heinous and as that point for those of you that are new, you all decided Harry had lied on his application.

Harry was a volunteer…

But he wanted to keep going

Seelig Did y‘all have an application process. How do you fire a volunteer?

Blackburn As a matter of fact…We auditioned a lot of people, Gay Miller and somebody from LA œ

Seelig We brought them to Dallas

(discussion and laughter)

Morgan The Turtle Creek Chorale was part of the formation of GALA. Ken Nailer and I were in San Francisco….

Wilkinson Was Ed with you?

(laughter)

Morgan Ken Nailer and I were in San Francisco and they had the first GALA conference œ it wasn‘t called GALA œ mainly from the west coast œ they had a new conductor in San Francisco from Hawaii. He conducted the last movement of the Testament of Freedom for the opening of the games and we sang for that. It was a magnificent screw up. Then we went to Jay Davidson‘s house and we opted to not be involved. We discussed it with lots of people œ we decided to not be a part of it.

Founders Dinner œ Tape Two

Pease I mean, at the banquet and yet there were a lot of people that weren‘t at the banquet that just came to sing. But it was very impressive when they said, —Now presenting the Turtle Creek Chorale“ and all these people stood up all over this huge room and came to the stage œ and I thought, well, that‘s really impressive œ you know, there are a lot of people into this sort of thing œ it was very impressive.

109 Morgan That might be a good idea to do again?

Thomas No, no, no

Seelig When it‘s not a popularity contest anymore

(oooooooh)

You read the observer...several days ago

(laughter)

Young We had a board, but it was just an invited board and they just stamped whatever Don Essmiller wanted

Thomas Ken, is that your perspective?

Seelig Ken, You were on it œ Larry, you were on it

Thomas We didn‘t have much choice

Pease We didn‘t have much choice and back then, I always thought it was our job to raise money. We passed the hat at board meetings, I mean we didn‘t know if we were going to payroll œ we were doing garage sales and rummage sales

Seelig and dress sales

Pease and dress sales

Jacobs Didn‘t that start out in 1983 when the first non-chorale board members came on board?

Seelig That‘s what John David said, —in ‘82 he brought the first non-singing member on the board

110 Young I thought it was 82

Jacobs I think it was 83

Young I thought it was 82

Jacobs wasn‘t it my first year we had the first non-chorale board members with Jane…Jane Marshall…dah, dah, dah

(group discussion)

Flake That was my first year. That‘s when I started to sing

Jacobs That was the first non-chorale board

Pease I think it was my first term….

Jacobs it was 1983.

Seelig Scott

Scott This is a perspective and I‘m certainly open to John remembering this differently. I still have from late 83/84 the original Voice and the letter to the editor from the Voice that John wrote but in 83. Y‘all may have this in the archives already. But in late 83, Ed Flasspoeler, John, and I we were all heavily involved in the experience weekend, the intensive. That was the year, I know John remembers this, David Goodstien and Rob Eickenberg had them by the throat figuratively and would not let them go. And that was the year Thrust this whole thing about we were trying not to be gay and didn‘t want to go out in larger audiences. And I can remember in the intensive that they were just working John and Ed over. I mean, this is something that most people wouldn‘t remember. They are both deceased now and they were just livid that we were in the closet and couldn‘t understand how John could do this. I was dying inside, but just couldn‘t believe they were doing this.

You remember all this John. And John wrote a letter to the Advocate and I think also the Voice, I think to the editor

111

That‘s what I remember in my own perspective. That‘s what I remember - Once you were in the chorale you were thrust into the national spotlight in a very negative way. Is this what you remember?

Thomas Yeah, that‘s why I that was in 83 œ we were singing that summer at the Black Tie Dinner was in the fall David Goodstien was being honored. He was sitting at a table with Phil Gerber and my sister was sitting there œ John you have to come separate them because he was just….

Kennedy That‘s right it was the same weekend œ your sister was there and David was already on the scene and so were many of the chorale.

Thomas Right

Kennedy And

Seelig Because you sang with the Dallas Symphony and you didn‘t say you were gay.

Kennedy Like yeah, and then in this workshop. It was suppose to be…. But they just, I mean, I was just dying inside. They were really grabbing Ed by the short hairs. And Ed and John were trying to defend the chorale…

Thomas Oh yeah!

Kennedy This activism point œ in 83

Thomas Oh yeah!

(group discussion)

Thomas The other thing œ there had been letters in the local gay press questioning why the Turtle Creek Chorale was not a gay men‘s chorus. So those that didn‘t think we were out that went all the back to earlier years

112 Kennedy They went and ratted to Rob and David because they knew they would run with it. I remember feeling for you guys œ you and Ed were just getting…they would just not let it go and how could you live with themselves, etc….

Wilkinson Wait, John Thomas wasn‘t out enough?

Seelig No, the chorus

Everyone No, the chorus

Kennedy No HE was, but they were the symbols for the chorale and John David (inaudible) the three of us. He did everything he could to try and explain it. Of course, I didn‘t speak at the time œ I was afraid. I think it was an Advocate article where he had an editorial where he just scathed the chorale as a homophobic….

Thomas We were good enough to be invited by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra but we weren‘t going to let the people know we were gay in the program.

(discussion œ something about Michael Crawford discussing his family)

Seelig But you all understand the email of a month ago œ the email across the country is saying the Turtle Creek Chorale should not program œ should not have invited a gospel singer and being something it‘s not. The same thing…the same thing…the same issue.

(discussion)

We have the same struggle. This very day, Craig and I were asked to give a 100 word bio for the ACDA national convention.

(discussion)

Blackburn You said something about because coming closeted you lost your audience.

Young We were down to….we didn‘t have the crowd then. We were not filling Caruth. I truly believe œ many of my friends that didn‘t come and part of that was because œ I don‘t know what the reason was.

113 Seelig Even thought it was fun

All It was not fun

Seelig I‘ll never forget Miguel Graham, when I first got here, said, we are not here to sing for audience, we are here to sing for ourselves œ That is exactly what Miguel said and it confused me. I never understood that.

Pease I think he meant we were having a good time, we‘re enjoying what we‘re doing, and we like what we were doing.

Young We were not selling out halls….

Jacobs It was becoming complacent. The direction as an organization œ there were people who were worried about that time because of the way things had gotten to be a little more relaxed œ joining the choral because it wasn‘t so far out.

Seelig You weren‘t so far out œ I have letters to prove it œ people were comfortable with the chorale under Michael because it was not way out.

Yes œ some people were

Smith When you came you blew me away and scared me to death….

(discussion)

Smith It‘s not that I would lose my job, I was just uncomfortable with it

Seelig Don‘t start….

(discussion)

Not from singing in the Turtle Creek Chorale œ name ”em.

(discussion)

114 I would challenge you to name a person who lost their job solely because of the Turtle Creek Chorale.

Man X There was somebody because of a picture in the paper or something

There was something….

But nobody lost their job because of the chorus….

(discussion)

Thomas In looking at the complaints of discrimination the Alliance got regarding those that have lost their jobs œ there is usually a whole lot of things that caused that to happen other than singing in the chorale.

(inaudible)

I beg to differ œ I don‘t think the chorale was ever homophobic…

(tape change)

He was still here when….cause I bought all that hype and brought it back and handed it to him. Here, this is what we could have if we were a part of GALA.

Wilson We did the In Taberna section

Morgan We did in Taberna with Michael

Wilson We did the Dying Swan…

(discussion)

Smith That‘s when we started our relationship with Bill Keck œ he did some neat arrangements and stuff, Cole Porter, Michael loved that stuff.

Seelig And Maurice was the pianist?

Yes

115 Smith And Bob Gwynn

Seelig That was the next watershed date œ the AIDS benefit at Mountain View.

All He quit

Seelig I understand he quit

Wilkinson Who did?

Seelig He would not sing an AIDS benefit.

Blackburn We were in the first Unitarian Church

That‘s the one up there at Monfort and ….

(discussion)

‘83 œ we got our tuxedos œ and raised money œ ‘84 œ we started raising money in ”83

Flake SMU Caruth hall œ I remember sitting there crying like a baby œ fall of ‘84. The pride that we felt…

(discussion)

That was the first time we had a damn board or a fund raiser.

Jacobs Somebody throw in our mainstay for a few years, which was Spotlight œ that was the money maker.

It was like really, really cool for a number of years

(discussion)

We lost money every time…

(discussion and laughter)

116

(tape change)

Flake We set the items out and people would toss chips in the space œ auction œ they would bang the gong and it was cut throat. The last person to put a chip in that space was the one that got the item.

(laughter)

I think we did real well on that - $10 to $12,000.

Seelig We went along œ we‘re winding down the Michael Crawford days.

Jacobs We moved to Lake Texhoma from Lake Murray. We needed the space œ we outgrew it. We got to go back to fall of ‘83 first

Seelig We don‘t

Jacobs of course we do because this was a political thing… (laughter) Fall of ‘83 was the first time we had an official Board of directors and was empowered with making money for the chorale. Prior to ‘83 the chorale did not stage a fundraiser. Did not know how to make money œ didn‘t do anything. Fall of ‘83 started the first fund raising effort by the chorale called Black Tie Required entitled Tux Deluxe. It also started the first auction event and among other things. That‘s my historical perspective of that time because I was President and Chairman of the board at that time. That was when we started doing fundraising campaigns and season subscription campaigns, and auctions, and raffles.

(discussion)

Steve Arn designed that…..

Thomas ‘84 would have been Black Tie Dinner.

Wilkinson Have we always been a beneficiary

Everyone Yes

117 Seelig Let‘s talk about the Don Essmiller demise….

Wilson I can‘t talk about that….

(discussion œ due to personnel confidentiality, I have omitted this discussion)

Seelig So Michael quit and moved on…

Thomas There was always a large group of happy singers who didn‘t want to know anything. So when Don Essmiller was fired we didn‘t know anything. That was OK - A lot of….(inaudible)

Man X Don was never an active singing member œ he was always at the back table. All we knew was that he was our general manager œ that‘s it - and what ever happened and if could sing we were happy.

(discussion)

Seelig What was happening when Michael announced he was gone because he announced prior to your June concert that you had no conductor and the general manager had been fired. There was a board, but Bob Teal was being the bad guy and holding this thing together. He really stood up and did the right thing.

He was taking the heat for it…

No one wanted to be President. Nobody wanted that job and Bob said to Michael Sullivan, you have to be President. The two of them and ….that crew….and Bob and Daryl too œ carried us through that summer. When everybody was doing what? Going, oh my gosh….

Man X There was a search committee….

Seelig I would love to know who was on it.

Everyone Michael

118 Seelig Michael will say he was the search committee and didn‘t even want to meet and he was the search committee. And by the time I auditioned for the job, I had only ever met one chorale member and that was Michael Sullivan. I never met anyone else.

(discussion)

When Michael offered me the job, I accepted the job and had yet to meet any choral member or the Board of Directors.

(discussion)

I had met Maurice Eaton and I had met ??? at an AA meeting. I had first heard the chorale because of Paul.

Young We went at least four or five years without any budget. We ran on a shoestring. I remember asking for a budget. We had a budget but didn‘t live by it. Two or three years we had no budget and when we decided that we had made enough to make a budget, we never abided by it. So it was five or six years later that…….

Pease It was a few years before we had a budget and we didn‘t necessarily abide by it.

(discussion)

Then we began a search for a new director. We were at a crossroads and we were really worried about the continuation and growth of the chorale. Our identity, we were more concerned about our future and we all realized that we needed a really strong, flamboyant (laughter)

Seelig Musical skills not quite important

Pease To really bring this group back together and bring back some of the magic that we all experienced at one time or another. At the same time, someone who would demand our respect. We had had the taste of success œ we wanted an annual budget œ we were experiencing growing pains that we had to wrap up- that was about as important a time as to really locate a really qualified and confident leader with no money.

Seelig No budget, no financial statement œ the last concert of Michael Crawford was at Fair Park at the garden center œ more attempted to out feed me….“feed me“ (laughter œ reference to Fred Moore as Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors). (omitted) know moral was low and you had to call in tenors.

119 Man X What was your impression of the group at that time

Seelig I can‘t say they are the same feelings you had in ‘80 when you first heard the chorus. I wanted to come to Dallas.

(tape change)

Seelig There were more of us by then. I went back and got the roster œ if you don‘t count who joined that fall and started joining œ it is interesting now in hind sight that people don‘t have a hard time believing but they have forgotten how horrible the first year was. It was not a good year. For me or the chorus. My first year was not a pretty time.

Pease You had full board support.

Seelig Well, Larry, your description of the board wanting a strong person and strong leader is not my impression at all. I came into the first meeting with the impression you wanted this strong leader and every attempt was made to convince me otherwise. The board I felt, the chorus was frightened of a strong leader.(All: YES!) It reeked of a Don Essmiller œ here‘s somebody that is going to lead us down this path again. No way, we‘re not giving up any control. I‘m fascinated by…so y‘all can describe the first year and all, but……

I remember a time…(inaudible) we were scared….what we should give Tim…

(laughter)

(inaudible)

Seelig There was Elizabeth Esperson telling me to not wear those red glasses in public. Yes she did….

All REALLY?

Seelig Yes she did…not sure it was Michael talk or board talk. Changing the name, wipe out the debt, starting fresh…. We were going on cash, so there was no budget. The fall concert…Bruce Jaster got all the halls donated œ the Infomart œ through that whole first year. At the Christmas concert œ at the dress rehearsal at the Infomart there was no piano because they could not afford to rent one.

120 (laughter)

Seelig We did get a white baby grand for the concert. They only got that by passing the hat at the board meeting. So, but anyway, I digress.

Pease Well, I was a little skeptical of you while I really wanted a strong leader and I thought you had incredible potential with an aggressive personality œ passive aggressive œ but some of us board members thought that we want to give you as much leeway as possible but we were at the same time reluctant to…

Wilkinson He did move from Houston to Dallas

Seelig Umm, I just didn‘t get it. It was a difficult time in my life but I don‘t think that really affected my work. I just didn‘t get it why this gay chorus….here I was, outed in front of 20,000 people at this Houston Baptist church and teaching at a Baptist University and here I was with this gay men‘s chorus in Dallas and they were more in the closet than I was. It just didn‘t sink with me. I didn‘t want to drag the chorus out of the closet œ that wasn‘t the point. What is this hang-up œ it‘s OK. I lost employment for being gay œ so I just didn‘t get it.

Man X Question?

Seelig It was the Board of Directors. It was individual members. It was Ed, and I had conversations all along. We never had gone to a GALA œ why? œ those type of things hit me as we don‘t do this, we don‘t do that œ I wasn‘t here a month and we voted down marching in the gay pride parade. I was like, what the !@#$

All That started much earlier

Seelig So, what have I gotten myself into. The Baptist were….that chorus had much more of an identity crisis than….

Flake Here we were, flat broke and we tried to base it on the music was the ….. we were trying to base it on the product (inaudible)…the moment we advertised gay, we would have lost that we thought….

(tape change)

121 Seelig I still maintain that now we raised ticket prices we are competing with the Dallas Summer Musicals and the Symphony at ticket prices, but too bad…..too bad….it will be the same people every time, but….

The first spring that I had my face on the front of the voice and it said, the men behind the men…it was an article on the new conductor. I got major flack when someone asked why I thought the chorale was in the closet. I said, because the people on the board just freaked that the conductor of the Turtle Creek Chorale was on the cover of the Voice. Oh my gosh œ we‘re out now. It was the strangest thing.

Wilkinson Y‘all œ every time something happened to us, (I‘ve been on the board seven years) every time something happened to us, well, we are out now. This would happen and then it would be, we‘re out now….I‘ve heard other people say, we‘re out now. Girls, everybody knows!

Thomas Let‘s go back to that first concert at the Caruth where I said I was so moved. It was because it was an audience of gay people. They may have had their co-workers, but on stage, I venture - we got kicked out Lover‘s Lane, but our concerts had public displays of affection before the first half, after the concert, at intermission….the audience was, —hey!“…that‘s what I always saw at the concert. Nobody could go to a Turtle Creek Chorale concert and not know.

(laughter)

Jacobs All of that and more - the majority of the chorale started through bad times and is basically a gay chorale, sees itself as a gay chorale, and in support of the chorale as a gay chorale. The majority wants the chorale to be known as gay. Things happened, we got scared and we got broke. We had a conservative board that had to be responsible for pulling us out. We had Don Essmiller who wanted to create all that shit. Until we had Tim that finally pulled us out of it. The chorale has always been a gay chorale. Why have we always taken this !@#$ from everybody? Why is this happening? Not even realizing that there were a few people over here saying, we shouldn‘t do this…(inaudible)…

Thomas The transformation of the membership, I think, was the march on Austin where the chorale marched in the march and did the closing ceremony of the quilt. And I think every chorale member came back from there much more empowered as being a gay person and AIDS….

Seelig The same year we went to Seattle….

122 Young That concert before we went to Seattle, I think that was one of the most powerful things. The attitude changed totally just like it did at this GALA. The attitudes did change.

Wilson And when we came back that following August, it was a huge class of new members…

(discussion)

Davis Absolutley. I joined that during that time. 46 people universally hated by the other 80+ people that joined. That was the hardest semester I had integrating into the strangers. It took me weeks and weeks and weeks. All the new members talked to each other and nobody would talk…(inaudible)….it wasn‘t really until we sang as a chorus (at the Meyerson) until we started feeling comfortable….

Jacob I think the Requiem (When We No Longer Touch), for us, and the audience we sang for, reminded us of our responsibility œ of our great responsibility in life. What we did with the Requiem (When We No Longer Touch) œ what we did in Denver œ I think that started us on a new line of saying, we have to do this. And that started us back on our road….

123 APPENDIX E 25 YEAR HISTORY OF THE TURTLE CREEK CHORALE (Reproduced from the 25th Anniversary program by permission)

The story of the Turtle Creek Chorale is a story of vision. How the vision of a few can become the reality of thousands. Twenty-five years ago, two men dreamed a dream so big, not even they thought possible. Today, the Turtle Creek Chorale has become bigger and better than anyone ever imagined…a nationally acclaimed arts organization with a 25-year tradition of changing hearts and lives through music. Take a walk with me through memory lane as we start at the very beginning (a very good place to start). The first Turtle Creek Chorale rehearsal took place on Feb. 19, 1980, when 38 voices met for the first time under the leadership of Artistic Director Harry E. Scher, General Manager Don Essmiller and Accompanist Julian V.C. Reed. By June of the same year, 38 voices grew to a resplendent 70 at the Chorale‘s premier performance at SMU‘s Caruth Auditorium. In December, the Chorale established a tradition of festive celebrations at Thanks-Giving Square and the members enjoyed their first annual weekend retreat at scenic, if rain-soaked, Lake Texoma. The second season brought with it the second artistic director. Dr. Richard Fleming assumed the director‘s podium and Maurice Thompson joined the artistic staff as the accompanist. A new song and dance small group is formed: Showstoppers. The Chorale also began what would become a decade-long tradition of spreading holiday cheer at St. Paul‘s Hospital. In addition to performing Cherubini REQUIEM, with full orchestra, the third season garnered widespread recognition, as the Chorale placed first in Texas and third in the Southwest in the Johnny Mann Great American Choral Festival. The Board of Directors was formed to guide the future affairs of the growing organization. Michael Crawford assumed the position of Artistic Director and Turtle Creek Madrigals and Turtle Creek Jazz were born during the fourth season. Spotlight became an audience favorite and the Chorale began its liaison with the Dallas Dinner Committee‘s annual Black Tie Dinner, a relationship that continues to this day.

124 During the fifth season, the men of the TCC proudly display their new formal attire at Tux Deluxe!; perform Shostakovich‘s Symphony #13 with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra; is selected to participate in Dallas Artpicks; and celebrates Texas‘ 150th Anniversary at the Majestic Theatre as an accredited Sesquicentennial arts organization. After five years of steady growth and achievement, the staff and men of the Turtle Creek Chorale used the sixth season as a time of reflection and of dreaming even bigger dreams for the future. An appearance at the TACA Charity Ball highlighted this season. The seventh season is marked by an all out effort to set a new and higher precedent for the organization‘s future. The Turtle Creek Chorale joins, GALA, the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses, and performs its first AIDS benefit concert at Richland College with RSVP and other celebrated artists. 1987, and the eighth season, brought with it what would become a permanent fixture in the history of the Turtle Creek Chorale. Dr. Timothy G. Seelig came on board as Artistic Director. The Chorale also received a new look as it added costumes, lights, cameras and a lot more action to its already magnificent music. The men perform for the first time with the Dallas Chamber Orchestra; the Lyric Opera of Dallas; at the historic 1894 Grand Opera House in Galveston; and its premiere performance with the Miss Texas Pageant. During the ninth season, the Chorale embarked on its first out-of-state venture, as it traveled to the GALA Choral Festival in Seattle, Washington. This season, the Chorale performed Requiem–A Tribute, an AIDS memorial benefit concert, and appeared at Dallas Cares. The men also performed at the Names Quilt Project in Austin and the Dallas City Council Inauguration ceremonies. The Women‘s Chorus of Dallas (TWCD) was born. Now at 120 members, the Chorale presents an unparalleled tenth season featuring its premiere in the new Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. The Seattle Men‘s Chorus, the Dallas Chamber Orchestra, and the New Arts Six are guests this season. The Chorale also recorded its first compact disc, From the Heart. Still growing by leaps and bounds, the 150-member-strong Chorale moves its rehearsals to the Sammons Center for Performing Arts. Season highlights include singing for the inaugurations of Governor Ann Richards, and a trip to California to sing with the

125 Gay Men‘s Chorus of Los Angeles and the San Diego Gay Men‘s Chorus. The TCC recorded its second CD, Peace, and saw its first, From the Heart, voted Best Choral CD of 1990 by CHORUS! magazine. The twelfth season brings American and British royalty, as the Chorale sings for President and Mrs. Bush at Thanks-Giving Square and Queen Elizabeth at the Meyerson. Nearing almost 200 members, the Chorale becomes the largest chorus represented at GALA IV in Denver, Colorado. The Chorale premieres When We No Longer Touch: A Cycle of Songs for Survival by Composer-in-Residence and Assistant Conductor Kris Anthony. The Chorale also records Testament with major recording company Reference Recordings. This season sees the debut of small group ENCORE! The Chorale wasted no time with its second Reference Recording, John Rutter‘s REQUIEM with the Women‘s Chorus of Dallas. The now nationally recognized TCC travels to the Big Apple to make its Carnegie Hall debut. After Goodbye: An AIDS Story produced by Ginny Martin and KERA premieres. The Chorale stretches its wings in the fourteenth season by performing a fully staged version of the Wizard of Oz. The TCC is joined by the Male Chorus of Hamilton Park Baptist Church and New Arts Six in United We Sing. After Goodbye airs nationally to much critical acclaim and wins nine national awards including an EMMY. The season ends with a Tour of Texas to Austin, Denton, and Corpus Christi with reigning Miss Texas, Bo Chandler. is born. In 1994, the Chorale celebrates the milestone of its 15th Birthday beginning with Betty, Broadway and the Boys starring Betty Buckley. A Roamin‘ Holiday and Postcards are released as recordings eight and nine. The Women‘s Chorus of Dallas joins the Chorale for the Spring concert and CD #10: Family. The Chorale and the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra perform an all-German concert. The first 15 years of the Turtle Creek Chorale culminate in a historic European tour with stops in Barcelona, Berlin, and Prague. During its sweet sixteenth season, the TCC and the Women‘s Chorus of Dallas perform for the Inaugural Ceremonies of Mayor Ron Kirk and the Chorale releases CD #11 The Times of Day. The TCC is honored to perform for the Southwest Region of

126 American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Convention and 200 members travel to Tampa, Florida for GALA V. The seventeenth season is marked by three more releases: Let Music Live, The Gershwin Scrapbook and Simply Christmas. The TCC performs for the second time at an ACDA Convention–this time at the National Convention in San Diego. The Chorale travels to Austin, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi performing AIDS benefit concerts and is recognized by The Peace Center for outstanding efforts in world unity. Now legally an adult, the Chorale turns 18, releasing Twisted Turtle Tinsel, Reflections, and Celebrate! Music of the 60‘s. The TCC performed for Patriarch of Constantinople and joined once again with sister organization the Women‘s Chorus of Dallas performing a benefit concert for University Baptist Church of Austin. During its nineteenth season, the TCC hosts delegates from around the world for GALA‘s Annual Leadership Conference. Psalms and Lifelong Friends, including video enhancement, are released, and the TCC receives three Telly awards for their public service announcements. The Chorus reaches a new audience with the world premiere of Old Turtle and TCC members unanimously vote to change lapel ribbons to red and pink in support of sister chorus, TWCD, in the fight against breast cancer. The 20th Anniversary Celebration kicks off with setting the world record for the longest choral concert in history–20 hours of nonstop singing. It continues with the release of the 20th CD. The TCC‘s actual birthday, 2/20/2000, features Nell Carter. The season culminates with the world premiere of Sing for the Cure, a symphony commissioned by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, which features Dr. Maya Angelou, TWCD, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. During season twenty-one, the Chorale celebrated Black History Month with the Hamilton Park Male Chorus and SMU Professor Dr. Barbara Hill Moore, benefiting the Bruce Foote Memorial Scholarship. Bridge Builders was born and the TCC traveled to Minneapolis to sing with the Twin Cities Gay Men‘s Chorus. The Chorale joined with TWCD and the Texas Boy‘s Choir with a performance of Carmina Burana at the Meyerson. The release of the CD version of Sing for the Cure was one of the Chorale‘s proudest moments. To this day, sell of the CD benefits the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

127 Season twenty-two brought with it another trip to The Big Apple, as the Chorale and TWCD joined two Tampa Bay choruses in a performance of Sing for the Cure at Carnegie Hall. In Dallas, the TCC raised their voices in a benefit concert raising $15,000 for the victims of 9/11. Two Worlds and A Testament to Freedom were performed at the Meyerson. To A Dancing Star premiered, as did the first WFAA Holiday television special. Season twenty-three proves that the TCC is as enduring as an EverReady battery…they just keep going and going and going. This year, the Chorale sponsored the world‘s first children‘s cochlear implant choir. TCC members performed during a Dallas Mavericks half-time show. Stargazing by Composer in Residence James Granville Eakin, III, premiered. The Chorale performed the music of Sir Elton John in The Soundtrack of our Lives. Tom Wopat joined the Chorale in Everybody Loves Kristin and the Chorale performed a benefit concert for the Texas Theatre Restoration Project. The Strangerette‘s won awards at Houston Pride, Dr. Timothy G. Seelig was profiled in Philanthropy magazine, and the Chorale traveled to Atlanta, Savannah, and Little Rock. During the twenty-fourth season, the Chorale performed with icon Liza Minelli at the 2 x 2 AIDS Art Auction. The season lineup included Makin‘ A List, Checkin‘ It Twice; Classical Serenade; and Catchy Tunes. Bonus concerts included the Chorale‘s first Gay Pride Concert Free to Be Me and Highlights from Porgy and Bess. Annie‘s Songs was released in honor of one of our own, Anne Albritton. Chorale Members performed at the PFLAG National Convention in Dallas. The full chorus traveled to Montreal, Canada for GALA, where six TCC groups performed. The most heartwarming moment of the season: A special Chorale performance of Silent Night with the world‘s first cochlear implant children‘s choir from the Callier Center for Communication Disorders. My mama always told me, —You will only be twenty-five once, so live it up.“ So, here we are, in the prime of our lives. We have had a great start to our twenty-fifth season including our Festive Flashbacks holiday concert, and an invitation to perform at the National ACDA Convention in Los Angeles (every twenty-fifth Birthday should include a trip to Hollywood). We have a lot more in store including performances of Forever

128 Plaid and Voices of Light: The Passions of Joan of Arc. We hope that you will join us because, after all, what good is a birthday if you can‘t celebrate it with good friends?

129 APPENDIX F ANDERSON, PETER Current Board Chair

Date: April 2008 Time: Lunch Place: Hilton Park Cities, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Anderson I have been a singing member for 11 years. I‘m going to put quotes around that. Actually, I sang for 10 years, but the last year and a half I have been serving as board chair of the chorale and you are not allowed by our bylaws to sing and be a board member. My foremost goal is to get back to being a singing member.

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

Anderson I was aware of the Turtle Creek Chorale. I would say the AIDS epidemic was a driving factor in producing, or bringing singers together. Specifically, to the chorale and then using that vehicle or using the chorale as a way to help and nurture those afflicted with AIDS and the entire GLBT community. That really led us to where you have not-for- profits partnering in other not-for-profit arenas. Meaning, if we‘re doing fundraisers, singing and raising money for AIDS related causes, that‘s your causal marketing,. If you note, this is the same time that groups like the Komen Foundation were having their start and the cause related marketing really jumped out front. I feel like when it‘s for the AIDS (area of the AIDS) because we had so many members pass away from within our own group, the rest of the community looked to us every time someone passed away or they had a fund raiser. So we were doing a lot of fund raising for a lot of not-for œprofits. Consequently, that gets you out in the community and in front of people that may not have gone to a GLBT concert. It exposed us to, like the Komen Foundation where we were singing for the national foundation luncheon (2000 non-GLBT, kind of audience members) yet they were looking to us to inspire, provide beautiful music, and assist them in the fund raising for their cause.

Gregory Any other trends you saw happening with the organization. Is that the only reason they became successful œ because of this Komen relationship.

130 Anderson I‘m not sure it‘s the only way, but it‘s a primary way. The chorale tends to be more like a home a bit. That‘s for people like…a lot of the members feel like this is their safe place. Doesn‘t matter what they are not running from, but what‘s causing them to feel that safety in the chorale, whether that‘s during rehearsals or performances. It‘s a surrogate family for a lot of people. That speaks to the style, you know. The music that we sing gives them that warm and fuzzy feeling they are not getting from home or their own families. Especially in the GLBT community a lot of that is needed. It affects our music as well. If you have that warm fuzzy, this is my home feeling. The music is going to be totally better. It gives you more heart, I guess.

Gregory Could you please elaborate on the [top two or three] factors? Can you give me specific examples that illustrate the factor?

Anderson I don‘t think it was a conscious decision. It just happened. The consciousness about that didn‘t come until later. I think 2000…let‘s see what year was that (looking at Sing for the Cure poster). About 2000 is when what I would call our biggest community outreach.

(phone)

Anderson Our biggest community outreach that has had the greatest success in co-marketing with another not-for-profit was Sing for the Cure. And Sing for the Cure was what I would call the springboard for that light bulb to go on in everyone‘s head and perhaps that was good, perhaps that was bad. Because then it became a litmus test for which we measured everything else. I‘m not every concert can be or should be a Sing for the Cure. I think it‘s important to have those in your repertoire and be known as the people that birthed them, so to speak. But I think some of the concerts need to be really good concerts doing really good music.

Gregory During this time period of the late 80s and early 90s we had When We No Longer Touch, but that again was marketed to basically to the GLBT community in the beginning and a really tough outbreak beyond that community. That was in ”90.

Anderson This is ten years after.

Gregory And this (Sing for the Cure) is international recognition.

Anderson And I‘m sorry I forgot After Goodbye. Because that truly in the ”90s was the very first start of… that wasn‘t a co-marketing, that was a specific work done for a specific

131 audience as a result of the pandemic. It had legs because then it went on to be the television production was After Goodbye which became the incredibly popular (not popular) but seen in so many homes. It was the predecessor. It laid the ground work for Sing for the Cure.

But, that is not unlike life itself. Meaning, the AIDS epidemic was sort of the keystone or founding disease that created the ability for the Komen Foundation and some of these other movements to do what they‘ve done. The red ribbon was first. Then came the pinks and all the other colors.

Gregory And now we have bracelets.

Anderson Hello!

(chuckles)

Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

Anderson I could only speak to how decisions are made today and in the last year and a half of the board. As a singing member I could give my opinion how they were made prior to that. So, go back ten years for that.

I think a number of decisions during through the ”90s. 95-2004/05 I think most of those decisions were made by one individual who was controlling the chorale at the time. Not the board. And I think those were made by the Artistic Director and good, bad, or ugly they were made and we all lived with it.

Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

Anderson None, that I‘m aware of. I can‘t think of that. Speaking to now, and this board, and currently, we are doing everything together. This is a very open, transitional time period for the chorale and no one person has control or should have control to make some decisions that can affect the chorale in a major way. And I‘m not talking about micromanaging, I‘m talking about, we‘re in this together as a team.

Gregory Obviously, there were some leadership issues. Did the leadership change over the years?

132 Anderson The leadership changed from the board‘s perspective. And I just got…I just did my history on the board because I‘m trying to compile a listing of all previous board chairs and get that group together. As on any arts board, any board, there is a natural progression on and off. However, I do see a common thread running through the last one to 10 years where there was a little bit of, how we say in Texas, good ”ole boy, good ”ole girl system going on. Where my friend I bring on the board and they become board chair. When I leave I make sure he or she has that position. I‘m not saying that is all bad because we all have to do board recruitment.

Gregory Was the board chair the leader?

Anderson The board chair was the leader, but I‘m not sure they were able to lead and make decisions based on the current administration that was in there because that was a very strong, powerful œ not long in the tooth, but long in experience - for the position. I feel like he had (the Artistic Director of the time) felt like they had owner's rights and the board was not an owner.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Anderson Probably a five œ from previous boards. Yeah.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

Anderson It was an edict, but it was…some edicts straight away, it was a dictatorship no questions asked. But that dictator was also capable of carving and convincing you much like a Baptist preacher (I don‘t know if that‘s a good example) convincing you….it is a professor Harold Hill, —there‘s a band, there‘s band uniforms, there‘s band instruments.“ And the line from that show is, —I always think there‘s a band kid.“ That comes straight from the music man…the man itself. To make it all look as they say, there‘s a sucker born every minute.

(laughter)

133 Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the short-term pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

Anderson In the GALA Choruses there is still a bit of sensitivity when you don‘t have the word —gay“ in your name. I think based on our performances, or our, what we‘ve accomplished over the last 27 years no one takes any criticism seriously because we have the numbers to show it. We have the works to show it. We have the works not within the GLBT community, but the rest of the world. Ghettoizing yourself within a community is not a way to major outreach throughout the country and throughout the world. We have opportunities to sing because of our name œ not having it in there I feel like we never would have had by having it in there. Now, I‘m very happy to be gay and I want to continue to do everything we can for GALA Choruses, but I don‘t think it‘s a necessity.

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

Anderson Our base of our building was done through the AIDS pandemic. And because that is such a strong case, you know if you‘re building a building, our foundation are our 232 (I think it is now) members who have died of AIDS. And I say that, literally this chorale was born on the back, born physically on the backs of those who went away. It empowered the rest of us with the sense of, —we gotta do it, because they can‘t.“ And when you see the success outside, the success for the chorale to hit the rest of the world so that they get it, that‘s what we do. I mean it‘s so…empowering is the only word I can think of.

Having that ammunition inside of us makes us sing better which in fact turns out a product that people are just sittin‘ there with their mouths open. I‘ve been asked 100 times, David Davidson, my choir director at my church also the director of the Dallas Symphony Chorus has asked me 100 times: how does Tim Seelig get that sound out of you men who are volunteers, not trained professionally, most of them (99% of them). How does he do it? I keep telling him, it is our faith and experiences as gay men in the Turtle Creek Chorale. It‘s different than faith œ you could call it a kind of faith.

Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this

134 transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

Anderson Hummm….

Gregory Why did it become a success?

Anderson I would like to think it would go back to that glue, which is….it‘s really the clay that was molded by Tim Seelig. I cannot tell you that the Turtle Creek Chorale wouldn‘t be where we are today if Tim Seelig, or would be where we are today if it hadn‘t been for Tim Seelig.

You‘re looking at a bell curve here in the life of an organization. There‘s the ramp up. There‘s the start up. There‘s the creating your boards and having your products and doing so well, and you get on the other side of the curve when you can start to fall down. If that organization every time on that curve and start to waiver a little bit, doesn‘t come back over here to fix whatever problem there is. So I guess you could say that we‘ve been lucky over the years that every time we‘ve come to a downturn period, whatever, we were able to cross back over to the other side and redo œ and go over that same hill again to get back up to the top.

Gregory Who is the we?

Anderson I think it‘s a combination of boards. I think it‘s boards, officers. When I look at the early boards, now that I have a list. When you say, I want to know who the board chair was? No one could really tell you those first ten years who was the chair œ it was this group of people. And he probably was the one that became the most knowledgeable and we started to become more sophisticated. I assume that is how they finally go to the module we go to today. And even then, we are on the bell curve and we should be at the top of our game We have now crossed back over in this transition period of Artistic Directors because we have perceived that there are some flaws within our shell that we need to fix so that we can go on for another ten years or until the next time we need an overhaul. Change, change is good.

I‘m going back to: our goal right now is - we want to have the right person in the right seat on the right bus going the right direction…to steal a phrase.

135 Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

Anderson I would say, honestly, Sing for the Cure was probably, in my tenure: the best managed. I kind of saw it from both sides because at the time I was a professional fund raiser working for the Komen Foundation and the singer. That was managed the best. The most enthusiasm. The greatest end product. The most participation by the most amount of whether it was singing members, composers, music publishers. It was a grass roots fund raising program which is what I was asked to create by Nancy Brinker because that‘s the most successful one. That‘s why Races for the Cure are so successful. This was our Race for the Cure, meaning for the chorale. It has legs and still has legs. I am convinced we managed it the best. That was the moment right there in 2000 where we were goo to great.

Now, since then I think it caused some problems as well. Because it created that, everything ahs to be sing for the Cure top of the line, heal the world. Fix all the problems. Well, isn‘t going to happen, shouldn‘t happen. We‘re a community chorus. You know it should be about diversity and not doing the same old stuff all the time…or trying to. And then self examination needs to be a part of us forever….ever.

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

Anderson He is one leading the task force to create a better, for a lack of words, Turtle Creek Chorale right now. He will be conducting the four town hall meetings and compiling that. He‘s driving the committee on that. Working with the bylaws committee, which XXXX XXXXXXXX was doing that side of that so that they are working in tandem. He will be the one that will present to me, this is our product.

Gregory The four town hall meetings are to assist in this transition of the Artistic Director?

Anderson No, it is to assist in looking at every area of the choral starting with membership, followed by the staff, followed by the Artistic Director, followed by the œ on the low totem pole œ the board. Every single member, and you know that the board…every board member is a member of the Turtle Creek Choral. Dues paying member. All of those people will have their job descriptions redone, reworked so that everyone knows what is expected of you if you accept that position.

136 And we are trying not to be so business like that we forget we are a community chorus that likes to have fun.

Gregory Are there any questions we didn‘t ask, but should have?

Anderson Yeah, I mean there is no doubt that Tim Seelig had a profound effect on the Turtle Creek Chorale and I don‘t believe we would be where we are today without him. Now, that‘s not to say he didn‘t leave some bad legacy as well. It is unfortunate that we as an organization were not set up to deal with that legacy as it occurred and that we didn‘t have the right personalities to deal with it or we didn‘t have the right methods and set bylaws, or whatever you call it. Because had those bad legacies not been left, who knows where we would be. I think it‘s becoming a little more acceptable around this community that if you want to be in the Turtle Creek Chorale, you‘ve got to really audition, really love music, really love what we do and you have to contribute and not just sit there and sing.

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241) Author Summary Peter Anderson is the current Chair of the Board of Directors. His tenure was instrumental in the search and transition from Dr. Timothy Seelig to Artistic Director number five, Dr. Jonathan Palant. Beyond the transition, an evolution team has been formed to guide the chorus through marketing and public relations in an effort to maintain the chorus‘ identity. Each individual has their own poignant moment which the chorus moved from good to great and yet Peter recognized an internal and external movement. Internally, he saw the early ”90s and When We No Longer Touch and After Goodbye as community acceptance and creating the family bond that exists today. Externally, Sing for the Cure thrust the chorale onto a much larger stage. Defined as cause related marketing, Peter‘s work with Nancy Brinker and the Susan G. Komen Foundation bridged this enormous co- marketing project. Proudly, Sing for the Cure is no performed around the world. Peter‘s interpretation of past decision making and leadership within the organization is blunt. Decisions were made by one man, —good bad or ugly they were made and we all lived with it.“ The leadership team was, —How we say in Texas, good ”ole boy, good ”ole girl system going on…it was a dictatorship no questions asked. But

137 that dictator was also capable of carving and convincing you much like a Baptist preacher.“ This current evolution process has been open and transparent in decision making for the organization. Peter, the Board of Directors, and leadership have initiated the family feel back into the core of the Turtle Creek Chorale while concentration on having, —the right person in the right seat on the right bus going the right direction…to steal a phrase.“

Pinnacle moment: Sing for the Cure (2000)

138 APPENDIX G BLACK, A. G. Singing Member, Former President

Date: April 2008 Time: 10:00 A.M. Place: Residence, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Black OK, umm, I‘ve been a member since, umm, January of 1987 and other than a year off for work travel a couple of years ago, I have sung consistently for those now 20 seasons. It‘s actually 21 seasons, but that one season I had to lay out. So for 20 seasons I‘ve been, umm, I‘ve held the office of President three terms. Umm, I‘ve also been the first tenor music section leader since the inception of that role which…who knows how long I‘ve been doing that...(chuckle)…it‘s got to be 12, 13 years at least now that I‘ve done that. I‘m continuing in that role for the tenors. I‘ve also umm, I co-chaired the steering committee for the 20th Anniversary celebration and all the different activities that happened that year. I guess that‘s…and as a singing member.

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

Black Five?

Gregory Well, whatever you can think of…

Black Umm, I think our shift in venue, when we moved into the Meyerson Symphony Center, we really moved into a situation where our concert venues were known, so we knew what we could do within those. Umm, we also began to include, umm, professional musicians, small chamber orchestras, and things to go along with concert venues which up‘d our price. Umm, we began to bring in other artists to perform with us, umm, as far as our concerts, our concert venues…that, that was a change.

Umm, the growth in the membership, I mean when I started in ”87 there were 40 singers. And we‘ve been as high as 200 plus. So when you‘ve got that kind of large organization you have to build the administrative piece to support a membership that size.

139 Also, our season subscription numbers kept growing for a number of years. And we had to bring people on board to just handle, umm, those kinds of issues around season subscriber issues.

Gregory Can you think of factors involved in the membership increase? You said there were 40….how many in ‘87?

Black Right, in ‘87. Umm, we, nobody knew who we were. Umm, not even in the community, no one knew who we were…hardly. And definitely no one outside of the gay and lesbian community knew who the Turtle Creek Chorale was. I really think the turning point that began our shift to the larger community as a whole was actually our first AIDS benefit concert we did at Northwood Junior College in umm, the fall…no, the spring of ‘88. It was Tim‘s first year and, umm, we did that, we actually umm…no, I‘m sorry, it was spring of ‘87 under Michael Crawford. I just thought what happened is, because we went public about who we were and a cause that we were going to be involved with. We lost our principle accompanist because that was putting us out there and he couldn‘t go. We actually lost a few members because of it. But the flip was we gained a whole new respect from the community. Not only the gay and lesbian community, but the community at large because we had stepped out there and said we are going to join the fight and whatever. Umm…you know I really…gosh, I haven‘t thought of this in maybe never, umm, probably the thing that made people want to join us was the fact that we were all of a sudden very public and very publically hanging together as a family around, umm, mainly around the AIDS issue. It‘s in those years we created our quilt panel for the national AIDS quilt project. We displayed it and we were out there constantly doing memorial services and services where just members of congregations and stuff that knew people would be attending and all of a sudden there would be this entire group of men….umm, that became family. And it, I think it really did open, umm, open some doors for folks who said, —OK, I want to be a part of this because I can be a part of this, I can be out there and also protected œ if you will œ by being kind of part of a brotherhood and family group. They are going to look after me. We‘re not going to go down somewhere where we are all going to be embarrassed.

Gregory Can you elaborate on the season subscription increase?

Black Yes, the season subscription, I think, is because we really did begin to start doing a very wide variety of repertoire. I mean, when you do 14 languages on one concert (chuckles) that‘s kind of out there…thank you. And then we did just the entire variety. Plus within a season we were giving folks a real wide variety. We would do usually a very serious concert, various music, tough music to do. So that the musical snobs in our audience œ they got their fill. And then the next concert we would just do schlock and you know hijinks all of the stage and all kind of innuendo jokes and everything else. So the people that wanted to see that got that as well.

140

Our recordings, I think we did about that point that we also released our first recordings. That got us out there and we began to forge some relationships with some of the other arts organizations here in Dallas. So, you know, all of a sudden we were kind of everywhere.

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

Black I think conscious only in that some of these things, some of the venues, some of the different concerts, some of the different things we got involved with came to the membership as a vote. Do we want to do this? How many would be willing to do by a show of hands? But, as far as the chorale as a whole - probably not. It was more, I think, the artistic direction and the artistic vision of the leadership that was pushing in that direction. Umm, but certainly had the chorale as a whole not supported it and felt that‘s the way we needed to go, our numbers would not have grown. It would have failed. If anything, it flourished. So, to say conscious, I‘m toying with how to answer conscious decision. We knew what we were getting into and we agreed with it. But was it something that we all sat down and mapped it out and said this is where we wanted to go…no.

Gregory [If conscious decision:] To the best of your recollection, when did the Turtle Creek Chorale begin to make the key decisions that led to the transition (what year, approximately)?

Black The early ”90s. Early ”90s to. Actually probably all the way through the ”90s.

Gregory [If a conscious decision:] What sparked the decision to undertake a major transition?

Black Umm, probably just the change in the artistic leadership from Michael Crawford to Tim Seelig. Cause it really, I don‘t know if it was Tim‘s official vision, but it became apparent early on that the chorale be out there and be more accepted by the community at large and building those bridges we needed to build and do that. And certainly the other leadership roles of the chorale supported it as well. The Board of Directors supported it. The member officers supported it. So it was a, umm… But if you asked for a spark, that would probably be the spark.

141 Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

Black We did, we actually did do a series of strategic planning. I mean, there were two or three because I served on a couple of them. Strategic Planning committees where we would actually bring in an outside facilitator who would work with leadership on where does the chorale want to go and how do we get there. Now, I have to be real honest, those plans generally didn‘t go anywhere. But we did at least formally say we need a plan, we need a game plan and what do we want it to be. When I said we didn‘t follow it, the specifics that came out of those planning meetings a lot of times didn‘t happen, but the gist of where we were heading continued.

Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

Black It was basically, to facilitate our thought in branding. Who did we want the chorale to be? Where did we want them to go? And how did we want to be perceived? And they also helped to facilitate what support, internal supports. What would be the dollars it would take to do that? So we had a variety of folks come in and work with us. Some of those folks actually ended up joining the chorale organization by moving to the Board of Directors. After we kind of like brought them in, they got to know the chorale, kind of where the chorale was going and later said, —You know, I would love to be a part of this.“ I can think of three or four folks that came on the board after they actually worked for us.

Gregory I remember one consultant that became Executive Director.

Black Yeah.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Black I would say 8.

Gregory [If had confidence of 6 or great:] What gave you such confidence in the decisions?

142

Black Because for the most part, most of the decisions during that period were being made by a group of folk. It wasn‘t a single person saying this is what we‘re going to do. It really was - it was a group decision.

Gregory What time period are we again?

Black We are basically in the early ”90s œ or so.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

Black Umm, well part of it was we developed the whole committee structure which got people involved in more than just singing. All of a sudden you had other things to do to get us on tours, to, to you know, bring about a lot of the things that we became known for during that period. Umm, that actually the administration and the leadership saw very quickly that we didn‘t have the personnel to do it. We had to go out and pull in volunteer. So the singing membership was this pool of volunteers. Actually there were several seasons there where you had to sign up for a committee.

Gregory The big boards in the back of the room

Black Yeah, the big boards around the room and you had to have your name somewhere on a committee so there was buy in œ it was really buy in œ we were all working on it.

Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

Black Well, there were talks and rumors of different tours (chuckles) that just didn‘t happen. The one that I was most excited about was the big train trip across Canada, singing all the way. I would have been, you know, in the first car had we done that. But, that one actually got looked into…seriously and then it just fizzled and went to nothing.

Gregory It was way kind of expensive

143 Black Thank you œ didn‘t we have a second European tour that we were looking at?

Gregory Actually, about going to a festival, but none of the festival stages would fit the chorus.

Black That‘s right. That‘s right. So other than the tour thing, pretty much everything we talked about doing locally happened.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the short-term pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

Black Umm, OK, how did we support the whole AIDS issue? Is that the first?

Gregory Yeah. How did they handle the short-term pressures of the AIDS impact? Let‘s take them one at a time.

Black Well, we created the TCC AIDS Fund and then raising around that….

(interruption)

Gregory The AIDS Fund…

Black We created the TCC AIDS Fund to help support members in financial ways. Umm, we developed protocols and tools for folks to anonymously receive those kinds of things, as well as requests, scholarships when they couldn‘t afford to take the trips with us, things like that. So financially we were kind of helping support each other in that. In a, kind of a brotherhood way, we were certainly supporting each other emotionally through that time. Umm, through all of the different, gosh, I mean, the number of memorial services that we went through and things like that. I think we also somehow thought as our mission, if you will, because we were doing that and we were doing that so successfully we felt that when Ginny Martin approached us about doing When We No Long Touch, there was never discussion about we shouldn‘t do that. That whole PBS documentary thing the fact that you had cameras literally following you around for a year - poking into some very, very private moments for some folks. And yet, we felt we had to do it. It was our way, not only to support each other, but to just kind of support the whole effort of people need know what this is really doing. So, I guess that”s that. OK, what was the next one?

144 Gregory The —g“ word

Black Oh god.

Gregory And the lack of the —g“ word in the branding.

Black Well, unfortunately for me. This happened, that whole —g“ word controversial thing happened very early on as we became more and more involved with the GALA choruses. And it was during one of my presidency‘s that, umm… I just had such a bad time with it that I basically said I would never go back to another...

Gregory Were you the president for Denver GALA?

Black Yes

Gregory 1992

Black I was. That was, that was the worst œ that was absolutely the worst. But I also was the president during our first GALA one in Seattle.

Gregory That was ”88.

Black Right. And we were expecting to be kind of on the grill. Especially because during the GALA‘s at that time you had sessions where the presidents and the business managers, and the executive directors would come together for the choruses and just have a brief work session œ well, not really work session œ a session. I remember going into that one thinking, —somebody in this room is going to stand up and ask… why does the Turtle Creek Chorale not have gay in their…?“ I just… Because, we knew it was kind of an under the surface issue with GALA œ even when we went to Seattle. I think the reason it didn‘t surface in Seattle is because we had never performed at a GALA. They wanted to see what we were all about and they wanted to hear us.

Gregory But, it‘s the Seattle Men‘s Chorus. Did they get the same grief?

145 Black Umm, no. It was because we wouldn‘t be a part of GALA for so long that they thought there was, that we thought there was some kind of a stigma thing about it. And then when we finally showed up at the GALA in Seattle, all of a sudden —Whoa! They are a great chorus; they really do know what they are doing.“ All of a sudden we do kind of become comparable with like the Seattle Men‘s Chorus and some of the others, or Twin Cities. But we had that period from Seattle to Denver that it became very politically and all of sudden, we were beginning to have recordings coming out and then all of a sudden is was like GALA wanted us to take it on and fight the fight for all of GALA. And we said, —No, we were not going to do it.“ Denver was, Denver was not a good experience for me personally. Plus, you know, I will absolutely never forget because that‘s where we did When We No Longer Touch and we handed out the book after, in the lobby. And I actually had an officer of the Seattle Men‘s Chorus throw it back in my face and say, —This was just a PR trick on the part of the chorale“ and if you‘re not going to...you know, it just…I was just like, I don‘t understand what you‘re saying. It was almost that he said Kris had died the week before to make it that much more emotional at Denver. And I was over GALA at that point and I have never been back.

Gregory Really?

Black Yeah, and I won‘t

Gregory Oh my goodness œ let‘s change the subject.

Black Yeah. I‘ll sing at ACDA until, you know, until they have to wheel me off the stage because that‘s a whole different thing. But that so said to me, in a very personal way what that whole thing was about and what that whole movement was about at the same time. I understand, I tell folks… and I‘m not out there preaching don‘t do this. I‘m very quiet and I just sit there quietly and say, —No, I can‘t go œ I have work commitments.“ You know, which I do this year œ I couldn‘t make it to Miami if I wanted to. But, I don‘t even go there. And the thing is the folks that know me that well in the chorale know not to ask AG to get up in support of GALA - because, I won‘t. But, I also won‘t get up and saying anything bad about it. It‘s a very personal thing for me. But it was just based on a horrible experience that Denver was, that whole week. Not just that one thing, but that whole week was awful.

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek

146 Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

Black I truly believe for the majority of the membership there is a package passion about the chorale. It‘s not just about the music. It‘s not just about the brotherhood. It‘s not just about the socializing. It truly, you know. I am sure to outsiders it‘s almost kind of like don‘t drink the water during break ”cause you don‘t know what‘s in it, but there‘s got to be something‘s in it.

Gregory That depends on the year.

Black How true. (laughter) I truly believe that, I mean, for some people it is all about the music and the caliber of music that we do and perform, our performance standards that have developed for us over the years. I mean for the musician in me, it‘s certainly a part of that. The other piece is…when I say the package passion. There is that moment, or moments, in almost every concert when you feel the circle of emotion that has left the stage, return from the audience. And I have sung in chorus, large and small, all of my life and have never experience that anywhere else.

Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

Black We‘re from Texas œ we gotta do it bigger. (laughter) I don‘t know.

Gregory Well, you know there is a huge choral foundation here.

Black There is,….there is, umm, it‘s just kind of, I say that jokingly, but it‘s proven even in my work, because the Texas region, just this last week, became the first region where all the programs in the region reached a company benchmark - none of the other regions have done it. And when people ask me why, I go, —well you know, we were a Republic once. We were our own country.“

Gregory Our flags fly at the same level

147 Black Thank you. We‘ve got to do it better and first, period! Craig, I‘m laughing but there‘s a lot of truth, there‘s kind of a native mentality. Even if you‘re not a native Texan, you move here you get swept up in the, we‘re from Texas and we‘re going to do it bigger and better than anybody else.“ If you look at œ how have we, over the years, approached entertaining choruses that have come to sing with us and have come to Texas. We go over the top.

Gregory Each party gets bigger and bigger

Black Thank you. We go over the top. We want them to leave going, —Whoa, nobody else can do it like the chorale.“ That‘s probably the best way I can even answer that.

Gregory No, that was excellent

Black I‘m not sure, why did we do it first. It was just out there and it just happened. I really think it‘s driven by that native, kind of Texan drive to do be bigger and better.

Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

Black Umm, I think probably the first time I realized that folks outside of Dallas knew who we were and what we were about was when we did our concert in Carnegie Hall and we filled the place. So, that would be the kind of, that would be the point for me, personally that we, I kind of went, —whoa, folks know about us.“ Now, since that time œ sense I travel to much œ you know, just getting to know people in other places and will say, —I sing with a men‘s chorus in Dallas.“ And I cannot tell you the number of times œ now, this is just people œ this is not people from the gay and lesbian community œ this is folks out there. Will say, —Oh really? Is it the Vocal Majority or the Turtle Creek Chorale.“ And I‘ll go, —it‘s Turtle Creek Chorale.“ and they‘ll go, —Oh wow, I‘ve heard them.“ And you‘re kind of like….I‘m sorry, how does someone in Fargo North Dakota know about the Turtle Creek Chorale? You know, but somehow through all our 30 some-odd recordings, we‘ve been out there and we‘ve been heard and people know about us.

(phone)

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

148 Gregory Are there any questions I didn‘t ask, but should have?

Black Yeah, one of the things that really, really impressed me in the last year was the way the chorale went about its search for a new Artistic Director. It was absolutely amazing. It was, and I‘ll have to tell you, when Tim announced his retirement from the chorale, I had a little bit of gut, like oh god. Because I was around when Michael Crawford said he was going leave. Now, with Tim we did have the full year. Where with Michael we only had a few months after he said he wasn‘t going to be coming back the following season. But yeah, the way the search was handled was totally different which I think speaks a lot about the sophistication that is now a part of the chorale as far as the way we are trying to do business.

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241) Author Summary A.G. Black is a three term president and attributes the growth of the chorale to performing in the newly opened Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in 1990 and performing with a plethora of musicians, including presenting celebrities. A.G. also believes the strong vision of Dr. Tim Seelig and his constant pushing for performance quality as well as a drive for political and social issues kept the chorale on the forefront of media and the arts. Mr. Black held the presidency during two GALA conferences; neither of which were a positive experience for him. The 1988 Seattle GALA dealt with the chorale not being members of GALA for a number of years (the chorale was involved in the formation of GALA, see Ed Young interview) and the first performance by the Turtle Creek Chorale at a GALA event. The second GALA issue was in Denver, summer of 1992, where the chorale caught the brunt of the issue of not having —g“ in the name (it was discovered that only one-third of the GALA choruses had —gay“ in their name). He says he‘ll have to be wheeled off an ACDA stage, but has no interested in attending another GALA conference. In the late ”80s and early ”90s the chorale was growing at a fast pace. Volunteers were needed for a number of tasks to maintain operations at such an increasing pace. A committee structure was formulated and A.G.‘s leadership team placed poster boards around the rehearsal room to encourage involvement at any level of expertise.

149 A.G. Black sums up the Turtle Creek Chorale success with, —I really think it‘s driven by that native, kind of Texas drive to do and be bigger and better.“

Pinnacle moment: Carnegie Hall performance (1990)

150 APPENDIX H BUTLER, MARGARET —TRIGGER“ Partner of deceased principle accompanist, Anne Albritton, and longtime chorale supporter

Date: April 2008 Time: 5:00 P.M. Place: Residence, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Butler Just to the piano player. Craig, my roll in the Turtle Creek Chorale, my perspective comes from one of innocence. I do mean to tell you, if you laugh out loud I won‘t do this interview with you. But I need to tell you that through Anne Albritton who was the accompanist from approximately 91 or 2 until 2002, as Anne‘s partner so much of the music not only played in Anne‘s head and on the piano, but played out in words over a vodka tonic or late nights on the couch or sitting on the back porch. And if there were anything on earth Anne did really well, it was to recognize the programming and she had great skills that way. So I come to the chorale only as an observer to some extent and then primarily through Anne and the music. But it took less than a year for me to begin to see the chorale beyond the music into the lives of the men who sing, who sang, into the lives of the men who were staff members and office members and board members. And suddenly the Turtle Creek Chorale was both music and the men.

For the first time in my life Craig, I know about 300 men all of whom seemed to be happy. All of whom treated me and Anne as if we were absolutely the most wonderful people. We were the only two Tuesday night after Tuesday night. In the beginning I went every Tuesday night of the world. But they were men who knew something about each other that made them different from any man I had ever known. Plus, these men could sing like music. I mean they would sing music like I never heard before. I could sit after a year and watch men from my seat at the Meyerson or wherever watch 250-300 men so totally focused on what they were doing that distractions were unheard of. I mean, there didn‘t seem to exist distractions. They were a men, a chorus that I simply had trouble believing were really true.

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

151 Butler Craig, I think people always want more. And as Tim Seelig and the Turtle Creek Chorale began to grow in ‘91 when I first was here and ‘92 and 3 when Anne was the accompanist, there was a certain phenomenon that happened on Sunday and Wednesday [season subscriber nights] evenings for that‘s what we had then. And it was almost as if one year had to outdo in programming, in presentation, in content then the year before. Either because that was sensed by the director from his audience or either it was both members and director saying, —if we‘ve done this, we can do more.“ Craig, I believe not just one ego was responsible for that upward shift. I think the audience wanted more and more and more. Then wanted not only the classic, but the less than classic, and then wanted the traditions and the untraditional. And year after year, if you‘re going to have a chorus that does traditional things and new music, or whatever, you have to shift up to make all of that happen. To please your audience. To please your members.

Then I think there were personal factors. I think men saw themselves congratulated in a way perhaps they had never experience. They were members of the Turtle Creek Chorale. All of a sudden the notoriety. All of a sudden the expectations were such that shoulders went back and heads went up and men took on some, I really do believe, became larger than life. You anticipated seeing certain members of the chorale every year. And so to shift upwards….

Also, the chorale became really big business or so it appeared to all of us in the audience. And when you have business expanding, then again acceleration, wider interests, more people want to hear all of a sudden Sunday and Wednesday are not enough. You add six or seven Christmas performances, ten appearances in small groups. And you have the television and you have radio and…. The shift up comes as naturally as can be when a chorale and a person, if you will, is on its way up. Is moving beyond his routine. Moving beyond the boundaries he or she has always known. And Craig, when an audience appreciates what is being done on a stage by the men, by the director, by the musicians. Don‘t you think it‘s natural to shift up? Put in gear.

Gregory Could you please elaborate on the [top two or three] factors? Can you give me specific examples that illustrate the factor?

Butler Absolutely. Conscious effort took the form of Craig and Tim and Antoine and Anne going to seminars, workshops all day and all night. A retreat format where you did absolutely nothing but brainstorm and plan and pick each others brains and say where do we go from here?

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

152 Butler Gosh, I would guess….Craig, from ”93 or 4 to 2000 primarily…for me….I think. Umm, Craig the acceptance of a city… The acceptance by a city of a gay men‘s chorale or chorus where season memberships were, you had gay and straight. You had female and male. The cross section was unbelievable. And when you program to meet those kind of expectations and needs, then again, you have to plan more, you have to produce more.

Gregory [If conscious decision:] To the best of your recollection, when did the Turtle Creek Chorale begin to make the key decisions that led to the transition (what year, approximately)?

Butler (Long pause) Craig that will really be hard for me because I can‘t….it‘s almost an impossible feat for me that Tim was at the foundation for this. I don‘t think he could have done it alone, but his energy and his absolute gall, his unabashed pleasure at success, at succeeding and have men succeed along with him, umm, moved people to greatness. Umm, but Craig, he may have been the front man, but behind him was a Craig Gregory and an Anne Albritton and a chorus of 250 men and a staff of 10 or 12.

Everybody surely, whether consciously or not, made that decision. I think around 93 or 4. That‘s what I would think.

Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

Butler Craig, I‘m aware again through Anne and personal relationships with Tim that there were committee meetings, there were board meetings, there were staff meetings. There were meetings within the chorale, but I think Tim had the last say over every single thing. And what he….I think he listened…he learned to listen. (inaudible) But he learned to listen. All of a sudden, all of you, all of the staff the people he listened to primarily, you and Anne and others helped make those decisions. Now, I need to say to you that there seemed like Craig, there was always trouble with the board and always trouble with the governing group. And there was never enough money. And there was a confusion over aims, umm, and confusion perhaps even of purpose at times. So, Craig ideally I think the decisions were made, as I said, by groups within the chorale, by citizens, friends of the chorale. Your advisory groups like the Board of Directors and your volunteer groups. But basically, these decisions were made by a small group and I would have thought that would be you and Tim.

Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

153

Butler If he did, it had to do with the technical aspects Craig. And because Tim was because, not….didn‘t have background in sound or lights and production. And he had to have help that way. So, I think he did pay attention where he didn‘t feel he was….

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Butler Eight.

Gregory [If had confidence of 6 or great:] What gave you such confidence in the decisions?

Butler Because I saw what had happened to a group of men and Anne and an organization that had struggled. Whether it was due to finances or HIV/AIDS, or whatever, and all of a sudden with this unrelenting soul named Seelig they pounded the pavement. They stood on the risers. They went here and there and then they practiced and practiced and practiced so that the performance for the audience would be a superior one. It just got better and better and bigger and bigger. Again Craig, because I was close to Anne and Tim my confidence level was very high. It was certainly painfully obvious at times because of comments over the bridge table, or at retreat, or whatever that maybe mine was a little naïve. My judgment or my ideas about success and all that were a little naïve.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions? You may have just answered this. Or Tim, either way you want to look at it, get commitment and alignment.

Butler It was a faith….but it was a belief. It was a belief. Whether we…. Craig, Anne Albritton would cry. Would cry because Tim‘s manner at times had been unrelenting, mean. And then she would stay up 24 hours to have ready for whatever changes he wanted, or whatever needs he had, or whatever. She might use all kinds of profanity and then go upstairs and stay 24 hours, or whatever it took, until everything was written just the way he had wanted it.

Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

154 Butler Anne thought at times when Tim didn‘t get enough input with regards to program that some of it was not always, umm,

Gregory Tim didn‘t give enough input?

Butler Right. Tim would look up from the keyboard and say, —What‘s this all about. What is this all about?“ And then she might or might not, Craig ask, —what is it?“ And there were times when she thought he was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant…

Craig, what you must know is… I don‘t read music, I hear music, I listen to music. So, I loved the music because of the sounds and the looks on the men‘s faces and the… interaction from the stage with the audience. Tim grew in his job Craig.

Umm, success for everyone including yourself and this chorale, I think, pushed him, pushed him, pushed him, pushed him and the last thing he ever thought about was budgets, and the people who had to live with them or raise the money for them and whatever. I‘m sure this creative, no-end caused problems. But Craig, how do we, how do you argue with success. Or how do you write about success in a dissertation when you see what men are able to do for 10 years, 15 years in a row and there was a presence among them. I mean, the soloist sing with presence. The conductor conducts with a presence. The fairies dance with a presence. (laughter) It‘s success born out of practice and trust. And plus, Craig, gay men…need, have outlets… had this chorale and everything it was about for their creative needs and their outrageous needs and all of a sudden you had men who could harness, it wasn‘t just…way out everywhere œ you had people who could bring this creativity together and make it happen. Oh, and when the concerts would go three hours, Anne would come home and use the worst language. —I called it! I told him we would be in there three hours. But would he take that out and would he listen? No way!“

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the short-term pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future? Those are three very tough ones in one question œ take them one at a time if you want.

Butler The only way, I think, the chorale members could have addressed HIV/AID was to take care of each other. And Craig, this is from the director up and down from the membership all around from the partners of the members of the chorale and staff. We all took care of each other. Whether it was food and notes, or transportation, or money, or whatever it seemed like we all had something to do. And Craig, this doesn‘t mean we all did something. It just meant, I just mean it seemed we all did something. And there were others whose main job everyday was to direct the activities of us to try and take care of

155 the needs of the others. And this came out of the chorale. This was a need, and man. Men drove to doctors appointments and sat in hospital waiting rooms and answered emergency calls. And had people come and stay at their homes, or whatever. It was people… it was men taking care of men and families taking care of men, and whatever. And it was a time that I think that men were afraid…sometimes. And it seemed like a three hour rehearsal or a two day retreat or a three day performance, or two day three night performance took away for just a while, the preoccupation you had with partners infected, or am I positive or negative, or whatever. But I do think it was people taking care of people. And the chorale members and the director were unafraid to address the problem. They didn‘t duck and run. They didn‘t put it on back burner. They didn‘t pretend it didn‘t exist. Just the opposite. From the stage, in the rehearsals, in letters to the editor, in interviews….whatever…that is…that is how they addressed the present situation.

Gregory What about the —g“ word. The —g“ word has never been a part of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s name or its branding.

Butler I have heard it cussed and discussed. Cussed at an organization called GALA. Why on earth if you are a gay men‘s chorus, umm don‘t you have the —g“ word there? And all I heard was from the onset, you know men a lot gayer than I put this chorus together and never felt odd about it. Turtle Creek is infamous in Dallas. Infamous in Dallas. It is the perfect, I mean, you say Turtle Creek, you think Dallas. Turtle Creek Chorale you think a group of men from Dallas. There was never, the best I can tell, except in GALA and other kind of organizations like that, ever the need to be so pushy about the gay word. Craig, do you know that being gay and singing. For the first time in my life, I looked at men and the music superseded life choice. So, I was delighted by that. I didn‘t think about that. But I can, oh, I can hear Tim talk and GALA people talk to the women‘s chorus. You‘re leaving gay out of the women‘s chorus. It was not ever necessary of what people on the outside, I don‘t think, how synonymous Turtle Creek was with excellence…with the best. So why not have a Turtle Creek Chorale. For as long as I have lived, coming to Dallas to visit my aunt when I was old enough in 1944 or 5, you wanted to go along Turtle Creek. You wanted to drive through Oak Lawn, down Turtle Creek to Highland Park shopping area and on to Shenandoah where they lived. It was just associated with the best.

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

156 Butler Call it schmaltzy if you want. There is a determination and there is a spirit in both the membership and the leadership, Craig, that is as powerful an energy as I know…anywhere…anywhere.

Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

Butler Cause there is a charisma and an energy within the Turtle Creek Chorale and its membership that is unequalled anywhere. And that means, we would go to GALA or we would go to Europe or wherever we were, whether we liked the man or not, or respected the man or not œ there was an energy that directed that upward shift. That drive to be better than we though we could be. To do more than we thought we could be. But Craig, it doesn‘t happen unless the membership says they buy into it. Absolutely! Yes sir! And that is what I think is the charisma part. And Craig, you don‘t have to place this for everybody, but I‘m worrying a little bit now after October and December, I‘m anxious to see and hear the chorale in the Meyerson. And hope against hope that those of us in the audience relate and feel that energy that we‘ve always known. And Craig, like it or not, it begins with the conductor and manifests itself in the music. How it‘s performed. How it‘s…and when you have men saying they don‘t like the music and …

Gregory And they‘ve said that for twenty years.

Butler Exactly. So how do you count that I should be worried at all or whatever.

Gregory Change

Butler I guess so.

Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

Butler (pause) Craig, men were unafraid to be themselves. They truthfully sang from the risers at the Meyerson with a spirit that gay and straight and female and male could all identify

157 with and it had nothing to do with lifestyle choices. We were literally swept up in sounds that human beings were making. And so I would say without an hesitation that….Craig, almost every concert provided that. That, that I would say it was, it was the concert itself and singers that made that happen. It was the spirit. And we, and you were… If you sung, you sung with this spirit that says, you know, I am me, I am delighted, I have worked hard. And my word, umm, the sounds were unparalleled as far as community choruses were concerned. The sound was big. The sound was enveloping. The sound was uncommon. You thought a big choruses like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or something like that, or the Robert Shaw Chorale. You thought they were something very far away and couldn‘t touch them and you knew they were so good. All of a sudden here were 250 sometimes 300+ men who were making sounds that 2,000 people wanted to hear and pay big money to go. And it was the sound. It was the singer. But boy that director and the staff had worked a long time. To get to that point.

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

Gregory Are there any questions I didn‘t ask, but should have?

Butler Craig, the movement, the choral movement, it‘s obviously important if there are 20,000 choruses œ If there are 20,000 choruses. And there‘s got to be enjoyment or there wouldn‘t be. Why do think there are this many choruses, and why do you think only 3 [gay and lesbian choruses] number in excess of 100 and have a budget of a million dollars? So, is the other just recreational singing I guess?

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241) Author Summary Margaret —Trigger“ Butler is the partner of Principal Accompanist, Anne Albritton. A horrendous loss to Trigger, the chorus, and the choral community, Anne succumbed to cancer in 2005. Trigger‘s perspective, —comes from one of innocence.“ Through Anne‘s music and late night conversations, Trigger experienced the level of commitment required of Anne; both the good and the bad. Trigger saw the growth of the Turtle Creek Chorale as a conscious effort; conscious, in the ability of the artistic staff to over-achieve. The audience wanted more of the sound and programming, and the artistic staff was willing to provide more at any cost. Success of the men, spirit, and energy began at the top. —I don‘t think he (Tim Seelig) could have done it alone, but his energy and his absolute gall, his unabashed pleasure at

158 success, at succeeding and have men succeed along with him, umm, moved people to greatness.“ I feel she sums it all up in, —that is as powerful an energy as I know…anywhere…anywhere.“ Each of Annie‘s arrangements and original compositions had a simple motif of —I love you Trigger.“ Through the music of Anne Albritton and the stories of Trigger Butler, this partnership is for eternity.

Pinnacle moment: the Meyerson sound (1990)

159 APPENDIX I CURRY, DARYL Singing member and former board member Date: April 2008 Time: 12:30 P.M. Place: Residence, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Curry I joined the chorale in August of 1983 and sang all but one concert until I dropped out after we sang the October concert in the year of 2000 (Daryl is singing the 07-08 season). And during that course of 17 years I sat on the board a couple of times as a singing member and other than that my responsibility was to enjoy the camaraderie and sing in the chorus…

Gregory Were you an officer or you serve as a singing member on the board?

Curry No, I was never an officer œ I never wanted to be.

Gregory What was your connection to the board?

Curry I was actually drafted onto the board. I don‘t know how much you know of the history of the chorale that you know, but do you know what happened with Don Essmiller?

Gregory So this was much earlier….

Curry When that all happened with Don Essmiller œ that caused a huge riff and a significant number of board members vacated their seats. At that time there was no stipulation on what the make up of the board was œ it could be all singing members. Of course that all had to change when we had our status change and grants and all that stuff. They actually drafted me - I found out about that when I came home from a trip and they said, oh by the way you are on the board and I‘m like, —no, I‘m not.“ And they were like, —yes you are.“ So I served on the board for two or three years during that period.

160 Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

Curry Oh, you know, yeah, I can think of many reasons why it happened. But, I think it was a compilation of many things happening all at one time.

Gregory What things were those?

Curry I think primarily, you have to look at the context of what was happening politically, what was happening socially, and what was happening locally. And also on a more global level (if you will) at least a nation-wide level. There was a time in the late to mid 80s when we first starting hearing about HIV and AIDS and we had the Reagan administration which wouldn‘t even utter the word. All that did was instill, I think, in the people fear, primarily and also the reluctance to talk about it made the people that were affected to have to force the issue œ it forced those people to have to do a more personal level. Does that make sense? As that whole historical perspective of that entity progressed through the 80s and early 90s œlong before were any effective treatment. And as people were dying and whatever there was a need for comfort. There was a need for a source of strength for people. There was a need for a source of society and camaraderie. And there was a need for a goal œ of working toward a goal. At that time the treatment was the goal. And maybe even the goal was awareness which would ultimately lead to treatment and cure whenever that may occur. I think that was the main thing. We were a community specifically, but we were also, I think you can broaden that to a county and even a world that was hurting and confused. And was in need of some thing to help assuage whatever that is. And it wasn‘t coming from any other sources, it didn‘t seem to be. So I think that was a big factor of why the TCC œ it was a good time for the necessary building blocks for a community chorus to blossom and grow to do so. Because we had the political intent, if you will. We had the need psychologically. We had the need and we had the where with all, a director that could carry that forward and nurture that and carry that forward and use it.

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

Curry If there was a conscious decision I wasn‘t aware of it. Now there was a consciousness within the chorale. Obviously, a group of men that had one thing in common: their homosexuality was an understood thing and it was also something that was not talked about, it was not advertised, it was something that when people would say, —oh, it‘s a gay chorus.“ —Oh no, we‘re not the Dallas gay chorus, we are the Turtle Creek Chorale.“ Sexuality aside…it was kind of like the red headed step child. It was there but it was not

161 something that was not used in any way to promote the chorale or to explain the chorale or anything else. I joined the group and didn‘t know it was a gay organization….if you can believe that. It was the first rehearsal and I was like, —whoa.“

I don‘t think there was a conscious decision, but as we œ the first three years I was in the group the conductor was Michael Crawford (who was a straight man). I think he came to the point where he œ it was a surprise. I was on the board of directors when he stepped out. Out of the clear blue it was here‘s my letter of resignation and we were like, —what?“ I remember distinctly when he tendered his letter, —This group is growing in a way that I can‘t keep up with it. I can‘t explain it. You need someone that can lead you where this group is going.“ He suggested we look for a gay man to help direct us and use that as…and he said, —I can direct you from now on, but I don‘t have the capacity on any level to take this choir where it seems to be going.“ What do you say to that? Yeah, OK, I guess we‘ll accept your resignation then OK. I remember him as part of his…there were only four of us at that board meeting…oddly enough.

Gregory Do you remember the four by any chance?

Curry Well, Michael Sullivan was one. Bob Teal was one. Paul…only two people who are still alive are me and Michael Sullivan. Paul…umm, what was his last name? We called him Phoebe. There were four or five of us that were there. The Board of Directors wasn‘t huge; I think there was only ten of us at that time. P{aul Arn was on the board and he left early œ I may be remembering that incorrectly, but there were some that left the meeting early before he gave his resignation. So, there was an understanding that something was happening and who knows what it was. I don‘t. Particularly, but there was a….when I joined the group, I was member 39 and I think there were five people that joined that year with me. By the end of Michael‘s three years, I think the group had grown to maybe 70 or 75 without any effort...really. So I think there was a need. The answer to that is…the basic answer to that is there was a need in the community for something.

We talk about the political context, but you need to look at the religious context as well. I think all of us have religion thrust upon us as well. Whether it is the family that takes you to church and Religion permeates our society. And as a gay person, I‘m not aware of any religion that embraces the lifestyle and says it‘s OK. So, I think as a result of that, many of us, as a group, tend to separate ourselves from any type of organized religion (or organized church I should say); which is where you would naturally go for comfort, and solace, and answers. So many of us felt, —no, that‘s not my answer.“

Gregory Or going to the church to find the answer and being turned away.

Curry So I think that the chorale kind of became church as well. Not that it was a religious experience, but it became that outlet, if you will. We were sharing pain. We were sharing

162 joy. We were sharing experiences with people that we related to and had the same... Not that we were the same person or the same background but we had that common thread that brought us all together. So, I think that was another factor that lead to our growth at that time.

Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

Curry There have been several. Many transitions. Well, I think there‘s probably a number. I don‘t think there is blanket statement that would cover all decisions. As an example, this whole thing with Donald Essmiller. It wasn‘t until he was sick or gone or something that Bob Teal…oh no, Bob Teal had become President œ he was elected President of the body and he was going through some papers and had asked Don about something and Don was unable to answer the questions. So one time when Don wasn‘t in the office he started looking through all these files and stuff and said, —Oh my gosh!“ that‘s sort of when the shit hit the fan.

So, I think that in each œ I would think that probably at each juncture there was a person (at least a person) who was a stimulus and at least started the dialogue that led to discussion amongst the members and whatever that moved toward getting things changed or moved forward or corrected or whatever.

Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

Curry I think through the years, yeah, there probably were. Again, I wasn‘t… I did not want to be…I wanted my musical experience to be a musical experience. So a lot of times I would step away; except for the time that I was drafted to be on the board. I usually said let somebody else handle that. I remember there was one board retreat where there was some corporate person there that was giving us direction that would give us more direction and make it more of a corporation. How to make it successful on a business level and some things that we could to have a successful Board of Directors. How to have financial stability…

Gregory This was the mid-80s

Curry Yeah, I can‘t remember that woman‘s name œ we had to do all these weird ass things.

163 Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Curry I would say, most of the time 9.

Gregory [If had confidence of 6 or great:] What gave you such confidence in the decisions?

Curry I think the leadership. I think any organization that has a good strong leadership œ it‘s just like an example of the administration in this country now. I have no confidence in them. A strong leader can convince anyone of anything. If you tell people over and over that it‘s good, they‘ll believe anything.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

Curry Again, I think that when you have confidence in your leaders and Board of Directors (which were the business end) and I know there is a blurring of lines for many years. There was still that confidence of a group that were not the singing membership that had our best interest in mind…in heart…whatever. They were the ones that were responsible for making sure that we had the financial stability and vision. I think putting the right people in those leadership roles is what instilled the confidence in me. As an example, Kay Wilkinson. I don‘t know if you are going to talk to her œ she‘s an excellent person. Just from the perspective of the business end of it. I don‘t know if people know this or not, but she is responsible for that whole endowment thing. She was single-handedly responsible for that in my opinion.

Gregory She‘s responsible for a lot of things

Curry She‘s one of many people that did put themselves out there and seemed to put the chorale first and their daily activities œ even they weren‘t a singing member per say, or performing member.

Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

164 Curry Well, you know I think we had successful concerts and we had some that weren‘t so successful. We had some things that I thought… There are a couple of concerts that stand out just being to me as being very…. That whole Richard Stemmons concert. Don‘t you remember that concert where…

Gregory Richard Stemmons, I think was just before me.

Curry I just thought that was the worst. To parody gay people the way the world saw gay people with the worst flamboyant. Can we not portray a positive image here? Whatever!

Gregory I think it was a Christmas concert.

Curry It was a Christmas concert. You know, that was the first time that Tim and I had riff. Because I was vocal about it. I said, I just don‘t get this. I don‘t understand why we were doing this. I guess I was always vocal in my opinions. Now that I‘m singing again, I‘m thinking Jonathan is sometimes like, —oh no, not him again.“ I‘m a person that speaks out. Because I feel this is a commitment for me. I‘m putting my name, my talents, and my money into the organization. If I have an opinion and if they honor it, it‘s immaterial, but I feel I need to express it. So I do.

Gregory Good for you!

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the short-term pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

Curry Well, there was a lot of issues with that. I remember the first year that somebody wanted us to walk in the gay parade. You would have thought they were asking everybody to donate their left kidney. (laughter)

I‘m not kidding. At that rehearsal I thought there was going to be blood shed. I thought it was going to violent. There was shouting. There was…it just really got out of control over just walking in a parade and making that statement. Because I think that so many…I think again, it was a sign of the times. We were the late 80s. The world wasn‘t comfortable with gay. It wasn‘t until ”Will and Grace‘ and you see it on TV now that people are starting to have some level of comfort and realizing that people are like…I think a lot of us were raised in that era of thinking gay people are pedophiles and sex

165 addicts and everything about them is negative. That‘s what we learned in church and school. There can‘t be anything good about that. I think the people who were vehemently opposed to the gay word…they thought that would automatically alienate. It would automatically turn off a huge percentage or our listening…our potentially listening audience. And for a group that had the ability to reach people on a music level didn‘t feel it was a very good trade off to advertise ourselves as a gay men‘s chorus. Personally, I think it was a good decision to leave the word gay out of our name and to let the gay become evident in our words and our deeds. Which did happen. Which has been a very good, safe, bridging mechanism toward the non-gay community.

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

Curry Probably vision. And again, leadership. And I think Tim was a master. He could convince people to do anything. That‘s one of his charms and one of the things that‘s magical about him. That he could convince people. And he‘s a strong personality. All that stuff we know about him. And I think that having him be the person who spearheaded all that bridge building was the perfect person at the perfect time to do so. You know, it‘s all about marketing and selling yourself. And convincing that other organization that they are going to benefit from this partnering relationship. I‘m sure there have been organizations that said that we can‘t do that. Well, we even know about C Clauson That was a huge bridge that was built and until the last minute it went up in flames. And that was a really sad comment, not on the chorale, but for the religious community. And I think ultimately people saw that as a reflection of what it truly was.

Gregory She was even told later that she should have done it. But, what do you do?

Curry Right. What do you do? I think it‘s a combination of the person who‘s doing it and the person or organization whom we are extending ourselves and having the history to say who else has done and who has benefited from it. That‘s how it works.

Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

166 Curry The primary reason for that was the excellence of programming, the excellence of performance, and the level…I mean, anybody can pick up CD‘s or whatever of choruses and look….we were listening to one recently and I was like, I‘ve got to leave this room. It was so horrible. When you have something…to make yourself excellent, you have to work toward it. Again, I think Tim was the right person at the right time. Because one of the big differences that I see between Tim and Jonathan is that Tim is a performer first. He understood what that meant. It‘s one of the fears I have with Jonathan Even though I love him to death and I think it‘s the right person to come after Tim. He doesn‘t understand, like Tim understood, what the audience wanted and needed and also our technique and our vocal technique set us apart I think.

Gregory I‘m going to add a question to this because I am really, really curious. Did Tim have that when he first started?

Curry Yeah, he did. It was obvious. I was on the search committee that found Tim. It was me, Michael Sullivan, and a guy named Bubba Smith. There were three of us. We pared it down and we each had one candidate we looked at ultimately. Michael Sullivan called me and said give it up. The person that is perfect for this job came to me and handed me his resume. He came to me. I just spent an hour with him at the Black Eyed Pea and there is no doubt in my mind. He said, —we are not even going to put another name forward.“ And I said, —no, that‘s not…we‘re not doing this because you say so.“ There are several people who are going to a say so œ and an equal say so other than me. So we met with him and they had their audition thing in the lower down part of Thanksgiving Square. That‘s where they auditioned. Tim came and auditioned in that lower waiting area on the inside and it was obvious to every single person in that room that he had something that the other person…we didn‘t know about technique….we didn‘t know about vocal or anything else. We knew this man had what we needed and wanted in a leader based on what Michael Crawford said he was lacking (to put it kind of in context). So he was the right person at the right time. And that‘s why he endured for twenty years. Because he understood on a visceral level what we needed and he needed that too. He was the right person to encapsulate that and to carry it forward.

Gregory Keep the momentum going...

Curry Plus, Tim is egotistical œ even he would never refute that. Once Tim realized that he could train us œ like if you can train 10 monkeys to do it, 20 will be a lot more significant. That‘s why we had goals for membership. I was like, —oh my gosh, he‘s letting these people in here that can‘t even carry a tune just so they‘re on the risers.“ Which did happen, there were several people….

167 Gregory There were goals for membership?

Curry Yeah, there were goals in membership. There were people that were going through the audition process that you would have thought… There were many times I was on the audition committee and I would be like, —ok, show up on Tuesday.“ I‘m like, “what?“ You know, I think a lot of times it was about numbers and program because he knew from a performance level that that person‘s one little thing is never going to stand out. And people around that person would drown out any bad stuff. I‘ve always thought that a good chorale sound requires a few people to sing sharp and a few people to sing flat to make that sound because I think it just adds meat to the sound and I think Tim understood that.

Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

Curry Well, the first thing that I think of is the first time we were in…the first time that we stepped outside of the Dallas box (if you will) for me it was the first time we sang at GALA. We knew we were good. But, it was the first time that we pitted ourselves against our peers.

Gregory And that was Seattle?

Curry This was Denver. ”Cause I think the first one in Seattle was kinda‘ not well attended. I think we performed there, I think we just went as a contingency. The first singing I remember was Denver and I think that was the first affirming thing. At least for me, it was the first thing I remember that I said, —Oh my god, we really are good. Oh my god, we really are exceptional at what we do.“ Because we had days and days of seeing people doing the same thing but they just weren‘t doing it exceptionally.

Gregory Doing the same thing, not doing the same thing.

Curry. Exactly. I think that was for me the exceptional…like I said I sang in wonderful choirs before and had wonderful experiences and stuff. That was for me when we thought we were as good as we really thought we were.

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

168

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

Gregory Are there any questions we didn‘t ask, but should have?

Curry I think that the bottom line for me was it was nurturing. It gave…it filled a void that I needed, that I had…it filled a void for me that I had psychologically, socially, I mean medically. Back in the 80s I wouldn‘t go get because, as a physician it was a death sentence. If I found out I had it I would worry myself into the grave. As long as I don‘t know it, I won‘t get sick. It was my balance for me. It was the balancing factor for me. I‘ve thought about it many times. Why is…why was it for me….music? And I think, well, I‘m a musical person and I know people that aren‘t that still go to music for comfort. You think about, you know, historically. What does a baby do when a baby cries; a mother picks it up and sings to it. When wild animals are acting out at the zoo are acting out, they pipe in classical music to calm the beast. So music has that effect on people and wild creatures. So, it just hit me on a more personal level I think. It just filled those needs.

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241) Author Summary Daryl Curry provides insight to the growth of the chorale prior to 1987. —You have to look at the context of what was happening politically, what was happening socially, and what was happening locally.“ He recalls the third Artistic Director‘s resignation, Michael Crawford saying, —This group is growing in a way that I can‘t keep up with it. I can‘t explain it. You need someone that can lead you where this group is going.“ Daryl also brings a perspective shared by this researcher regarding religious acceptance. —We were sharing pain. We were sharing joy. We were sharing experiences with people that we related to and had the same…common thread that brought us together.“ At a time when men and women were coming out, the church was no longer there for them to turn to. The chorale became family, church, and solace. The —gay“ issue proved difficult within the chorus. Early on, when asked to march in the gay pride parade, Daryl said, —you would have thought they were asking everybody to donate their left kidney. At that rehearsal, I thought there was going to be blood shed.“ He does share the sentiments of the majority, that the —g“ word is best not in the Turtle

169 Creek Chorale name, —Which has been very good, safe, bridging mechanism toward the non-gay community.“ Daryl has found himself through music. Further research might determine if more community chorus singers share the same perspective. —Why was it for me…music? What does a mom do when a baby cries; a mother picks it up and sings to it. When wild animals are acting out at the zoo, they pipe in classical music to calm the beast. So music has that effect on people and wild creatures. So, it just hit me on a more personal level I think. It just filled those needs.“

Pinnacle moment: GALA (1992)

170 APPENDIX J DAVIDSON, SCOTT Singing member Date: April 2008 Time: 11:00 A.M. Place: Office, Arlington, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Davidson Well, I‘ve been involved with the chorale for 21 years. I‘ve sung first tenor from the day that I went into the chorus. Involvement? I mean, I‘ve only missed one concert in the whole 21 years and that was due to health issues.

Gregory Did you ever get politically involved?

Davidson No. I have no reason, I do not want to be politically involved. And I‘ve never gotten involved in the leadership of it. I‘ve stood on the backside of it and watched as a member were called upon in need and I would be there.

Gregory Good for you, good for you œ I think it probably saved you.

(laughter)

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

Davidson Five things that caused that…

Well, first thing, number one is the Artistic Director. Number two would be the quality of the repertoire that we were doing œ that would be number two. Yet for the budget to soar as high as it was going œ to produce some of the quality of the shows that we were doing, you know, you had to spend money to make money.

As far as the, I guess the upswing in membership, obviously, if you‘ve got the finest men‘s chorus going, you have people who want to be a part of that. So that kind of….read that question one more time…

171 Gregory Five factors that caused an upswing in budget, notoriety, staff, membership…and again, I‘m looking at your place œ where you saw the large growth occur. Again, I‘m looking at the 80s to 90s. You may have a different place.

Davidson The staff, you get a larger staff just from the shear numbers standpoint of the chorus and the budget that was there. And you needed fund raising. You needed, just to manage the whole chorus, you had to have a larger staff.

Gregory Could you please elaborate on the [top two or three] factors? Can you give me specific examples that illustrate the factor?

Davidson Well Ok, Tim…obviously he has a very strong background in music. The programs he put together were very varied. He was not afraid of taking that leap and because of that he took the risk and because he took the risk, were the pay offs. And I think some of his visions (such as Sing for the Cure) because those were out there and he bucked, I guess the board, to go ahead and do things like that. He had the balls to take them out there and let the axe fall where it did. What was the second?

Gregory Quality of product?

Davidson I think it speaks for itself. We are the most recorded men‘s chorus in the world. There‘s a reason for that. Reference Recordings because of the sound we had. I mean, that is one that that every chorus in GALA knows the sound of the Turtle Creek Chorale. It‘s one that you don‘t have to have it on the outside cover that says Turtle Creek Chorale. Just listen to the music and the quality. When we applied for a blind audition œ there was nothing blind about it when it came across. And so many of the people, music directors or artistic directors taught from our…(phone)…have taught through Tim and our chorus. What was the next one?

Gregory Spend money to make money.

Davidson Obviously, you know, every chorus takes risk in spending money. Some have been good and some have been bad. But, I think they spent money on recordings. Because of that they got our name out there. They produced and sold a lot of CD‘s. That accounted for a lot of income coming into the chorus.

Gregory You started that ball rolling…the first recording.

172 Davidson Yeah, I don‘t like to think of it that way. And I did his last one. I told him point blank, you‘re leaving us and there‘s no way that this music that has been written for you can‘t be recorded before you leave.

Gregory What is this one?

Davidson A Fond Farewell

(pause and presented with the new A Fond Farewell CD)

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

Davidson I feel like Tim, in the back of his mind, he always had visions of where this chorus was going or where he wanted to go. And because of his visions and his dedication to this organization is why this movement kept… you know, was steamrolling like it was.

Gregory So did that happen when he started? Did he grow into that mission, vision? He started in ‘87, so was that the beginnings or…

Davidson I feel like when he first started. He was looking for a job. It was, sitting with a new Artistic Director. He‘s brand new. Tim was brand new. They almost fired him after the first year.

Gregory After the first concert…

Davidson So was it right at the very beginning œ his vision? I think he grew into it and the more that he trained this chorus and got it œ it didn‘t start out, it built. He built the chorus. I mean he built it from 60 people to 250, You don‘t do that in one concert. It took years.

Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

173 Davidson From what I understand, Tim had input into œ I mean he was the Artistic Director and he was a very strong leader…and very opinionated. And so, I feel, and I don‘t know all this from a fact, I‘ve just heard. Obviously, he had to report to the Board of Directors and obviously, they butted heads many times. I feel like his input œ his strong input. Obviously, he is a great Artistic Director. I feel like they listened to a lot of it. And if they wouldn‘t, then some of the decisions that happened he actually took to the chorus to get a feel that maybe the Board of Directors didn‘t think was there. Or he would go outside of the chorus for support to make things happen.

Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

Davidson I don‘t know for sure on that one. I‘m sure there were probably consulting but as to whether they hired consulting firms, I‘m not aware of that. But you know, I mean…do you call consulting with other Artistic Directors of other choruses?

Gregory That‘s advisory.

Davidson Well, Seattle. Between Seattle and Dallas the shows just went back and forth. And so, is that consultant? I guess I would say, yes there was some.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Davidson Well, obviously I had a lot of confidence in the chorus and the leadership of it or I wouldn‘t have stayed. So it would be a high number. Now would I put it a 10? Perfect? I think that‘s probably shooting a little bit high. I can see an eight or nine as reasonable.

Gregory [If had confidence of 6 or great:] What gave you such confidence in the decisions?

Davidson Well, number one is Tim, the Artistic Director. And obviously you had the leadership, the officers and everything and think who was there, you had the confidence in them also. I guess why my…I wouldn‘t give it a 10 because some of the Board of Directors decisions œ which way they went on something - even I didn‘t agree with. So that‘s why I wouldn‘t give it a 10 œso I say an eight or nine.

174

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

You alluded to this early: if he didn‘t get it from the board, he would go to the chorus, if he didn‘t get it from the chorus, he would go outside the chorus.

Davidson That‘s right œ that‘s basically what happened. He would find some way. If he believed in a project, whether a new commissioned work, or whatever it was. He would find that way and he had the support and he would make it happen. If he believed in it, it was going to happen.

Gregory Can you cite a specific example of how this took place?

Davidson Prime example is Sing for the Cure. I mean, the board wasn‘t on line on that one and he went outside and of course it has probably become one of the biggest successes the chorus has had. That symphony, if you want to call it…that work has gone world-wide. He‘s the reason for that. It‘s really nice to think it started in that man‘s head and that chorus and then it went out from there.

Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

Davidson Well, I can think of just the repertoire œ there‘s two or three concerts that probably didn‘t go too well. One I can think of particularly was probably the German concert. Because there‘s just not a whole lot…a lot of people just didn‘t care to sit through an entire concert of German music.

Then there‘s the auction. Oh, what was the name they brought in for the fundraising of the auction….

Gregory Not too long ago? Carson Kressley

Davidson Yeah, and that was a big flop. A $40k flop or whatever they paid him. They took that risk trying to go to a new level with the auction and took a different twist alright…it went belly up.

175 Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

Davidson Let‘s starting with the AIDS epidemic since it is a predominately gay chorus. There was a lot of death in the chorus. And so I think the…when we did that When We No Longer Touch. That was trying to address and help people through music. And of course it did. So many…Sing for the Cure….When We No Longer Touch….that was all addressing a specific epidemic. Breast cancer is an epidemic also. They addressed it through music. And then the members that we lost. I mean, they were lost but not forgotten. Through the AIDS Quilt, the chorus was always there, I mean, how many funerals did we sing at? Tim would absolutely not let anyone be forgotten. That was the reason for the poinsettias at every Christmas concert.

Now, on the —g“ word. Well, being in the Bible belt. I feel like if it had been in the name the chorus might not have grown as well. But, I feel like there are some people, just because, they came to the chorus but it wasn‘t outing them necessarily. Because, there‘s a lot of people that don‘t know the background of the chorus. There are a still…hundreds of thousands of people that didn‘t know the background of the chorus. I personally, I have never thought it needed to be there because that‘s not what we‘re there for. We‘re there for the music. We‘re not there for who we are. Just because we all happen to have the same sexual orientation is one thing, but I think some of the choruses out here. They are making political statement about their name. You don‘t see the…I can‘t use the Mormon Tabernacle Choir because they‘re Mormon. There are a lot of choruses…they are trying to make a statement…you don‘t go out here into the… (phone) there‘s a lot of different choruses. Hamilton Park didn‘t go out here…Hamilton Park Baptist Church œ they didn‘t put Hamilton Park Black Baptist Church. So I don‘t see there‘s no reason for us to go out here and… I don‘t know how the original name was formed, I can‘t tell you. I don‘t think it needs to be there and I still don‘t think it needs to be there. I know there was a lot of concern when we went to the first GALA as to how we would be accepted because we didn‘t admit who we were. In this part of the country it wasn‘t a concern.

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

Davidson Well, I think I can sum that up in one word: quality. The quality of the product. If another chorus came up with a quality product, it will live. And face it, we had a following œ our

176 name is out there. So we probably had more exposure to a lot more people that some of the other people. It‘s because of who we were and the sound that we had.

Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

Davidson I can tell you what my perception is. Number one is quality, the sound. The varied performances that each provided. That‘s why, I guess, the top choruses change. Every one of our concerts were recorded so another chorus could look at one of our shows and know it was something that went well and if there was something that didn‘t it could be eliminated and replaced with something different. I think another reason, say Seattle, Dallas went as far as they did is because of the…I guess you could say the longevity of the Artistic Director. Because, there‘s visions there and those visions continue on. When you continually have a turn over in the Artistic Director œ it‘s something new all the time œ trying new things. It seems that a lot of choruses never get off the road.

Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

Davidson I keep going back to Sing for the Cure. But that was not a gay…

Gregory That was 2000.

Davidson We were reaching out to the whole world. It had nothing to do with AIDS or anything like that. It was totally away from the norm of what the chorale had done before. And the support the Susan G. Komen Foundation. They supported that cause very much. And I think it‘s been a very worth while venture. I‘m sure it‘s helped the Susan G. Komen Foundation with hundreds of thousands of dollars. I think that was, it had nothing to do with AIDS. It was a whole turning point and it was a big step for the chorus. It wasn‘t just for the chorus or GALA œ that was the whole key to it.

Gregory That‘s a great perspective.

177 Davidson When we did When We No Longer Touch, it was a very focused, narrow group of people. It didn‘t affect the whole world. Maybe it really did, but I didn‘t see it that way. So it was only perceived or viewed by a few people. Again, when we went through the documentary, you got the CD and the documentary, I think that brought a lot of media attention to the chorus. Either one was a turning point. Sing for the Cure as number one and When We No Longer Touch as probably number two. The only reason I say that is because Sing for the Cure reached a wider variety of people. And then the other kept expanding because of PBS because of winning the EMMY. I think that brought a whole lot of attention to the chorus. So I think those are the two main things.

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

Gregory Are there any questions we didn‘t ask, but should have?

Davidson I guess the thing I would add obviously: Tim has left and it‘s going to be interesting to see the new direction the chorus takes. We have a brand new Artistic Director and I think he‘s got a lot of capabilities. I think a lot is academic, which is probably what you‘ve heard. But, when Tim came into…Tim didn‘t have all the knowledge he has right now. So we‘re going to see how the chorus shapes the Artistic Director, which it is already doing. It is already shaping the Artistic Director. I know the membership has fallen to 150 or so œ they may say there‘s more. Just because you have members that are not singing, the average concerts have been about 150 to 160. That‘s still a good size chorus. We were known for our sound. And I‘m a bit concerned that that sound is not coming out the way it was.

Gregory I‘ve heard that sound was at the first rehearsal, the first performance, and continued to be honed over the years.

Davidson A lot of the older members have been trained that way. You have new members coming in and a new director that may be coming from a different direction. It‘s a dark sound. And I think he wants to lighten ourselves up. Is he a good director? I think he‘s a good director. He also has some big balls to stick up there and try to step into that man‘s shoes. I mean anybody œ that was a real challenge. To think that we‘ve got the best men‘s chorus in the country…how do you replace that person? Everybody is replaceable, but it‘s going to be a challenge.

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241)

178 Author Summary Scott Davidson provided seed money for a number of key projects; the inaugural recording‘s net proceeds were folded into subsequent recordings, and A Fond Farewell, Tim Seelig‘s final recording with TCC. The quintessential first tenor choir member, I am quite sure Mr. Davidson was behind the scenes and instrumental in a number of projects over the last 21 years. Scott has maintained his status as a singing member and never involved himself in a leadership role. Dedicated to the organization and its leadership Scott says, —If he (Tim) believed in it, it was going to happen.“

Pinnacle moments: After Goodbye and Sing for the Cure

179 APPENDIX K DAVIS, WAYNE Former President and singing member Date: April 2008 Time: 10:00 A.M. Place: Trinity Presbyterian Church, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Davis I joined in ”89 as sort of a coming out thing and little did I know I was coming out into a very closeted organization. I was actually encouraged by a straight friend of mine to join the chorale. I actually had only heard the chorale once.

Gregory Did your straight friend know it was a gay chorus?

Davis Oh yeah, yeah. I came to the last concert before Seattle. And that was in ”88, last concert of the ”88-”89 season. So anyway I joined in ”89 and got to inaugurate the Meyerson with the chorale. That was my first concert. It was pretty much a whirlwind because it was a time of... That was like such a huge watershed moment for the chorale, especially for the chorale, but really the whole gay community of Dallas. I was getting calls for days afterwards from friends who just couldn‘t believe a gay organization packed the Meyerson. It was the first real, non- It was actually the people from the street could buy tickets to an event. So it was just incredible.

Pretty quickly I got up into the organizational ranks of the choral because it‘s just kinda where I work best. I went on the board in ”92, I think - umm, as resource coordinator. So I was on the board from ”92 until I finished being President. Really the first year I realized a couple of things. One of which was that the person most likely to run for President was not qualified and that of everyone who was currently on the board as an officer, I was the only one qualified to run. Even though I thought it was too early, I went ahead and ran. Was President for two years. Mark, who we are talking about, was the proposed President‘s lover. So he ran for Treasurer and Dennis ran for President. And Mark, you know, Dennis never spoke to me in life again. Mark was kind of caught between a rock and a hard place was sick to top it off. Then I stopped being President in 95. And really it was an exhausting experience because it was pretty much a whirlwind those three years. It took me a long time…you know….going to Europe and coming back and I was in and out of the chorale for a couple more years and then in 2000 I just quit. Mother had died and I was taking care of dad. So I was out until after Glenn died, which was six year. I‘ve come back happier and have actually gotten a lot of enjoyment out of

180 it. I served on the retreat committee and I served on the auction committee. I enjoyed both of those because it was just…my attitude toward it all had changed.

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

Davis Oh, Meyerson has got to be one of the big things. People have told me, because we had a pretty rocky Christmas. Not because of the music but because of where it was. You know, we moved from the Meyerson to the Majestic for Christmas. We did not make our sales goals. Of course, you know the Majestic. I don‘t know if we ever performed there while you were singing with us.

Gregory No, we never would because it was too expensive.

Davis Well, we did because it had better dates.

Gregory That‘s a whole different issue…and we won‘t get into that.

Davis Right, right, right. They (Meyerson) could only give us dates in November. Didn‘t do it this last year œ and anyway, friends of mine have told me the chorale is an experience and you pay to go to the Meyerson to see the chorale. I think, fortunately or not that‘s one of them, that‘s one of the big things.

Gregory Anything else?

Davis Yeah, the growth, the chorale saw a huge jump in revenue because of being in the Meyerson and I think the change in sound that that precipitated. Between the sound that Dr. Seelig always wanted and being in the Meyerson. That was a really good convergence of things to give us a really unique place in the world.

Whenever we did a Meyerson CD, I think, it was always very successful. I think, we need to record in the Meyerson just like I think we need to generally sing in the Meyerson.

I think it was a synergy thing and I think part of it had to do with the AIDS crisis. And that has been something to recover from. Now that people are not falling off the earth in such great numbers as they were. We‘re not faced with this sort of wartime mentality in the community or in the chorale. And so we have had to struggle with who is the Turtle Creek Chorale. And I do think that the final thing I‘ll say, this transition to a new director

181 has really forced a larger evaluation and I think it has been overwhelmingly positive. When I came back to the chorale in 2006, it was after all the crap of half the board had resigned and frankly, I don‘t understand half the crap that happened. It was like being in the Stepford chorus œ everybody was just glazed. We came to rehearsal and left. It partly may have been me going through all my stuff. I really did see it. And through all the trauma of Tim deciding to leave and the artistic search. Which I gave them zero, I gave them a zero chance of being successful until the chair talked to us, David SEgelsk8. He had such a command of what we needed to do. It‘s not just getting Jonathan, that was part of it and he‘s fine. It‘s the process and the fact that the process was really open. We have this many contenders and we now have this many and we spent this much time doing this. And everybody was like, ok, I guess they are going to hire somebody. Because, really, I had suggested, on more than one occasion, that we just hire an interim for a couple of years. And if we hadn‘t found Jonathan or people of his ilk, any of the three could have done it œ he just happened to be the best. I think that in recent times, I think we‘ll be seeing a lot of renaissance of the choral from that standpoint.

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

Davis No, I don‘t think so. Like I say, really, it was sort of a synergy between the AIDS crisis, the Meyerson, and the sound of the chorale was really good. Tim was really pretty much in his prime. I think a lot of things caused that, I don‘t think it was conscious.

Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

Davis It was pretty much driven by Tim. I think when the history is all written of the chorale Tim will take a major portion of credit for causing the chorale…. giving the chorale the impetus to grow. We might be in very good shape if Tim had never come along, but it would be a much different place.

Gregory I heard something the other day that was quite impressive. This organization has steered itself without knowing it. And there‘s one thing that was Michael Crawford‘s resignation, —This is on a track that I can‘t take them to. I don‘t know where it‘s going, but I can‘t take them there.“

Davis That‘s interesting.

182

Gregory And there have been many things that have come up in these interviews that are like premonition of things to come.

Davis. Interesting. There is no way a Tim Seelig or an individual person could have done it all. There were times where Tim went to a very enthusiastic board who really wanted to support the chorale in doing a lot of very good things. There were times when he had to convince them of that. Very rarely, so much because most of the members of the chorale were up with whatever was…. It‘s, you know, the singing membership wanted to do basically whatever Tim wanted during this period. I think that the whole identity of a gay chorus is a really good example of how œ it was even quite a bit of ambiguity within Tim of how gay he wanted the chorus to be.

Gregory That‘s an entirely different subject

Davis To the point where, finally the leadership, the elected leadership did get involved and pretty astonishingly, given the Bud and Chet Flake and a lot of the more conservative members of the board let that happen. You know, but that was the case in which maybe it was led by unseen forces.

Gregory You never know.

Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

Davis Not much. I don‘t think any outside person….no.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Davis I was like a 9 or 10 confident in most of the decisions being made.

Gregory [If had confidence of 6 or great:] What gave you such confidence in the decisions?

183 Davis It just all seemed to work. It all seemed to work and I don‘t think that I was President during the height of the growth period. I think I was after it. So I more think of the height of the growth period being pretty much around the When We No Longer Touch and you know around that period and umm, I don‘t know…what was your question again?

Gregory What gave you the confidence to say nine or ten in the decisions that were made before you knew the outcome.

Davis Well, the point is, I hadn‘t seen the inner workings of the chorale.

(laughter)

Gregory There you have it….and then once you saw the inner workings did the confidence level stay?

Davis No, oh no….not at all.

Gregory So, once you saw the inner workings of the chorale where did your confidence level go?

Davis Way down…it was frightening to me how tenuous it all was. Well, OK, we have had a rollercoaster with the auction and I was back on the auction committee for this year. To see that 12 years ago we depended on the auction to bring in $160,000 and we were jumping up and down for joy that we had made a budget projection of $49,000 for this year. And what was the difference? Well, it boils down to one really egregiously bad decision that a lot of people were involved with. And that wasn‘t like when I was President, we could have so easily lost the AIDS fund. It took so much more work to put it back together again than it would have to start over again. fortunately, there were some people that really, really, really went to the matt over it. That‘s one of those things that I realized how much work it took….I‘ve sort of described us as sort of like, it‘s like a swan going across the water…

Gregory Oh, ducks, ducks œ and that is exactly how the organization operates.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

184 Davis (pause) That‘s a very interesting question. It just, it…most of it had to do with buying in at the front. And you sort of took the package as it was. And there was a, you know, probably one of Tim‘s great points of genius is in figuring out how much you could push somebody. That‘s either genius or manipulation. Take your pick….

(laughter)

Gregory Can you cite a specific example of how this took place?

Davis Anything like the trip we took to Los Angeles in ”91. Were you there with us?

Gregory No, that was before me

Davis That is when Kris was still the assistant director….it cost a lot of money, and…

Gregory Y‘all went to San Diego on the same trip, didn‘t you?

Davis Yeah, and it was just assumed that we all would go. And we all went. Now, having seen it with clearer eyes this last few months with GALA, you know, Jonathan doesn‘t have that manipulation gene. It just doesn‘t exist with him. And he very genuinely said, I really want us to take 150 people and I think we are at a 130 now. Which is good, considering we had about 60 to start off with. The process was so much different…

Gregory The times are so much different…that‘s another factor.

Davis I think money is much tighter.

Gregory The days of going to Denver and Tampa were easier and Vancouver was a stretch for many people œ that was a smaller chorus. And the economy has tanked even further. Miami is not a cheap city. I think that had a tough….but to have that many going, I think is great….

Davis It‘s truly a testament to the chorale that if you set an expectation for the chorale, the people will really try and meet it.

185

Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

Davis Yeah, Dolly didn‘t come.

Gregory Yeah, Dolly said yes…not. The hype of that got out too quick on that one, didn‘t it…but that was just a bump in the road.

Davis There was an arrogance in the chorale. And I participated in it to some extent. I can see it in the rearview mirror. Some of it was œ I do think that we had a tendency to look on many in the outside world as being the enemy. You either within the gay and lesbian movement, the gay and lesbian choral movement in particularly, I mean, how many fights did we …..

Gregory You‘re leading into my next question…

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the short-term pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

Davis AIDS sort of got up in our face and slapped us around. When you‘re dropping about a member a month

Gregory and singing a funeral a week…

Davis Singing tons of funerals. Someone told me, it was David Bassett‘s in fact. The said, I guess this is the social event of the 90s. And you don‘t just escape from that. You really don‘t have any escape from it….you‘ve got to deal with it. The chorale dealt with it pretty head on. When We No Longer Touch was dealing with it from an artistic side. The AIDS fund was dealing with some of the financial issues. So, the special needs committee was putting chairs out for the members. Somebody was talking about Buddy Barkalow. And remember how bitchy he was in the later stages of his life. And somebody would stand up, like Gene would say, —ok, it‘s somebody else‘s turn.“

Gregory I remember that œ we were signing up to stay at his house or come by and feed him and we would be all like, —not me, not me œ I already did my time!“

186

(laughter)

Davis This is one of the great pushes this year as been to really true let the younger members know about what we‘ve been through. Not that they would in any way grieve with us…just to realize those were human beings that were in the chorale, as many of them that sing in the average concert. And that they are important œ maybe not important to them per say, but like knowing that your uncle was on the Titanic or something. You know, it‘s just something important to know about yourself. So we did the memorial service at retreat and which was as spectacular as it ever has been. I think it‘s because the older members œ they are now called the terrapins œ started this year œ organized it and took people, I think there were three that they really spotlighted this year…I thought it was great…

Gregory I love that idea

Davis And one of them was Jeff Serber. Coy sent some sort of a remembrance to be read….Jeff Strachen was one of the other ones…the bottom line is it has continued to be very important with the chorale and I think in a very meaningful manner.

Gregory How about not having the —g“ word in its name?

Davis It never bothered us…it‘s only bothered those on the outside.

Gregory Isn‘t that the truth.

Davis Going back to when the person suggested I go join the chorale. Here is this straight woman that is telling me about, you, a gay person need to go join he chorale. I remember the first time I ever heard the name Turtle Creek Chorale, not knowing what it was, I went….gay. You know, I was at a GALA leadership conference in…was talking to several people about this. And one of the new choruses, I want to say someone from Florida…like Tampa Bay Gay Men‘s Chorus. They were like; we went through this really big struggle to name ourselves and we really embraced the term gay. This was really important to them. So, I looked at them and said, what you‘re saying is that you are struggling with it. And if somebody comes out on the other end of the struggle, does that make them wrong? I got stone cold silence at that point. In probably the three or four years that I went to GALA leadership conferences, I saw a huge shift in peoples realizing that the chorale was bigger than the gay and lesbian choral movement. I‘m don‘t necessarily think that was true œ you have the really gay choruses. I think probably 40 to

187 50 to 60 percent of our audience is probably straight. People know the chorale just by its name. Where as the Seattle Men‘s Chorus œ if you live in Seattle you think it‘s great. If you are involved in the gay choral movement, same thing with LA., but those are not names. I compare us more to the Mormon Tabernacle choir because we transcend the genre in which we are put. It‘s such a non-issue to the chorale itself and to its supporters. You know, the people that come to listen to the choral come to listen to the chorale. You know, Dallas gay men‘s chorus wouldn‘t do it for them.

Gregory It‘s not Dallas. It doesn‘t fit.

Davis It doesn‘t fit. Now that Dallas County is a little more blue…maybe. Dallas has got such a conservative reputation. We were really being perverse by calling ourselves Turtle Creek because it was the hoity address of Dallas.

Gregory It is the epicenter of and all that is good….and fun…

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

Davis I just think that we have such a reputation of being an inclusive and loving organization (earned or not). I do think that people want to participate in stuff that the chorale… I do think that people enjoy participating in events we work with. I‘m thinking about…well, it‘s like the high school event…

Gregory Seagoville

Davis Right. When that got bad press, we just got great press. We don‘t have enemies outside of ourselves. But when we get attacked from outside we get into our turtle shell and take care of ourselves. The outreach, there was a tiny bit of that with the Richardson city choir. Some parents, grandparents opposed doing it and they had a little meeting and it‘s interesting that they can‘t fault us on how we run our shows and the content of the shows. And our outreach is…if somebody…how many have actually gotten up and walked out of a Turtle Creek Chorale concert if they knew what they were walking in on.

188 Gregory There have been a couple of instances

Davis If they had any clue as to who we were when they walked in.

Gregory Very few and far between œ you could probably count them on one hand.

Davis Yeah, one hand. We never had any protests that I‘m aware of all. I guess my point…and I have cousins who came to the chorale concert (Tim‘s last year at the Meyerson) and they brought their seven year old nephew and he just thought it was just awesome and just loved it. That goes what I mean about going so far beyond being a gay chorus. OK, so a couple of guys can sit there in the audience and hold hand. But, that‘s not what we are about.

Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

Davis Why did it become the force that it became? I think that is fairly simple. The chorale was not on anybody‘s radar at first. And of course, the chorale had not participated in GALA events until ‘88… They were still flying on a cloud after that. And it always had high musical standards. That‘s a pre-Tim, Tim and post-Tim thing - very high musical standards. Most GALA choruses don‘t œ most do not. Compare Seattle and Turtle Creek. Seattle has a fabulous director of music, Dennis Coleman. The chorale has had fabulous music directors in the past and now has another one. And both of them have a very high expectation for artistic excellence. And they are in big cities that tend to support the arts. And Dallas has a really well organized gay community that got behind the chorale. And when they didn‘t you saw what happened. So, so, so you know, there are a lot of…how many choruses get a citation from the city council calling the day that we premiered the Meyerson as Turtle Creek Chorale Day? So it‘s not just the chorale, it‘s the whole community œ the whole gay community and to some extent the straight community. It‘s nice to know that there is a community that will line up and get behind the chorale when it‘s necessary.

Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

189

Davis I‘m thinking the televised version of After Goodbye. You know that pretty much pulled us out of the closet. We were all calling family members to say, —Please don‘t watch this unless you are with somebody.“ You know, I went over to my parent‘s house to sit there and watch it with them so that they could sort of have some feeling for what it was all about. And there were tears. Again, it was like the first time in the Meyerson I got calls for days after that who knew I was in the chorale saying I just can‘t imagine what this is like for you. Yeah, we were going through watching people die, but it was also such a great stimulus for what we were doing musically. And it was such a creative period. If you look at like our, one of the things I would really like to do and really need to do is get on the marketing committee because our marketing has just sucked the last couple of years. I just have no idea where it went. Do you remember the little tree stand that had the hats on it? It was such a good…anyway….yeah, I think that whole After Goodbye thing and the sort of the cocoon around it. We couldn‘t go any further down that path, which is why when I became President in the fall of ‘93 we did a very light season and I was really pissed off about it. That‘s when we did all those awful cowboy things and such.

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

Gregory Are there any questions we didn‘t ask, but should have?

Davis Well Craig, you were basically there during most of that time. I think…no, I think you asked very good questions. It‘s a lot to encapsulate in a very short time.

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241) Author Summary Wayne Davis was very active in the leadership of the chorale during the large growth period of the early ”90s which he describes as a —whirlwind.“ Davis sees the growth as a —convergence of things to give us a really unique place in the world.“ First and foremost, he sees the performances in the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony center as a key component in the synergy being created at that time. Wayne also viewed the AIDS crisis component as, —sort of wartime mentality in the community or in the chorale.“ This researcher found it interesting that Wayne Davis initiated arrogance as a topic of discussion. —There was an arrogance in the chorale.“ ( Aside: In the early ”90s

190 accolades were presented at an enormous rate. To use a cliché, everything we touched turned to gold). That success swelled in the hearts of 200+ men and their supporters. Wayne surmises the chorale success in the —pre-Tim, Tim, and post-Tim era“ as high musical standards. He also confirms the Hedgehog effect by saying, —We don‘t have enemies outside of ourselves. But when we get attacked from the outside we get into our turtle shell and take care of ourselves.“

Pinnacle moment: After Goodbye, —pulled us out of the closet“

191 APPENDIX L EMERY, ROBERT Singing member Date: April 2008 Time: 12:00 P.M. Place: Office, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Emery I was a member from 1988 to 2000. 12 years, during which time I was very active in the creative aspects of staging and choreography. I was never an officer, but I was very active in the staging of concerts at the Meyerson and the planning of Retreats. The membership voted me Member Of The Year for the 1992-93 season.

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

Emery One is that the universe aligned to put Dr. Seelig in the leadership position at the same time we had the AIDS crisis in America. And really, the things that contributed to the upward shift are all narrowed down to those two things coming together. That was the reason the TCC rose meteorically. Because Dr. Seelig brought his musicality and his Baptist church background to the TCC. He combined music and the marketing of the AIDS crisis, to propel the TCC to national prominence.

Gregory Could you please elaborate on the [top two or three] factors? Can you give me specific examples that illustrate the factor?

Emery Sure.

Gregory Especially the one bringing the Baptist side to it. What part of that helped the organization?

Emery Because we had a leader who would say, —if you don‘t support the chorale, you are anti- gay.“ He would repeatedly proclaim, —if you don‘t love and support the chorale with everything you‘ve got …(and I‘m talking both membership and the community at large and the national community) …if you don‘t embrace us, you‘re anti AIDS and you‘re

192 anti-gay.“ And that came from the Baptist church where you learn that if you don‘t give enough, or if you don‘t do everything with the Baptists… If you don‘t bowl with the Baptists or take your kids to the Baptists‘ camps… then you just don‘t love Jesus enough. There is an allegiance that is exhibited by your 100% devotion. The marketing and the presentation was able to align itself with the national AIDS health crisis, and we —rode that train.“

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

Emery Oh yes! We had leadership in one person: Dr. Seelig. We had one person who was very ambitious œ very ambitious - and the organization got to ride on his coattails …with his vision. His ambition was driven by a natural ambition and also an ambition that was tied to being kicked out of the Baptist church. So, as a person he had a lot to prove. And I say that with no judgment. I think Dr. Seelig had a lot to prove and the organization benefited from it.

Gregory So the beginnings of the upward shift were when he arrived in ‘87.

Emery Yes, because before Dr. Seelig arrived, the organization was operating on the status quo; a slow, steady growth. The TCC was a hard-working civic choir with some moderate local success. But it was Dr. Seeling‘s ambition and drive that took the TCC to the next level.

Gregory Was there anything other than Tim that sparked that decision to make the move?

Emery It was his decision. His decision. His ability to combine music with marketing.

Gregory So it was a Pied Piper effect?

Emery It was. Dr. Seelig was an incredibly strong, charismatic leader. It was a single person‘s vision that was so powerful that other people could gladly get on that Pied Piper bandwagon and happily go along for the ride. This fact cannot be stressed enough: a powerful leader with a clear vision is very attractive, to the singing membership, the Boad of Directors, and the community at large.

193 Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

Emery One man, one man with one vision.

Gregory He did it and that was it.

Emery He did it, and then he let you know what it was going to be. Everyone knew (because he told us repeatedly), from the Board of Directors to the singing membership, —If you didn‘t like it, you could get out.“

Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

Emery Yes, the board asked for leadership direction from outside consultants and advisors. However, the advice provided by the outside consultants certainly had better match the one single vision of the charismatic leader, or the advice stood a very good chance of being ignored.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Emery Oh, 10. An absolute 10.

Gregory [If had confidence of 6 or great:] What gave you such confidence in the decisions?

Emery Well, one person and one person‘s vision (when it is a driving ambition) is contagious and it instill confidence. People will go any direction under a leader. So yeah, the confidence level was at 10…for a while.

194 Gregory I understand. Let‘s go further with that. You were just a singing member and never got involved in the leadership. With singing members the confidence level is eight to10 every time.

Emery Eight to 10. However, I was not —just a singing member who never got involved in the leadership.“ I would say that I was more involved with leadership duties, and more closely involved with Dr. Seelig, than many elected officers. I was very involved with the day-to-day activities of the organization. My finger was on the pulse of the membership.

Gregory When someone becomes involved in the leadership, staff, or board the confidence level plummets.

Emery I had an advantage because I was virtually in leadership.

Gregory You were never an officer, but you were very, very active.

Emery I was brought into the inner circle.

Gregory Then what was your confidence level?

Emery Well, regrettably, it fell.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

Emery As stated previously, we were following one person‘s vision.

Gregory Can you cite a specific example of how this took place?

Emery I can site a million: from attendance to dues, uniform to travel, airing an opinion, or having a disagreement or challenge with any issue. There are stories on every one of those. But the result was always the same: You will do what the charismatic leader wants to do, or you will go away.

195

Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

Emery The only tiny misstep, that I can remember, was, sometimes, we would announce specific plans before we had a signed contract with an artist. —Dolly said yes“ was a tiny misstep. It just happened at the wrong time.

Gregory At a GALA (Denver)

Emery Yeah, GALA œ it‘s a tiny misstep. With a charismatic leader, even a misstep can be spun in a way that can work to your advantage. œ so no, no misstep. Dr. Seelig should be given much credit for his ability to take a bad situation and make it work out to his best advantage. That is one of his greatest talents.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

Emery They used it to its absolutely best advantage. In terms of camaraderie and friendships - the AIDS crisis was devastating; but it was always used by the organization to its best advantage. The AIDS crisis certainly was a huge bonding opportunity. As callous as it may sound, for the TCC, the AIDS crisis was a powerful marketing tool.

The —g“ word… And the question is then…?

Gregory How did the chorus handle the pressures of not having the —g“ word in their name?

Emery This is more of a history question. We got flack for not having gay in our name and we had...approximately 50% of our membership who didn‘t want it in our name and 50% of our membership who wanted it in our name. You‘re dealing with Dallas, Texas which was a southern town that did things differently. Some larger metropolitan areas put things out there in ways that their respective communities are used to. And Dallas, although it had the biggest HRC Chapter and Black Tie Dinner, the biggest gay church, the biggest gay choir…what else did Dallas have that was the biggest and the best?

Gregory The community

196 Emery The Dallas GLBT community! Dallas has the best GLBT community in the nation. It was —the Dallas way“ to just do it and not make a big deal about the —g“ word. Gosh, we still don‘t have the —g“ word in the name because it simply has never been —the Dallas way.“

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

Emery One great thing about Sing for the Cure is it was its own product. Developed under the auspices of the chorale, produced by the chorale… And then Dr. Seelig is still using Sing for the Cure as an identity in a world-wide market. The question is why does that go on? Because Dr. Seelig is able to promote it and get it produced.

Gregory Same with When We No Longer Touch?

Emery Absolutely.

Gregory They seem to have legs of their own.

Emery And other community choirs don‘t commission those types of things? Do they not?

Gregory They commission things, but they don‘t seem to have the same legs. Like NakedMan…

Emery Ah, you see, there is the brilliance of Dr. Seelig. The brilliance is: the works of ART he initiated have a common element with everyone on the planet. People are always going to die. People will always lose someone they love, to death and dying. That‘s why When We No Longer Touch will —live“ forever. That is his brilliance…

Gregory So, it‘s a larger market without using blinders…

Emery Without a song cycle of love songs… Yeah, it‘s a larger issue œ it‘s not going away.

197

Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

Emery The same thing that made Seattle what it is: one leader. The same thing you see when you attend a GALA convention and see the six or seven Choruses that stand out from the rest. It‘s that leader.

Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

Emery The AIDS crisis and Tim‘s use of it...

Gregory Combined with When We No Longer Touch, After Goodbye, the EMMY and used as a propeller.

Emery Yet, the AIDS crisis brought the talent and it was used as a marketing tool in a brilliant way.

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

Gregory Are there any questions we didn‘t ask, but should have?

Emery I want to be very clear about the Chorale‘s going from good to great. It was not 100% due to artistic reasons. In fact, I would venture to say that it was not even 80%. The chorale did not propel from good to great because of its singing.

Gregory What was it?

198 Emery The chorale sang in a very dark, covered dramatic way that was limiting to its repertoire. But Dr. Seelig knew how to market the Chorale, to propel them to national prominence.

Gregory In its vocal production?

Emery The vocal production was done in such a way that was very limiting to potential repertoire. There was only a small percentage of German repertoire that could be performed in the style in which the chorale sang during this —good to great growth spurt.“ And the Chorale sang flat, let‘s be very honest. The chorale sang flat during the entire time it catapulted from good to great. During that time, the TCC sang flat, flat, flat. And many praised us…we enjoyed this —emperor‘s new clothes“ state of denial, regarding out tuning issues. People wouldn‘t say it directly to us, but it was out there being said: —The TCC sings flat.“ It‘s out there on CD‘s. So, how did we catapult from good to great, from relative obscurity to world fame, while singing flat? It was the combination of the AIDS crisis and our brilliant leader‘s ability to manipulate that crisis into a marketing tool.

We cannot claim it was singing. It was not the singing. The singing was good œ absolutely - it was very good. It was artistically presented, but it was (sometimes) out of tune (flat). If I were to give advice to choirs about how to go from good to great; I would say, —get a leader and get a gimmick.“ Gotta‘ have a handle.

Gregory I was saying earlier…the GALA choruses are trying to find that today.

Emery The GALA Chorus gimmick is: they‘re gay. The question remains: Is that all you want to be? I would suggest any GALA chorus should develop an identity that is more lasting, and larger than themselves. Get a When We No Longer Touch because people are always going to die. Get a Sing for the Cure because people are always going to battle breast cancer…and it‘s a worldwide market. But let‘s not be naïve: it‘s not only about the singing.

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241) Author Summary Robert Emery views the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s successful rise —meteorically“ as an alignment of the universe in a —strong charismatic leader,“ Tim Seelig, and his —ability to manipulate that crisis (AIDS) into a marketing tool.“ Emery served in a member capacity for 12 years and like Davidson, did not become involved in the leadership aspects of the organization, yet became very close to the —inner circle of leadership.“ He

199 viewed Tim Seelig as, —very ambitious and the organization got to ride on his coattails with his vision.“ I share Robert‘s view of Dallas. —It was the Dallas way to just do it and not put it in the face (the gay issue). Gosh, we still don‘t have it in the name because it simply has never been the Dallas way.“ This researcher does take issue with his assessment of —get a leader and get a gimmick…let‘s not be naïve, its not about singing.“

Pinnacle moment: The AIDS pandemic and Tim Seelig‘s use of it…

200 APPENDIX M FLAKE, CHET AND KNIGHT, BUD Supporters, Board members, and Former Board Chair

Date: April 2008 Time: 3:00 P.M. Place: Residence, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Flake The chorale was in its second year when I joined the Board of Directors. I can‘t even remember how many of us were on the board. But I spent the first year at least œ believe it or not œ with my mouth closed listening. It was the very first board. One of the founders was volunteering his time as the Executive Director; I guess you might say; trying to run the organization. We had a volunteer director at that time. He was also, I believe a church choir director.

I tell you it was a learning situation - everyone on that board had to be responsible for working. It was really a working board. But we didn‘t have much of a budget. I‘m not sure we even had a budget.

I mean we just didn‘t have any money. The boys were not paying any membership fee at all at that time. We were singing in different shades of khaki pants and different shades of different blue polo shirts. Depending on how many times they had been washed and where they bought them. And if I recall, there were less than 50, closer to 30 œ 35 in the chorale at that time. It did have the name, The Turtle Creek Chorale. That was from the very beginning. Don Essmiller was our Executive Director and he was one of the founders. And as I said, it was all volunteer. Not sure whether we were even paying the director at that time, your research can tell that better than me. But any rate, it was a fun project.

Flake Yeah, he got me involved with it. He was a neighbor. He lived on the same street, so he got me involved with it.

Gregory You became board chair.

Flake But not for a long time

201 Gregory You were on the board the whole time until then?

Flake I was on 13 years on the board and spent three years as board chair. I had to wait a long time for that. But that was my beginning of it.

Gregory What years were you board chair?

Flake You‘re dealing with someone who is 81, memory is not what it should be.

Gregory Bud, have you been a patron all these years?

Knight Yes, I‘ve been there 25, 26…and my major contribution was the A-Z Auction. Which is now called Flight 404. XXXX XXXXXXX, who was one of the original…. Jake and I started out with the auction. It was called Mings M-I-N-G-S as in Ming China to Minks. We started out at the Melrose Hotel.

Flake Why did you name it that?

Knight I don‘t know why we named it that.

Flake We had an auction item that was given to us that was a Ming vase, a copy of a Ming vase, and somebody else gave us an auction item that was a men‘s mink jacket.

Knight You are right…that is true…I forget…and that‘s how we got the name. And in a few years then it became…

Flake How much money did you make that first year?

Knight I haven‘t a clue, but not very much? (laughter) Hey, you asked the question, do you know?

Flake We made… I‘m quite sure we made less than $150 bucks.

202 (laughter)

Knight Oh, no, you‘re so….

Flake It was a Chinese auction, do you remember?

Knight Yes, I know… but we made more than $150 bucks. But A-Z became a big success. XXXX and I started things. XXX XXXXXXXXX and I were chairs after that and brought it up to the point where it really became a big auction item situation. We came up with A-Z as in whatever to Zebras. Antiques to Zebras (A-Z) and I want you to know that our very first year as Antiques to Zebras, we actually had from the Dallas Zoo, Zebra manure. We actually auctioned off…as fertilizer…you know, it‘s all dry and everything. XXXXXX XXXX, her partner, XXXX somehow got it from the zoo and we actually had antiques to zebras. So we‘ve had everything from zebra rugs to stuffed zebras to zebra manure. And antiques œ always antiques.

The other thing that Chet and I created together was the garage sale. We did every year a garage sale and most of it all came from my firm, right? From Lester Melnick œ it was all women‘s apparel. And even to this day…

Flake The boys loved it

Knight The boys loved it. But it was amazing and true how much they would buy for their mothers… and it made good money. We had it in garages, and not home garages, but garages.

Flake First one was down there on Maple Ave.

Knight Right there on the corner…

Flake On the corner…where did they change clothes?

Knight I don‘t remember…

Flake In the grease rack…

203 Knight Yes they did

Flake We had mothers and girlfriends and everyone else down there changing clothes, trying on things in the grease rack.

Knight Mine basically was fundraising. I was never on the board but was involved in various aspects of the fundraising. But the one Chet hasn‘t mentioned yet was our first fundraiser was?

Flake Black Tie Required. It was our challenge to the community to put us in tuxedos. And it was rather interesting because we set it up with (what‘s his name œ no longer on the board œ he‘s a CPA). Before XXXXX œ remember? He lived over on Bowser, or Holland, no it was Bowser.

Gregory I don‘t remember who was before XXXXX

Flake But at any rate. We worked for… XXXX was involved with this too. XXXX was on the committee at this time too. Working on that… What we did was establish how much it was going to cost for a cummerbund and tie combination, shirt, jacket, pair of trousers. How much would these costs. I got bids on them and established that. And then we got people to buy a complete outfit at X amount of dollars or just one of the items. So that‘s the way they were sold.

Gregory Did it fund the entire chorus?

Flake Yeah, yeah œ ordered them by the dozen and they were probably 100% polyester, but they did match

Knight One thing about all those years It got all of the singing members of the choral involved and they really did get involved. I think one of the problems as any organization develops over the years they tends to lose sight of that community feeling. I‘m not zeroing in on the Turtle Creek Chorale…but in those days (sounds like the middle ages) but they really…. Everybody felt a responsibility to make every single solitary thing a success.

204 Flake It was also a time when there were 50 or less people. I think it were 50 when we first put tuxedos on.

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

Knight I‘ll address one thing. I‘ll never forget…you‘re talking, read the list again

Gregory Budget, membership, audience, notoriety

Knight What was the last one?

Gregory Staff

Knight I‘ll take notoriety. The wonderful thing about the Turtle Creek Chorale from its inception was the fact that the title, Turtle Creek Chorale was encompassing a lot of different facets of the city. It identified with a specific element of the city which was Turtle Creek. Unlike many other organizations, it did not narrow in on a specific name and because of that the whole entire Dallas community accepted it number 1, and number 2, even as they learned progressively, yes indeed, this was a gay men‘s chorus. The Turtle Creek Chorale had gotten past that point with the arts community of Dallas which gave it an acceptance. Which coming from…. God knows, on the buckle of the Bible belt, if it had come out as being Dallas Gay Men‘s Chorus, I promise you it would never have gotten the acceptance. We would never have sung for George H. Bush and his wife, Anne Richards, our mayor, the governor.

Gregory The Queen of England

Knight It never would have happened if it had been called Dallas Gay Men‘s Chorus

Flake It allowed us… opportunity to work with the city and cultural …

Knight TACA is major funding…

205 Flake TACA, not the only funding, but it was the people involved with TACA that gave us a cache…

Knight Cache is a very good word.

Gregory So what was happening during that time period? We‘ve discussed that fact that it was umm, how would you say, it was an, how would you say… all encompassing name.

Flake It was not advertised that you had to be gay to sing. We didn‘t hide the fact…

Gregory Was that the reason for the budget increase… for the membership increase?

Flake No, I don‘t. I think there was another reason for that. Michael and his wonderful wife Joan, Michael was a Junior College director.

Gregory Part of Dallas County Community College…. We did a fundraiser out there one year….

Flake Yeah, that‘s right œ he‘s up in Collin County now, I believe. He was what I call our first really professional director. He limited himself… he was straight, and so therefore he didn‘t get into a lot of stuff that happened along the line. But he still, was a great guy and was willing to go along with everything that was happening. He accepted his honorary membership into a group of gay guys and his wife just loved it and so on and so forth and that went fine. But the big step, and it was a giant step for us.

Knight Oh god…

Flake Because Tim Seelig had recently come out, and he wanted to shout it from the highest roof tops. I remember reminding him when we hired him œ Tim, this is going to be the Turtle Creek Chorale… always, it‘s not going to be the Tim Seelig Chorale.

Knight The chorale would not even remotely be where œ I don‘t care what the criticisms are - even though sometimes I could strangle him., it would not have been the Turtle Creek Chorale that you know without Tim Seelig…

206 Gregory Nobody would deny that…

Flake He was the first to know when we were pleased. But he was also the first to know when we were not pleased.

Knight And he also understand community involvement. I mean, over the years they sang for everybody. One way that he got the message out to all facets of Dallas, Texas was allowing themselves to be a part of, seen with different organizations. The Forth Worth Men‘s Chorus never did. The Forth Worth never got anywhere because they didn‘t understand community involvement.

Flake A lot of them have suffered that same thing. Also, at that time, we were right in the midst of the AIDS cri…

Knight The AIDS crisis...huge…

Flake And it gave us all such a purpose and it was an adhesive, believe it or not. I hate to think of it that way.

Gregory / Knight Yes, it was….

Flake We all had a reason for being there and working with one another as we all did and we did. Sure, we sang one hell of a lot of funerals and memorial services. You know, we were out there, everybody was involved, or so many at least. Those that were physically able were out there helping those that were not physically able and so on and so forth. So that was a big thing that was out there. We had a reason for growth œ we had a message to give out.

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

Flake I don‘t know if it was. Maybe the spirit was there and it just automatically made it happen…

207 Knight I think spirit is, more than the conscious, I think spirit is exactly the right word…I really do…

Flake Everybody was there…

Knight I really do…(pause) No, I‘m just thinking the amazing thing too is, you can go all around the United States and mention the Turtle Creek Chorale and by god, they knew who we were. They really did.

Flake Recordings were responsible for a lot of that, getting the kind of music we were singing and so on and so forth had a lot to do with it even before we became a part of GALA. That was a big bone of contention with a lot of people (not locally) but a lot of the other choruses around America that had the gay label and were upset with that…..

Gregory We‘re going to get to that in a minute…

Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

Flake Well thank goodness by that time we really had a pretty well organized board. Umm, and the board was in the process of trying to grow in strength, Umm, and become more responsible as a board rather than (Knight: infighting) …basically a board that was operated by the singing members more than anything else. And I‘m not happy with the fact that the singing members at that time, as opposed to just the board members, umm, probably that a lot of them felt disenfranchised. When the singing members came along and started making decisions instead them all making the decisions.

Singing members used to be the only members of the board, while I was chair, were the elected officers on the board….and

Gregory That‘s grown…

Flake Yes, and that has grown since. It‘s been difficult very honestly, to find responsible people who were willing to work on a working board. In fact, I‘ve lost some friends because as the board chair, I have asked them not to re-up on the board because they could not put in the time and work. Like I said, I‘ve lost friends because of it. Had to be… because we

208 couldn‘t afford anything else, we couldn‘t hire a lot of people. Then as our budget grew we were able to hire staff. Probably overdid it at times.

Gregory But, how were key decisions made?

Flake Key decisions were made with the board at that time, uh, with a lot of input by the President, Vice-President, or whoever was representing the chorale on the board was at that time. I will also say at this time, because of his strength and character, a lot of decisions were made by Tim without board approval.

Gregory What time frame was that?

Flake Probably in, after his second year….

Gregory ”89-”90

Flake Oh yeah, right in there…

Knight It got progressively worse

Flake Yes it really did œ the board lost control…

Knight Tim became a star within the community. I mean, Tim did become a star within the city of Dallas.

Flake And every, every singing member, or most every singing member worshipped at his feet.

Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

Flake I‘m sorry to say, I don‘t believe so…

Knight No

209

Flake I don‘t think that we… I can‘t recall what we did then… We tried to get people on the board that had particular talents or worked in their life….

Gregory What we needed at that time…

Flake That‘s right

Knight Do you think that is still the case? I mean, I have to admit that when I read the board, I don‘t know who three quarters of the people are...I‘ve never heard of them.

Gregory It is amazing, you know people question Peter, but Peter is successful because Peter is Peter. Like I told Kay, I said….Kay questioned that I contacted her because she thought I hated the ground she walked on. I said, —Nobody will deny you‘re a tough cookie, but that is what makes you Kay.“

Flake And we respect her for that…

Gregory We do…we do….and that‘s the whole thing. But, umm, Peter is Peter and has put together quite a cohesive board to get through this transition.

Flake He‘s living it 24 hours a day and I hope it doesn‘t get him down.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Flake It was not a constant thing with me. Some of the things that he wanted to do œ I mean I was all for - 100% - but some of the things I said, be real careful, it sounds iffy, I would really like to discuss it with the board.

Gregory And did you get to?

210 Flake No.

Gregory [If had confidence of 6 or great:] What gave you such confidence in the decisions?

Flake Because the bottom line was still good…

Knight And it was inventive…the whole system…it was so broad…

Gregory You had it, let‘s do it…

Flake Yeah, that was the thing of it…As long as we‘re not exceeding the guidelines of the budget, working within that framework and that we were able to come up with the dollars, that was fine and dandy. That was the gold mine, sometimes you reach the bottom of the mine.

Knight Who landed our association with the Meyerson?

Gregory Well, it opened œ and I don‘t know if it was, I‘m sure it‘s Tim because he wanted to get the season in there…

Knight Cause I gotta tell you…can you imagine what that did for the prestige of the chorale

Flake And they needed us too…

Knight And nobody ran with their association with the Meyerson like the chorale did œ nobody ran with…

Flake Well, the Bach Society really didn‘t work out there. Their audience didn‘t fit in that large of space. They are better in a church for that kind of music and that‘s where they are today…they rarely go into…

Gregory The chorale was incredibly fortunate…

211 Knight In the mind of the masses their home was and is… and still is. Which is amazing.

Flake / Gregory Still is…

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

Flake Now when you say the Turtle Creek Chorale…

Gregory The leadership…this is a tough question….let‘s go with that - how did the leadership get commitment and alignment for its decision….

Flake And when you‘re speaking of leadership there….

Gregory It‘s your call....

Flake OK, if you‘re talking about leadership being our director,

Knight Which he is…

Flake …our Artistic Director, there were times when he would ask the board for approval. And uh, if the board felt it worthy, there was no doubt about it. There were times when he didn‘t think, inside (I shouldn‘t speak for Tim) there were times when it appeared that if he asked for approval, he wouldn‘t get it, and so he would go along and make his own decision.

Knight How would you explain that?

Gregory Can you cite a specific example of how this took place?

Flake Well, programming. Originally when Tim was hired he agreed that he would work with a committee on programming. That went by the wayside pretty fast. He just took that over and that was one of those instances. Does that make sense?

212

Gregory Yes, perfect sense

Flake And sometimes that would go a little too far one direction or another. And one of the others was when he wanted to do an all German program, that drove the singers bonkers (except for XX XXXXXXXXXX) and it drove the rest of the singers absolutely bonkers and that‘s when we lost a lot of our…people….

Gregory And it ended up being one of the most spectacular recordings

Flake Yes, I enjoy it…

Knight The recordings might be fine, but I just hated it…

(laughter)

Flake Tim was an expert at doing something for everyone (most of the time) - being very homogenous in that respect. If he went too far on one side or the other then he would lose some here and he would lose some there. We have friends, even in this building, that will no longer go to Turtle Creek Chorale because they want to hear only classical music.

Knight You can‘t do that…

Flake Which we used to sing when… Well, even when Tim first came. It was strictly published choral music rather than some of the fun stuff. He thought to grow the choral it was necessary, in his mind and in Tim‘s mind, to be broader, to try to be something for everyone at sometime or another. And try to do that with every concert as much as possible because if you didn‘t they would go to one they didn‘t like and not come to the next one.

Knight And….

Flake But there was always something at every concert that someone would like or another….

213 Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

Knight Musically?

Gregory Anything that didn‘t work

Knight So much more worked than didn‘t work… Nothing comes to mind….

Flake I don‘t remember any… We seemed on an upper trend all the way. Sometimes it was a little plataue-ish depending upon programming and a lot of things

Gregory Even the plateau was high

Knight And community and involvement really worked œ it‘s amazing.

Flake That we were able to do that…yes.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the short-term pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

Knight Brilliantly

Flake Yeah

Knight I really think brilliantly…

Flake They took it seriously first of all…very seriously

Knight And first of all, and also, there wasn‘t a poor me situation. I don‘ think the Turtle Creek Chorale ever made their audience, the community at large, think poor me. They made it more, it‘s here, it exists, and this is how we‘re working with it…

214 Flake And we‘re going to take care of our own œ that was it from the very beginning.

Knight Yes

Flake We‘re going to take care of anybody within this chorale that needs anything - they are going to get it. Whether it‘s washing dishes or washing diapers.

Knight There again, I don‘t know how much of this was Tim (a lot of it), they handled it as much of a positive as they possibly could.

Flake We‘re biased in this because Bud and I were a part of St. Thomas Episcopal Church. And that‘s where we began…

Knight The AIDS Ministry of Dallas, Texas

Flake AIDS Interfaith Network was born there. All of the training for buddy help and everything else was born there. That‘s why…that‘s what took us to St. Thomas and that‘s what kept us there. Doesn‘t keep us there now… It‘s a family…that keeps us there now….the whole thing.

Knight When We No Longer Touch œ that had an impact on everybody. That had an impact on everybody

Gregory Kris Anthony and Peter McWilliams

Flake Kris was ours.

Gregory Kris was ours…you are right.

Flake I‘m trying to remember…yes, I met Peter.

Gregory Peter came to town. Before GALA and we had a party down at Union Station.

215 Flake / Knight Right, right

Gregory Peter McWilliams came to town and was to meet Kris the next day and Kris died that night.

Flake That‘s right, that‘s right.

Knight Another thing, the AIDS epidemic and the Turtle Creek Chorale morphed also into Breast Cancer. It created another aspect of empathy that the Turtle Creek Chorale had for other than just the AIDS community…

Flake When all of our time….

Knight …and they supported it.

Flake …was taken up fighting the AIDS œ HIV

Knight And it worked…

Flake then it was nice. And then the birth of The Women‘s Chorus of Dallas and us involved with that. And there again, that was Tim‘s baby.

Gregory Did he begin The Women‘s Chorus?

Flake I think it was his idea… yeah, it was his idea… expanding it into larger portions of the community. We had many lesbian; ladies that would come see us or come be a part of it. They weren‘t as active as we wanted them to be. I think it was Tim‘s idea.

Knight There‘s something else. The way they approached the AIDS in our community, a certain respect for the AIDS patient… it didn‘t necessarily exist. In other words, that AIDS person was still singing in the Turtle Creek chorale, they were still visible faces and they didn‘t put a total poor me aspect on the whole thing. I don‘t know of any other organization that put as a positive face as they could on it.

216 Flake If they couldn‘t stand during a concert, what did we do?

Gregory We put them in a chair…

Flake And they sang…

Knight The straight community as well as the gay community knew there was this element and they did deserve respect…

Gregory And they wanted to be higher and the chairs were uncomfortable, we gave ”em barstools.

Knight I know…

Flake I know. There were several guys at that time we had a lot of Karposi syndrome. Boy, I‘ll tell you, Max Factor or Hazel Bishop worked…worked, because they covered those things and it got ”em on stage.

Knight It created respect…

Flake It kept them alive a lot longer…

Knight It certainly did.

Flake Because of decent medication…

Gregory Let‘s move to the —g“ word.

Knight OK, what about it?

Gregory How did the chorus deal with the —g“ word not being in its name or branding?

217 Flake There were some rocky times

Knight But the rocky times did not exist in Dallas, Texas

Flake (clap) exactly

Knight …it existed throughout the country œ the —g“ word, gay people in other words, is who created the problem. We didn‘t œ the fact that we didn‘t have it, as I said before, enhanced the prestige of the men‘s chorus œ gay, straight, I don‘t give a damn.

Flake Being where we are geographically. We didn‘t feel the need to be in your face gay people.

Knight No

Flake We were working to take care of our own.

Gregory It wasn‘t the Dallas way?

Flake It wasn‘t the Dallas way….Bud and I didn‘t want the gay word in it….it‘s not that we were in the closet….

Gregory And have been together for how many years?

Flake 42 œ almost 43

Knight 43, July 5th

Gregory Congratulations

218 Flake That part of it didn‘t bother so much, it was the idea that we didn‘t want to lose some of our audience. We wanted to educate. Let them learn to love us, then they would not hate us.

Knight And do you think for one minute the Hamilton Park Men‘s Chorus would have even considered singing with the Turtle Creek Chorale if it had the “g“ word…

Flake They just couldn‘t…

Knight They just couldn‘t….

(interruption)

Knight œ cont… Do you think for a minute that the Dallas Morning News would allow their name be predominately associated with the Turtle Creek Chorale. I mean…. There are places…

Gregory You could go even bigger than that Bud, you could even say, WFAA, Channel 8, Belo Broadcasting which basically,

Knight Yes!

Gregory Which owns the Dallas Morning News…

Knight They do own the Dallas Morning News.

Flake Do you remember that the chairman of the board‘s wife was on our Board of Directors?

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

219 Knight They did not address them as one shot deals, hey. We‘re doing this…. We are the Turtle Creek Chorale.. we‘re going to do a blast, gets in the newspaper and then gets everywhere… That does not happen. They continued. Do you realize, every Christmas they give a concert at Northpark. That, I mean, let‘s face it œ look what the get there.

Flake Northpark, the Adolphus Hotel

Knight …and the Adolphus... They are part of the Neiman Marcus Christmas thing….

Gregory I would love to know how many toys have been given to the toy drive. The toy drive has been going on for….

Knight Decades

Gregory Decades…XXXX could tell me. He would know.

Flake That is now pretty much all over the city….and others….

Gregory XXXX pretty much took that over

Knight He did…

Knight I‘ll tell you something - there are a number things, like you said XXXX XXXXXX, that the Turtle Creek Chorale were innovated enough to start and other people have picked up on œ they really, really have œ I mean… We sing in churches….

Flake But you know something? I think from the very beginning œ even more so than it is today. The guys really believed in what they are doing. I think they maybe lost some of that and that leads on to another thing that we can talk about later, if you wish. I‘m not sure that our current day fellows feel the mission as much as we did back then.

Knight Their mission is because they like to sing and that‘s it

220 Flake Well, was, it was then too œ to sing, but it also - the coming together. We needed to be close together to get through the AIDS crisis and it also built a community where we all couldn‘t be down on Cedar Springs screaming, you know.

Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

Knight Talent! I‘m sorry….

Flake Talent and leadership

Knight No, no, but I think talent in the people that sang…the Turtle….we‘ve gone to GALA, we‘ve heard other groups sing and all this and that… When it gets down to the nitty- gritty, by god, whether they like the name that we‘re the Turtle Creek Chorale and not the Gay Men‘s Chorus of Dallas.

Flake But Bud…

Knight What?

Flake Bud, it wasn‘t that the talent was there just to start with. They had to have somebody to take it through a funnel and make it come out right.

Knight But he asked a question. What makes us and Seattle and now LA, is that fact that we were professional singers….

Gregory We have two different answers

Flake Well, I think there‘s two different answers, yeah, but I also remember that any guy that wanted to sing in that chorale, pretty much was able to sing in that chorale. They wouldn‘t come to us if they were too off tune.

221 Gregory There were expectations…

Flake There were expectations of them. But I mean, they already knew that they had to sing when they got there, I guess. Did we ever turn away anybody?

Gregory My mother asked me that same question today.

Knight And?

Gregory …and the answer is yes.

Flake Just that your voice just isn‘t right

Gregory Yes

Flake And that was the reason…

Gregory They would go take lessons and come back the next year to be in….

Flake Yeah, yeah

Gregory …that was the dedication level. Flake That was the dedication level, yeah, it‘s not there now I don‘t think

Knight Well, I think they sing pretty damn well

Gregory I‘m sure they still turn people away if they didn‘t cut the mustard.

Flake I hope so, I hope so….you have to have standards. But we had talent in XXX XXXXXX. He was like a magnet. Some guys just thought of him as their father confessor. He was their godfather maybe. That‘s both good and bad.

222 Knight I think San Francisco, and other singers… I think because it was a gay organization. That‘s a terrible thing, but to me, I really do.

Flake We even had a charitable board that was involved in it. I think was involved with it because…it was a good contact list….

Knight No, I think that‘s the whole reason why the chorale…it‘s talent. Plain and simple…

Flake And be it talent all the way around…. We had some talent direction, we had some talent…let‘s face it, we had some good board members too…

Knight Let‘s face it, if you went to GALA and heard some of those choruses you knew one reason why, regardless of our name, how we should be respected

Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

Flake Yeah, yeah œ the very first concert that we did at the Meyerson

Gregory 1990 I believe

Flake Made that transition, in my mind, particularly strong Flake We had arrived

Knight That‘s it, plus all the dignitaries…the list of dignitaries we sang for….the charities, Maya Angelou, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, etc…

Flake That was a big step.

Knight There was a pride in that one œ I don‘ think all the guys that sing today, or not, realize what in the world that must have felt like.

223 Flake I mentioned before the Black Tie Required thing. The first concert, those fellows were all in their tuxes and they came out of two different sides of the stage, out at SMU Caruth Auditorium….I sat there and bawled.

Knight You weren‘t around when we were also at Fair Park.

Flake We only did one or two at that place.

Knight The arboretum or whatever…it was not a good place…

Flake It actually worked out, we were selling booze…

Knight Well, that‘s true…

Flake All the board were waiters, the board spouses were selling…We had it set up with chairs and tables - it was like the pops and we made money. We paid the bills.

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

Gregory Are there any questions we didn‘t ask, but should have?

Flake No, I‘m so glad you were there during the real heydays. But you had, I know (and you don‘t need to record this if you don‘t want to, it‘s up to you, or just edit it). I know there were times that were very difficult working as Tim‘s assistant and you had very little choice but to acquiesce. And it was not always easy and you had to bite your tongue to do it. And I so appreciate it for the years you had to do that.

Gregory Thank you

Flake Tim didn‘t do it alone. You were there for production, you were there for convention, and you handled all the merchandising. But you were not forgotten and you might have felt like it some of the time because you had someone up there that was the leader œ the alpha

224 dog œ and he was given all the credit. It shouldn‘t have been. It went to his head and it finally defeated him.

Knight We never addressed the European tour of the Turtle Creek Chorale and what it did, I think, not for the image of not only the Turtle Creek Chorale, but gay people everywhere. For the following reasons, number one, we were at the Brandenburg gate singing and the newspapers addressed it as a gay men‘s chorus (that‘s a small part). Then we sang in the monastery in Barcelona. But, when we became the first organization to bring up AIDS in the Czech Republic….

Gregory It was the first AIDS fundraiser in the Czech Republic

Knight Then Berlin where they were already off the stage, and they wouldn‘t quit…

Gregory They were on the bus. We had to get them off the bus and back on the stage.

(laughter)

Flake Carnegie Hall was expensive, Europe was expensive for those guys, Carnegie Hall was expensive for those guys. They had to put money into that and they were willing to do it…then.

Gregory I think we were the first GALA chorus to go to Europe

Flake How many times were we invited to professional choral association national conventions?

Gregory Three national conventions

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241)

Author Summary

In their 80-plus years of life, Chet Flake and Bud Knight have shared 43 as partners and 28 of the 43 as unparalleled chorale supporters. Of the 28 years of Turtle Creek Chorale existence, social, political, and financial support have been paramount in their tireless dedication to leadership, membership, and financial support. Initial

225 fundraising efforts included: Garage Sales, Ming to Minks, Antiques to Zebras, and Black Tie Required. The drive of the organization was paramount from the beginning, —Everybody felt a responsibility to make every single solitary thing a success.“ Bud and Chet, who live on Turtle Creek, see the multitude of benefits to not inclusion of the —g“ word in the name. —We would never have sung for George H. Bush and his wife, Anne Richards, our mayor, the Governor. (Gregory: The Queen of England).“ —..the —g“ word, gay people in other words, is who created the problem. We didn‘t œ the fact that we didn‘t have it, as I said before, enhanced the prestige of the men‘s chorus œ gay, straight, I don‘t give a damn.“ It has been extremely beneficial for the —g“ word to not be stated, —It was the idea that we didn‘t want to lose some of our audience. We wanted to educate. Let them learn to love us, then they would not hate us.“ The leadership, —…was like a magnet. Some guys just thought of him as their father confessor. He was their godfather maybe. That‘s both good and bad.“ Age brings wisdom and these two are brilliant in the operations of the Turtle Creek Chorale.

Pinnacle moment: Meyerson (1990) —And nobody ran with their association with the Meyerson like the chorale did œ nobody ran with it…“

226 APPENDIX N JONES, DON Sign Language Interpreter

Date: April 2008 Time: 10:00 A.M. Place: Starbucks, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Jones Well, I‘ve been, this is my 20th season I believe - 19th or 20th. They only count whole years and I came in the middle of the year. My position is, I‘m the sign language interpreter and I was originally asked by Tim Seelig to come in and to do that and to sign the concerts in American Sign Language, or as close as possible, for the whole audience but especially for the hearing impaired audience. So what I have done is interpret all the regular concerts and some of the special events too, but most of the regular concerts.

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

Jones I think that umm, a big factor has been Dr. Seelig because he came in with a certain vision and very often to make the jump from just a nice community choir to of course, the world renowned organization that it is œ or at least go on that path œ he‘s not afraid to go with that vision. The vision was then taken on by the members of that choir. It wasn‘t just Tim, it can‘t just be the leader. That vision has to be taken on by the members of the choir because they are the choir. They are his boss. And then of course by the Board of Trustees, you know, their job is to promote, their job is to get the money in, their job is to put the face of the chorale out there. Their job is not to run the artistic administration of the choral. They are the business people. I‘ve been on some board before. It‘s important the board have that vision. We‘re leading the organization; we‘re not running the organization. That‘s one of the first factors.

I think another factor has been œ I think they had this before and didn‘t really lose it œ is that family atmosphere. The fact that these are often men that may not have a strong family relationship. I have one. I get all teary because I know of other people who don‘t have what I have.

Gregory I understand

227

Jones I have a strong family and I don‘t need another family, but some people don‘t. They don‘t have a strong family and they need something like that to be a part of.

Gregory Even with a strong family you have an outside family; a family different from your own and as strong in a different way.

Jones In fact, you know, I talk about being in Dallas and how deep my roots are in Dallas. That‘s one of the things that roots me in Dallas is the chorale. And uh, to give…the fact that it‘s a non-audition choir allows a lot more œ it‘s not like we‘re professional, we don‘t want you because you can‘t sing this well œ we want you. Then that‘s a big factor. If someone that can‘t carry a tune at all, there is still the associate membership, you know, there are still other ways that they can become a part of it. So I think that the fact that it is a non-audition choir is very important factor. It really can include so many people and keep that… Again, it takes a skillful Artistic Director to keep the music and the art there in spite of the fact you don‘t have professional singers. And yet you can draw that many are professional musicians, so you draw that together and it makes it stronger.

I think there is another factor and it slipped out. I think the other think is the umm, support the chorale gives one another for persons with HIV. Because it offers a, you know, we will take…we are not just your family. We‘re going to be there to take care of you is you need something, you know, and that kind of support makes it such a close organization that everyone pushes for one another, everyone supports one another. If something goes down in your family, you‘re going to have the support there. Now that‘s not perfect and occasionally something slips up and people get their feelings hurt because you didn‘t come to me when my father dies œ that happens occasionally. Then people begin to put the same expectations of their family. Those are the first what got it going. And then to put all these things together and carry on so when there is a change in leadership that continues. What‘s really important, now with the chorale, with the new Artistic Director, is that that continues. We have all the parts in place and it‘s going to be different. One of the downsides of having someone a strong as Tim Seelig is it takes on his personality and it can‘t stay that way. The new director, Dr. Palant has to make it his personality and he‘s doing a lot of things to make that happen. Little changes that people get, ”wait a minute, we don‘t do that.‘ (laughter) I think one of the funniest things was, you know, at the end of a concert when we have a soloist, you know, we‘re allowed to applaud for them. That was an absolute no-no under Dr. Seelig. Oh, we did not applaud for anyone we performed with. That is like the biggest no-no and now we applaud for them and people are just shocked. Let Jonathan make it his. Let his style pervade. Recently I sang with the Hope for Peace and Justice Choir which was Dr. Seelig again, conducting many of the people in the chorale. It had a strange comfort to it œ knowing that when someone performed we were going to stand still.

(laughter)

228

I‘m very comfortable. For 20 years I‘ve been there. It‘s important…and I tell you in the Christmas concert œ let me say the holiday concert because it was definitely not a Christmas concert. Jonathan did such an outstanding job of making it his own œ bringing the Jewish side to it, because he‘s Jewish and bringing some of the most beautiful Jewish music into it. Just something so beautiful…. It was the prettiest thing on there was that song we sang in Hebrew. So bringing his personality is so important. These things can continue on but people can‘t get stuck in the: I‘m a Tim this person or a this person. They need to be a chorale person.

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

Jones Umm, I think it happened gradually. I don‘t remember any big thing that happened. I think, you know, that the European tour was such a huge leap at that time. That was in ‘95. So I guess I had been in the chorale 4 years, or something like that, maybe 8 - somewhere along in there. I had been in the chorale a while and they all run together. I guess if this is 2008, I must have come in ‘88. So I had been about 6 years, maybe 5 when they started planning it. So, I think that was, you know, to have someone which it basically started with Tim with the vision œ this is something we can do. It‘s not something way out there we just hope for, we can do and we need to start planning œ planning before I was even aware of it. That was a big leap. But I think that…I don‘t even Dr. Seelig knew what he was getting into. He‘s always isn‘t this nice, this little choir can do and I think the vision took over him more than anything else. So, gradually over time œ then the big leap was Europe. Once we can back from Europe, it was like there‘s no more limit any more. We‘ve sung all over the world, there‘s no limit anymore. If there was any conscious act that made a difference, I think that‘s what it was.

Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

Jones First of all, I think…and I don‘t know exactly when this started. Even though we had a director with a vision and a board that supported it, we had members to take care of the details. I think that is what is important that the membership drove the action. A committee for this and a committee for that took over and drove it. That process of I‘m not here for the ride. I‘m here to get involved and take part of what‘s going on. So that we‘re not just following, we‘re doing it all together. Did that sort of answer it.

Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

229 Jones I‘m not aware of any, I‘m really not. I know that umm, humm, I‘m trying to think if I‘ve heard anything like... We always get emails from all over the country and I know that leaders of other GALA choirs get together and talk about things œ some of the larger choirs. I don‘t know if they really act as consultants. I think there is a lot of sharing. For an example the Dallas choir, the Denver choir, the Seattle choir. To me Dallas and Seattle are the two choirs. Denver‘s good, New York is good, and San Francisco has been on a bizarre roller coaster. I think if any consulting has happened, it‘s been the sharing. When we go to GALA I think that is a big important thing because we as members of the choir they had board members meetings. They had special meetings for section leaders. I think that best kind of sharing is the best kind of consultation we‘ve done.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Jones Well, umm, I‘m very skeptical. And so generally when the decisions first came down my confidence is about a two or three. And then I‘m a person who will support…I can support a decision based on two or three cause I‘m willing to try. A good example, and this is not exactly the kind of thing….let‘s take for example a specific program (laughter) this is a famous… people laugh about this for years. —Tim, what are you thinking to think we could put this together in concert.“ And that thinking might carry right up until dress rehearsal. And then the first performance everyone goes, —oh, I get it know.“ ”Cause we don‘t necessary see that musical and artistic vision. And I think with the other types of decisions a lot of it was the same way… I was, you know, really….I don‘t know, it was either skeptical or I had great expectations. For example, the Europe trip, I had great expectations and it far exceeded what I ever expected. So I think that the confidence grows as you see that a little bit can go so far. And this is the chorale. An example is the recent Hope for Peace and Justice choir, they asked me to sing. What a waste of an afternoon. I could really be playing my computer games or something. (laughter) I‘m very busy. I do a lot of volunteering. In fact, I‘m leaving here to copy something for the Opera Guild because I‘m doing something for them this evening. You walk in and it just blows you away, —Wow, how could it be something that great.“ I think, —isn‘t that nice, we‘re going to go sing in Prague.“ Oh my gosh (laughter).

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

Jones Umm, well, you know, some of the decisions that were made they didn‘t get good real good commitment for. I‘m not on the inside with some of the challenges that have happened between the artistic administration and the board. I know there have been

230 challenges in the past. And I‘m not aware of them and I‘m blissfully unaware of them. I say, —Oh that‘s good, oh that‘s fine, oh that‘s nice.“ My job is very simple. Since I‘m on staff, I‘m a hired person. I‘m not one of the movers and shakers and I don‘t go in and out of committees and stuff like that. But I think in general, what we have developed; we in the choir developed this kind of faith. We just have to trust this is going to happen. That has developed over so many successes and so many things that have worked well and so many things that might not have worked so well. I have a strong musical background so I want it to be musically and artistically wonderful. And not necessarily do I care if it sells tickets. A good example, is did the Joan of Arc movie piece not too long ago. —Oh my gosh, what are we doing this for?“ and everything. It was such difficult music. It was one of the artistic peaks of the choir and of Tim, of Dr. Seelig. It was so incredibly well put together and so incredibly well done. It was artistically perfect in my opinion. I could see nothing wrong with it. It just went so beautifully. I didn‘t think it could be that good.

Gregory Was there commitment and alignment from the very beginning?

Jones I don‘t think there was. I think it developed over time. I think, you know, I think I‘m not a-typical and that I have the whole skepticism of this is going to work. You know, and what we do is just throw it out there in faith. There is a piece coming up right now that we‘re going to do next week, I don‘t know, cause I‘m not at a lot of rehearsals, but I‘ve heard the people, —Why are we doing this piece œ Night Passages.“ I have no idea what it‘s going to be like œ none. I haven‘t heard the whole thing all together yet. I have the music and the words and I‘m working on that. I‘ll hear it for the first time on Tuesday. Which is my dress rehearsal so I have to have my preparation done. But my dress rehearsal is on Tuesday and of course whatever we do Sunday afternoon. I‘m going to make this the best we can. I think a lot of singers are doing that and they don‘t know how it‘s going to work. That‘s the way we get it œ there‘s been so much success and things work so well when we put our hearts into it. If things don‘t work here and there we don‘t worry about it and go on.

Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

Jones Humm… (pause) I‘m trying to think of one. It‘s very difficult because so many things. I remember the first time we, I remember us going to sing for the choral director association and we had a drag number and a dance. This is the chorus.

Gregory Would that be Patsy Cline?

Jones Yes, we had the Patsy Cline. You do recall the story that I had never seen the Patsy Cline

231 Gregory No!

Jones …until I got on stage. I had heard the music and I practiced the music.

Gregory That was not a drag queen at the convention. That was the real girl. Tim was not going to have a drag queen on stage at the ACDA convention.

Jones Oh, did we use a real girl?

Gregory Everything after that was a drag queen.

Jones Since then. (laughter) You‘re right œ but I had never seen her do it, I had heard it. And then I was up there on stage while she was dragging tree saws and crutches, record albums out of her brazier… I was falling, I could not go on, I was dying, I was crimson red trying to interpret this crazy, how crazy was it? No, I‘ve Got Your Picture. Another Patsy Cline number…

Gregory It was crazy

Jones And the whole idea: we‘re going to boot scoot (?) we‘re going to be dancing (?) and then again…it brought the house down. So, I think of all these weird things that we‘ve tried, I really can‘t think of anything that hasn‘t worked all that well. Occasionally, we have come upon audiences that were less than warm. Umm, Barcelona, for example. When we sang at this church and did our usual thing, and we got, —isn‘t that sweet, the nice boys from Texas that sang...ok, what‘s next?“ But we knew we had done well.

Gregory That wasn‘t us so much as it was hotter than hell and there was a bat flying around…

(laughter)

Jones It was warm

Gregory It was very warm

232 Jones Did we do Patsy Cline in that one? I think they may have…

Gregory Oh probably

Jones I think they may have deferred Miss Cline.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the short-term pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

Jones Well, I think, you know, we did all the right things with the AIDS crisis.

Gregory Such as?

Jones The quilt. The first group of people that we had, the first 10 or 12, or whatever it was we made a quilt. We‘ve gone to quilt things, we went to Washington œ oh my gosh, we won‘t even go there. Saw the quilt there. We‘ve done all the right things.

(interruption)

Jones œcont. But like I said before, we had the special needs group that takes care, you know. That meets the needs of those people without bringing their name to the choir or making a big deal out of it, but meets the needs of those people that were affected. We gave support to care givers. The same kind of support we gave everyone else. I think we did all the right things and continue to do this crisis… I guess it‘s not a crisis anymore it‘s just on going, sort of an on going thing that still work on, we haven‘t forgotten

What was the other one?

Gregory The —g“ word…

Jones Well, we‘ve gotten more criticism from the other choirs than anythone else. You know the joke, the snide remark that was made at GALA one time was, what if the New York Gay Men‘s Chorus were the Hudson, the Hudson River Chorale.

233 Gregory I always said, the Turtle Creek Chorale Gay Men‘s Chorus was redundant.

(laughter)

Jones I think the other thing is that in Bible belt Texas, you know, there is a lot of people here that don‘t care what your personal life is like, but they don‘t want it in their face.

Gregory That‘s Dallas

Jones It‘s the Dallas effect. It‘s really even more Texas œ I don‘t think Dallas is that bad. You could say, —gay, gay, gay, gay“ and they wouldn‘t care. You might not bring in, those from Waxahachie might not drive up. (laughter) But the other thing is that we are primarily a musical organization. If you look at our, our vision and our mission; it‘s to educate, entertain, uplift….I don‘t remember all four of those. It‘s not saying we‘re gay. Saying we‘re gay is not in our mission. I think there are a lot of groups that say gay is in their mission and that‘s important for them. Lambda Legal Services doesn‘t have gay in their name, you know. But that‘s what they are for. There‘s a lot of organizations that have a gay push to them but don‘t have the word gay in their name. I think that the criticism we received around the country is that so many of the choirs the big thing is that they are gay. That‘s Ok. Just because you‘re in a GALA chorus doesn‘t mean you‘re the same as everyone else. We‘re not in it to be gay œ we‘re in it to do what we do. I‘m in another organization that‘s primarily gay. We don‘t have gay in our name either. We‘re there to support the people who happen to come in. It just happens that most of the people in that organization just happen to be gay. I think it has more to do with what our mission is, than even than as Texas, our mission is not to bet gay out there in your face. Like we say, to uplift, educate, and entertain and the other one. (laughter) I think we‘ve done a good job with that.

Gregory I think it was XXXX XXXX or GALA, back after the Denver GALA that did a study and found that only a third of all the GALA choruses had the —g“ word in its name.

Jones Oh really.

Gregory So, it was an issue of when you‘re on top people look at you and say you need to have the —g“ word in your name but only a third of your organization has it in their name.

Jones Does Seattle?

234 Gregory No, Seattle Men‘s Chorus

Jones Of course New York has to say gay.

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

Jones I think that umm, it comes back to the membership. But it comes back to the fact that we as an organization are for the whole community. When something occurs in Dallas, we‘re there. You know, we‘re not only there if it‘s a gay organization. We‘re there because we‘re an arts community and that‘s why we‘re there. We invite others from other organizations to us. Jonathan Palant‘s his one night concert…My god, he had dancers from Dallas Black Dance Theater. He had mariachis. He had an opera singer. He had a cellist, he had every…Dallas Symphony, Dallas Opera, just pouring in from all different organizations, you know because that‘s what we are, we‘re part of a community. I think that also occurred gradually. I think it had to have leadership and I think Dr. .Seelig was a big leader in that. Seeing far beyond us and seeing that we are part of the community. Dr. Palant may be even stronger in that than even Tim. He really wants us to be a member of the community. That feeling happened through leadership but I think that the chorale has taken it unto themselves: We‘re not just a gay thing, we‘re a community organization.

Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

Jones That‘s a real good question. Umm, and I don‘t have a definitive answer. I‘ve always felt that the chorale had a high artistic level. Not just in leadership, but its singers. And even though we were a non-auditioned choir, we had attractive, talented, performers, singers, members of the choir… willing to be a choir member and not soloist. We have a cadre of soloist that would knock your socks off. We have several in every section that can carry a solo. I don‘t know why that is specific to Dallas. I think we have a big community to draw on. We have Dallas and Fort Worth, you know…and Denton. We have a lot of major music schools in this area. We have North Texas and SMU and we have other

235 universities with strong music programs to I think that that has made a big difference in the artistic level of the choir and I think that has drawn audiences.

I think the decision to bite the bullet and sing in the Meyerson was a big step. I‘m sure that was expensive at first because that‘s not a cheap hall. But to bite the bullet and say we‘re not going to sing…. We love, you know, the SMU Caruth Auditorium and the other little place they have on the north part of the campus. We love these little venues, but we‘re a Meyerson choir. We‘re just like the Dallas Symphony and all those people that play at the Meyerson. So I think that the choir made the assumption that they are good; made the assumption that they‘re worth that. I don‘t know where that self worth came from? I think a lot of it came from the leadership. A lot of it came from Dr. Seelig. We are worth being there. It ties into our community spirit. We‘re a member of the community like everyone else and we‘re worth being there. I think those are what I can think of. I can‘t think of anything specifically that brought us up. I think we‘ve had some really good leadership in the past. Some good Board of Directors that have been able to get out there and get some money flowing in.

Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

Jones I‘ve mentioned the trip to Europe. That probably, was the biggest single factor. I think another factor is our willingness to do musical theater. One of the big things we‘ve done is like a whole act would be like a musical theater piece that we had done. We commission pieces. Those are really two separate things. We‘re willing to commission pieces something for us. We‘re willing to do a whole musical theater piece. Bring in actors and singers from the community to join us and do something like that. As far as a single event, it would have to be Europe that was the thing that really knocked us out, knocked us to the top.

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

Gregory Are there any questions we didn‘t ask, but should have?

Jones No, I think you did good, those are great questions. I‘m trying to think of anything else. I was a little surprised you didn‘t talk more about my role. Only because…

Gregory Go ahead…

236

Jones …only because it‘s so odd. (laughter) We have had various levels of participation from the deaf community, the hearing impaired community. We have some people, we have a group of deaf people that comes to the Christmas concert. But they are at every single one and they count on me being there, the interpreter to be there. This was also a decision of GALA to encourage all the sign language interpreter. I‘ve heard, —What‘s that all about.“ I think it draws again, on this concept of inclusion. Just because you can‘t hear doesn‘t mean you‘re excluded from this community œ not just a gay event, but a community event. That is an important…even if no one is there, we‘re saying, —You‘re welcome. You are welcome to come in.“ That is as important as anything else. I know there have been concert series go by without a single person, but we‘re saying, —You‘re welcome here.“ And there are so many things about our choir that say you‘re welcome here, but diversity and the sign language are the kinds of things that say, —you‘re welcome here. That‘s to me, my biggest role in that. And I try to make it pretty.

Gregory And you do.

Jones Sometimes. Testament of Freedom is hard to make pretty. Those words are hard to make pretty.

Gregory War, war, war, war

Jones There are some words that just don‘t come out pretty…

Gregory And the gospel version is just faster

(laughter)

Jones Ain‘t Gonna Study War No More œ I did that just recently with the Hope for Peace and Justice choir. Oh, I think us partnering up with First Baptist Church of Hamilton Park œ wow œ you know, how exciting that was, you know, to have a symbol of the Baptist church. But they are very different than any other, not just because of their racial difference. They are just different. Have you been to any of their actual services?

Gregory No

237 Jones They are something else. You need to go to a concert in the church. They start with half an hour getting the spirit rolling. They get the spirit rolling and shouting and you‘re about ready to bounce down the aisles. They did a thing, taking a passage from the Bible. A woman with an issue came to Jesus. They started to do this number. Before they do it, this woman all wrapped up in Egyptian clothing - the drama they bring in to that. They are a perfect partnering organization. The fact that they actually had a church meeting to decide if they are going to perform with us and they said, —yes.“ We don‘t say gay, gay, gay œ we‘re saying we are welcoming and including. So I think that is what my world is there.

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241) Author Summary —Rumor or lore“ among the GALA movement, AIDS patients were losing their hearing. At the request of Tim Seelig, Don Jones provided American Sign Language as an inclusive component of the concert production. After 20 years of —staff“ and outside observation, Don Jones sees the cohesive family created over the 20+ years. A family unlike his: —they don‘t have a strong family and they need something like that to be a part of.“ This researcher believes that even with a strong family, the chosen one family created for oneself is incredibly strong for the moment and will never be replaced. Don sees the Turtle Creek Chorale as an arts organization for the entire Dallas community. —When something occurs in Dallas, We‘re there. You know, we‘re not only there if it‘s a gay organization. We‘re there because we‘re an arts community and that‘s why we‘re there.“ The core values of family and taking care of each other are visible through the eyes of the interpreter. Don draws on the concept of inclusion to sign each event. The sounds and words of the chorus are shared among those that can not hear.

Pinnacle moment: European Tour (1995)

238 APPENDIX O McBRYDE, KENN Singing Member and Data Administrator

Date: April 2008 Time: 10:00 A.M. Place: Sammons Center for the Performing Arts, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

McBryde I‘ve been a singer since August 1987. So this is my twenty first season. I have been an employee since March 22, 1993….fifteen years. I‘ve been in every small group, singing wise, and large group. And work responsibilities, basically data base management, member liaison as far as getting their money and applying it to the correct account, as far as dues and travel and anything else. Putting money in the bank. I also do the concert programs. And anything else I‘m requested to do.

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

McBryde (pause) Consistence musical quality. (pause) A positive image in the greater Dallas arts community as well as the local Dallas gay and lesbian community.

Gregory If you feel that those two are fine, then it‘s the musical quality that increased the budget, audience, membership, and its notoriety.

McBryde I think without those two, the other things wouldn‘t have come.

Gregory Other things such as…

McBryde Increase ticket sales. Increase subscriptions.

Gregory Could you please elaborate on the [top two or three] factors? Can you give me specific examples that illustrate the factor?

239 McBryde Well, I feel our pinnacle of musical quality was Times of Day which was ‘95.

Gregory Strauss?

McBryde Yes. And we just kept getting better and better. The sound and the musicality…it just kept getting better.

Gregory What about the positive influence in the arts community and the gay and lesbian community. Can you elaborate on that a little?

McBryde I think being a part of…..

(interruption)

Gregory We were talking about the positive influence in the arts community and the gay and lesbian community.

McBryde I think winning the EMMY with After Goodbye helped with the arts community as a whole and as…and with our gay and lesbian community. That night when we showed the personal side of the Turtle Creek Chorale and also showed musical excellence of the Turtle Creek Chorale and it helped…it opened doors.

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

McBryde It‘s hard to say. Was it the chorale or was it Tim? You know Tim, you‘ve heard from day one: failure wasn‘t an option. Do you have the old…mission statement?

Gregory The finest men‘s chorus in the world

McBryde Yeah

Gregory That was 1980

240 McBryde Right, but that was at least a conscious decision.

(interruption)

Gregory Ok, was there a conscious decision made?

McBryde So, I don‘t know that it was a conscious decision on anyone‘s part. Is there ever a conscious decision to fulfill a mission statement? Yeah, there is.

Gregory It took work.

McBryde Yeah. But, for the old mission statement, I‘m not sure there was a real conscious decision. It was just this is what we do.

Gregory I love that. It is just what we do.

Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

McBryde Asking for forgiveness is….. (laughter)…instead of asking for permission.

Gregory Who made the decisions and how were they carried out?

McBryde A lot of times the Executive Director or the CEO/Artistic Director, which ever hat he had on that day, would say we need to do this and in collaboration with board or sometimes without collaboration of the board it would get done. I guess that it‘s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

McBryde I would say, yes. But, are you asking for professional consultants and advisors? Tim would ask XXXXXX. Tim would ask John Thomas. He would ask his artistic staff. His,

241 all of us. Or he would say, —This is what I want to do - what do you think about it?“ Is that asking advisors or consultants? That‘s a hard question.

Gregory Did the board ever use consultants or advisors?

McBryde It honestly didn‘t seem like they did.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

McBryde Wow! What a question. I think it really depends on which decision it was. Personally, it would be one of those, maybe a five but I would support it like a 10.

Gregory Is that coming as a singing member or a staff member?

McBryde Staff member. The singing member was always an eight or nine.

Gregory [If had confidence of 6 or great:] What gave you such confidence in the decisions?

McBryde Tim‘s confidence that it would work. Like, so many musical things that I didn‘t always agree with musical selections but I trusted that Artistic Director knew what he was doing.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

McBryde His (Tim‘s) method of operation was usually to present it to the membership and be a rah, rah cheerleader and get the membership behind him and the board usually would fall in line… and give him the rope to hang himself or to walk upon.

Gregory Can you cite a specific example of how this took place?

McBryde (pause) (inaudible)

242 Gregory It‘s ok if you can‘t œ we can come back to that one.

Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

McBryde You see, this is where I … I never remember specifics. I do stuff and then go on. It either worked or it didn‘t.

Gregory We can come back to those two if you can think of something specific issue in which a decision was made. Like you said, going to the membership and then going to the board or the board would just fall in line, or something that didn‘t work. Something that was a miss along the way…

McBrye If I remember right, the European trip wasn‘t approved by the board. It just went with him. Do what we wanted to do, and sort of line up everything, present it to the membership. I‘m not sure the board ever objected to it and yet since then it‘s been one of those things ”you have to get our permission to do this.‘ Which, no one agrees on.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the short-term pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

McBryde The AIDS impact (pause) we just pulled together as a family. We were there for whoever got sick. Whoever needed help. And when they passed on, we were there for memorial services. We established the TCC AIDS Fund to help in whatever ways financial if we could.

As far as the —g“ word. (pause) I‘m one of those people that who is not a big advocate for that. I grew up in Oklahoma and Texas, I understand the whole reasoning. We didn‘t want to be the best gay men‘s chorus in the world. We wanted to be the best men‘s chorus in the world. I hate even saying we just happen to be gay. It‘s just for me not…it‘s not part of it. It is. It‘s a big part of it. But… I definitely think that not having the gay in the name it helped. It helped being in Dallas, Texas and being in the arts community. And it was just easier to say we‘re a men‘s chorus and we want to be the best men‘s chorus there is. And like I said, everyone always appends that by saying, —we just happen to be gay.“ Well, I wish that could just drop off because there are so many choruses who are great and they have gay members. They may not be predominately gay, but they have gay members. But, they‘re not….they‘re not drawing attention to. We want to be the best men‘s chorus in the world.

243 Gregory Do you see, or still having to justify making that statement.

McBryde I don‘t think so. I don‘t think that‘s happened in years. Every now and then you‘ll see an article that will say the Turtle Creek Chorale, blah, blah, blah, Dallas, Texas gay men‘s chorus. I don‘t think it‘s an issue.

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

McBryde (pause) Well, I think it‘s just the fact that we do outreach initiatives and good or bad we learn from them. And keep doing it. We don‘t just keep unto ourselves. We‘re constantly trying to build bridges to other organizations within the Dallas community and now, the greater Dallas community and to whomever. (pause) And you know, that‘s a direct…it‘s a reflection of, I think, not only our artistic decision but for the decision that that‘s what we need to do. We don‘t need to be just our own little, best little men‘s chorus in the world. Part of that is building bridges to other organizations however we can. And sometimes those bridges stand and sometimes they don‘t.

Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

McBryde I think for the….it, we weren‘t a novel idea (I don‘t want to say that). I believe the artistic leadership wanted to excel. And for Dallas…for a men‘s chorus you have the Vocal Majority or you have the Turtle Creek Chorale. Two totally different styles of singing and they are very successful in what they do. And we needed to be very successful in what we did… do…did…do….

Gregory And then adding Hamilton Park to that as the third genre of men‘s chorus.

McBryde Right. Totally different and the best at what they do.

244 Gregory So what did Turtle Creek Chorale have that the others didn‘t?

McBryde A different sound. It was a male choral sound unlike a barbershop, unlike a gospel choir.

Gregory OK, compare that, let‘s go back to the GALA choruses. What did Turtle Creek Chorale have that the other GALA choruses didn‘t have? Same thing or something completely different?

McBryde I think it‘s the same thing, I think it‘s the geography. How many GALA choruses are there in LA? How many other distractions would a chorus member have in LA? I think Seattle is successful because they are the premier men‘s chorus in Seattle. And we‘ve gone through this before about their auction is the Seattle communities Black Tie event for the year. Our black tie event is Black Tie Dinner. That‘s why Seattle is successful. They have a community wide presence up there.

What was the question? (laughter)

Gregory Turtle Creek Chorale and Seattle quickly went successful and big. What did they have that these other 156 don‘t have?

McBryde I think we had a great artistic staff who presented programs that people wanted to see. They weren‘t just choral concerts, they were events. You were part of that.

Gregory Yes I was…

McBryde I mean, how many drunken nights did y‘all spend in San Antonio (choral conventions) creating those events.

Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

McBryde It happened so gradually.

Gregory That‘s the crazy part.

245 McBryde It just seemed to just grow every year.

McBryde You know, I‘m sure you have the numbers somewhere, but the jump from 60-70 to 150 and whatever that big numbers jump was. I don‘t remember any big thing that….just gradually got better and better and people wanted to be a part of it. We kept growing and getting better and better.

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

Gregory Are there any questions I didn‘t ask, but should have?

McBryde No

Gregory So, let‘s go back a little bit. Did you think of anything that took place as an example of the leadership getting commitment and alignment for a decision made. Did you think of that? And anything that didn‘t work.

McBryde I guess, it‘s been years? Things come and go and we go on to the next thing. I try not to dwell on the negative and what didn‘t work, rather than to try and remember the next time they suggest it to say it didn‘t work and here‘s why. But until someone suggests it, it‘s gone. It‘s just useless information to keep up there.

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241) Author Summary 15 years of Kenn McBryde‘s 21 year involvement with the chorale has been as Data Administrator for the former Artistic Director, Dr. Timothy Seelig. This record length of tenure with Dr. Seelig has taught him a number of life lessons. First, —Failure is not an option.“ Second, —Forgiveness is easier than permission.“ Kenn is incredibly insightful. He soaks in his environment and does internal analyses prior to voicing his opinion. McBryde sees musical quality as the number one component of recognition within the community at large. —Part of that is building bridges to other organizations

246 however we can. And sometimes those bridges stand and sometimes they don‘t.“ Kenn saw the growth of the Turtle Creek Chorale as gradual, —go better and better and people wanted to be a part of it. We kept growing and getting better and better.“

Pinnacle moment: —It just happened gradually.“

247 APPENDIX P MITCHELL, DAVID Patron, board member, managing director, and financial staff member Date: April 2008 Time: 9:30 A.M. Place: Residence, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Mitchell Sure, well I had a varied career with the chorale beginning in the early 90s as a member of the board - certainly during the growth years of the Turtle Creek Chorale. And then I took a couple of years absence while I was in New York working. Returned to Dallas around 2000 and rejoined the board for a short time. And then slotted into a management position on the chorale and I believe that was in January of 2000. Was Managing Director. Was responsible for all the non-artistic operations of the chorale. And I did that for about 5 years and for the last year I was involved with the chorale, I served in a finance capacity only on a part-time contract basis.

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

Mitchell I think first and foremost the move to the Meyerson. That legitimized the chorale and enabled them to expand beyond the ghetto…the gay ghetto.

Second, the AIDS crisis œ which was a galvanizing force for support - both for concert attendance and for donations

Third, I would attribute to unique and new programming. The concept of mixing chorale music with choreography and adding an entertainment element to the product made it a very sellable product.

Fourth, I would attribute to a strong passion for the mission œ whatever that was perceived to be œ by those who were involved, be it board, staff, or singing member. Certainly a strong sense of purpose and mission.

And fifth, I would say, it afforded people who were involved a sense of community that they were looking for in their life. They did an excellent job of providing that.

248 Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

Mitchell No

Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

Mitchell They were definitely driven by the visionary, the Artistic Director, and with the support from a limited and controlling group of board members. It was not a very participatory board at that time. I think there was the Artistic Director and several key board members, such as Chet Flake and so forth that more or less set the direction of the chorale and ramrod it through the board.

Gregory In other words, the board basically let him do what he wanted to do?

Mitchell It was definitely driven without any kind of plan, but driven by the Artistic Director who did a good job of selling and developing a limited, but key base of support.

Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

Mitchell None other than what I would consider as outside being board members. But I don‘t have any recollection of outside consultants being involved.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Mitchell Probably 9 œ very high

Gregory [If had confidence of 6 or great:] What gave you such confidence in the decisions?

249 Mitchell The momentum and the wild growth associated with moving to the Meyerson. It kept revenues growing faster than we could add staff and expenses. All we knew was we had an upward trend that was pretty explosive and we really didn‘t know where it was going to plateau. Most of the growth strategies involved investing in additional resources into the business, whether is meant paying the Meyerson rent or hiring staff was supported by proven growth trends. That were really were growth trends for four, five, six years.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

Mitchell During this timeframe your discussion I would say through the vision of the Artistic Director and his ability to articulate and sell risk taking.

Gregory Can you cite a specific example of how this took place?

Mitchell I would say an example of a success would be Tim‘s reaching out to broaden the exposure media mix. The best example of that would be Ginny Martin, KERA, and After Goodbye. It did tremendous benefit for the Turtle Creek Chorale in terms of legitimizing us, exposing us, and bringing to heart one of the driving forces at the time which was our perceived position as the AIDS chorus at a time when it became fashionable for the straight community when Rock Hudson came out and the AIDS cause. Our timing was just right and we benefited from that national outpouring following Rock Hudson‘s coming out with AIDS that occurred. Where everyone was wearing red ribbons and we were the red ribbon chorus and we benefited immensely from that. I think the After Goodbye special is a good example of Tim reaching out for other opportunities. I don‘t think he could of had it planned in terms of why it worked, but it was perfect for the time.

Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

Mitchell Oh, I‘m sure it did. During those early years, not short of a programming miss where you missed some individual tickets sales maybe but it was so minor in the scope of things.

Gregory Can you think of anything in the last 28 years that didn‘t work?

Mitchell Of course, there were many things.

(laughter)

250

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the short-term pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

Mitchell That‘s an excellent question. We managed the AIDS crisis by a strong sense of community and love for one another and care for each other. We became numb to what we were going through.

The issue of not having gay in our name or not being an outwardly gay chorus did become an issue because while we wanted to be known as the AIDS chorus because of all the benefits that was bringing to us at the time there was a slow coming out process for the stakeholders of the organization including both singers, staff, and board. The path was inevitable, but it was a slow, tumultuous process of coming to the point where the majority of the people were ready to be open about the fact that we‘re gay. With 250 to 300 stakeholders you‘re never going to have 100% of the people ready to come out at any one time. So, somehow you had to try and keep your pulse on the overall organization. And eventually honesty and integrity attributes won out and the organization was open and honest about who they were but it was two factors that were in opposition at the time that benefited by being known as the AIDS chorus and the resistance significant crisis at the same time

Gregory So you see both of these issues as in conflict with each other at the same time. Not only as separate issues, but also in conflict with each other.

Mitchell I do see them in conflict with each other. The fact that we were the AIDS chorus was driving a lot of our growth but it was also at odds with many people involved with the organization.

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

Mitchell Are you speaking in terms of outreach specifically in terms of taking our product outside of its concert venue?

251 Gregory That, or outreach into the community beyond performances; education, you mentioned the AIDS, going into the community, there‘s Susan G. Komen, there‘s the cochlear implant, which I don‘t know if they are still doing that or not. They basically carried AIDS for a while.

Mitchell I think outreach became a handle later in the life of the chorale when I think the organization was searching for things to replace its position as the AIDS choir. It didn‘t have the attraction that it did anymore. So I would say in the late 90s to early 2000s that we recognized that things we were doing by way of outreach and benefit to the community needed to be pulled together and articulated as part of the mission of the organization. That involved things like outreach concerts, donating tickets to people who otherwise couldn‘t experience a concert, teaching, doing classes œ which Seelig and you, I know that you used to do. All that was a feel good benefit to garner support for the organization because we were more than just an entertaining group. We gave back to the community in many, many different ways.

Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

Mitchell First and foremost the Meyerson. Secondly, the AIDS epidemic. We were so big that we were heavily impacted by it. There‘s a third I had…Oh, product. Meyerson, number one in my opinion, Meyerson. Number two was AIDS. And number three was, we had a viable product and a good product.

Gregory The combination of the three did it.

Mitchell I think if you lacked any one of those three the results would have been very different. But, I think that they built on one another and formed the key components that drove the growth.

Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

Mitchell Yeah, probably After Goodbye. No, I‘m sorry, your question was…

252

Gregory Turtle Creek Chorale was just a community chorus œ a Dallas thing œ a gay community thing. Can you think of anything that took it from that to the national notoriety and international…

Mitchell Again, I‘ll come back to the Meyerson and I also have to give the credit to Seelig for building a good product and having the ability to reach out. But, I think it is important to remember that Seelig was here for three years performing in church venues and stuff. You know, it was the Meyerson and the ability to reach out of our ghetto and attract what was over half of our audience was from the non-gay community. So, again, I‘ll come back to the Meyerson for having the growth and Seelig for having the sellable product and the vision to keep the organization moving forward.

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

Gregory Are there any questions we didn‘t ask, but should have?

Mitchell No, I had no preconceived notion.

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241) Author Summary David Mitchell was a board member during the growth years of the early ”90s and then assumed the responsibility of the non-artistic operations of the Turtle Creek Chorale from 2000 to 2005 in the form of Managing Director (David left Dallas in the late ”90s only to return to a very different organization than he left). Mitchell was straight forward in his responses and is solid in his convictions of product placement and audience appeal. David definitely has the Dallas mentality of standing behind the winner. I personally found David‘s lack of artistic experience to be a factor in his ability to manager an arts organization. His artistic opinions were often seen in hind sight. Mitchell‘s responses were textbook and hold an insightful or perception into the business / financial workings and obligations of the organization. He continually referred to the organization as the —AIDS Choir“ and ”outreach‘ as a means to forge another outreach program relationship.

253 Methodical descriptions of growth pervade in the above interview and David‘s perception of the Artistic Director‘s ability of persuasion among the —risk taking“ opportunities that were brought forward at the time. David saw, —growth strategies (as) involved investing in additional resources into the business, whether it meant paying the Meyerson rent or hiring staff was supported by proven growth trends…for four, five, six years (in the early ”90s).“ Key components of growth built upon the following: Meyerson, AIDs, and product. Without one of those it would not have worked publically.

Pinnacle moment: Meyerson (1990)

254 APPENDIX Q PALANT, JONATHAN Current Artistic Director Date: April 2008 Time: 10:30 A.M. Place: Sammons Center for the Performing Arts, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Palant I‘ve heard of the Turtle Creek Chorale œ I don‘t know the first time I heard of the Turtle Creek Chorale. I have ever only heard them once live in 1997 at San Diego ACDA. I remember the performance and people asked during the interview process, —What would you change about the sound from when you heard them?“ I said, that‘s not really a very fair question because I heard them in 1997 with very different ears from when I heard them in 2007. So, other than that, I had three or four CDs. I used the CDs as a model with my high school boys. We would play recordings of the Turtle Creek Chorale for the high school ensemble. But I never, other than that one time hearing them and knowing the reputation that was about the extent of my knowledge of the chorale.

Gregory That San Diego trip was Mockingbird Sings with birdcalls and we did Patsy Cline. We did not have a drag queen. We had the original girl from Austin…

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

Palant I think passion for the organization itself. Not passion for the music. Not passion for the money. Not passion for fame. But, passion and love for the family of the organization. That you don‘t find very often. You know, you look at the Chicago Symphony and they are getting paid $140,000 a year to make that kind of music. And it‘s loved for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in name. I think the chorale developed in a time that family is more important than it is now.

So, I think that the membership is the forefront œ you can have a successful musical organization without having that family part of it. I think the chorale has excelled because of that family aspect. I think fame and notoriety because they were doing things that were new and adventuresome. Breaking ground and taking risks and not (for the most part) staying stagnant in its direction. Some might argue that it got stagnant, but I don‘t think that it did. Things like Sing for the Cure and When We No Longer Touch are events that

255 put the chorale on the map as far as groundbreaking experiences for the singer and the audience.

I think budget wise there is a need for what we do. And I think that we struggle now because the need has diminished in some respect. The need now is in entertainment only…I‘ll have to be careful how I say that. The need now œ the need before, it really was successful in its heyday because the mission statement had a specific purpose. It really, in the heyday of the AIDS crisis, brought men and families of the community together. And whenever you have crisis, there is funding for crisis. That‘s not to say that funding can‘t be had because great music deserves funding. And people want to see and hear great performances and that in itself warrants what we do. Without any crisis, great music and great performance is enough to sustain the Turtle Creek Chorale. In my opinion is the forefront.

Gregory Is that the public aspect of it, or is that the internal aspect?

Palant That‘s a great question. That is something I struggle with everyday. In fact, I just wrote an email about - to another GALA chorus director - who said, oh I have this other GALA chorus director said, I have three degrees and I‘m programming a concert about cowboy sweethearts. And, that‘s exactly right. So the question is, stand and sing chorus, would it be successful? Probably not… I think audiences don‘t want to go and hear 45 minutes of Palestrina motets. They need variety.

Gregory Even Chanticleer will throw in spice.

Palant Absolutely, the King Singers did a Beetles album, which is a sign of our changing times. I think variety is something that has propelled the chorale.

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

Palant No, because I think that when you are good at what you do, you get recognized for what you do. I think that is any field. It‘s the premise of promotion. If you‘re a good city councilman, you then get recognized in a regional area, a state area, and you get propelled forward.

Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

256 Palant No.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Palant (currently) Look, I‘m a confident person. I try not to be egotistical and I try to be humble. But I am confident in thought process and I‘m confident œ someone told me recently in our evolution process, because I suggested an evolution - and I suggested an outcome. And somebody else said, it‘s not easy to be the smartest person in the room because you end up having to teach and educate everybody else what they will eventually come to see. It‘s not about being the smartest, it‘s about being a visionary. I guess one could say it‘s semantics, but it‘s really not.

Gregory A visionary has to take people with them. Pied Piper to some extent.

Palant Absolutely. I‘m confident in my decision making because I learn from my mistakes. And I will make them and I know that I will.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

Palant I think you build trust. I think it‘s the same, again, coming back to family and love. You have to learn to love in order to trust. You take risk with those whom you love.

Gregory And that‘s on both sides.

Palant Absolutely, no question… I took a huge risk in staying with Night Passages, the March performance. And I lost singers because of it and we had a wonderful...

Gregory You lost people with the radio.

Palant Well, hello, you‘re right. And they have short memories œ we‘ve never done a concert with less than 180.

257

(laughter)

Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

Palant Oh, I think that the David Diamond piece…

Gregory Tiger, Tiger

Palant Will go down in history… The German concert has gone down in history.

Gregory That was pretty for some people and hateful for others.

Palant Joan of Ark œ some loved and many didn‘t. And, of course, Night Passage will go down with that list of…

Gregory But that‘s OK, it‘s a good list.

Palant But, 140 singers sang that concert beautifully and were moved by it. You know, it meant something to an audience. The audience really responded, granted the Wednesday performance only four people saw it.

(laughter)

Gregory That is fascinating that you said that. The four concerts you mentioned have been negatives and positives depending upon who you talk to. The four concerts have been quality literature. And stretched this organization where it needs to be stretched. So when it comes across as…. You know, there is a difference in that graveyard and the graveyard of choreographers.

Palant I‘m not personally interested in solely entertaining music. That is not the mission of the Turtle Creek Chorale. It is one pillar. And, when I say entertaining, I think that many things can go into entertainment.

258 Gregory The symphonies are having the same issue. In programming, you‘ve got to stretch your audience. You‘ve got to give them a sugar-stick, but you‘ve got to stretch your audience as well or… you know, the players get stagnant, the singers get stagnant. It builds more audiences as well.

Palant Every American orchestra now is adopting what James Levine did with Boston. Which is, I‘m going to do Schoenberg and Beethoven. It‘s the only way to do it.

Gregory It truly is. Easter in the Park here is so much fun.

Palant It‘s Pride.

Gregory It is. It‘s the second Pride…with dogs. The symphony…back when the Assistant Conductor did sugar sticks… Dallas, musical reviews, they would end with Stars and Stripes Forever. You knew the years the symphony didn‘t care about bringing in an audience because they would do blah, blah, blah and everyone was falling asleep (no umbrellas in the air). What was the deal? Talk about programming œ in the park you‘re doing what?

Palant It‘s the evolution of a pops concert to begin with.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

Palant I think that they are an issue. I would be blind to ignore them. I wouldn‘t have applied for the job had it been the Turtle Creek Gay Men‘s Chorus.

Gregory It‘s redundant.

Palant It‘s redundant, but I would venture to say that I would piss off a number of GALA choral conductors by saying that. If you become a gay men‘s chorus, then the fact that you put gay in front of the chorus, it pre-identifies… it pigeon holes you as œ the same way as if you were called an opera chorus. All of a sudden you‘re singing pop music and someone is going to say why are you singing pop music if you are an opera chorus. I am about the music. That is always my priority. To identify myself as a gay men‘s chorale conductor,

259 pigeon holes what I do. Just the same was as not being gay Jonathan Palant. Just as I‘m not Jewish Jonathan Palant. I‘m Jonathan Palant with brown hair. So, to answer your question…

Gregory But you don‘t ignore the GALA aspect.

Palant No, not at all. I don‘t ignore the GALA aspect because it is inherent to this organization and it is part of the foundation of the organization. Just because it wasn‘t part of me œ it is part of me, because I‘m just as gay as anyone else in the chorus.

It‘s not about what I do. It services the organization to be a gay men‘s chorus. Being a gay men‘s chorus does not service the music. Now, some singers will vehemently disagree with me and that is fine.

To lead into the second part of your question: We are not in a time anymore where we will have success by throwing you up against the wall and saying, #$% @#$%#* listen to me - we are here, we are queer, and we‘re fabulous, get used to it œ that is not who we are. Today we are making headway by saying: We are your neighbors. We are your love ones. We are your friends. We look the same and we act the same. It‘s about getting used to us now. (I say —us“ as if…)

Gregory I understand. The royal —us“

Palant Right, the royal —us“ œ as opposed to rioting over… and protesting œ I think we‘ve, I hate to say the word matured because it‘s unfair to say that 20 years ago we were not mature. We‘ve evolved into a community just the same was we evolved into having a Hispanic community among us. If a Hispanic family moves in next door œ there is no fear. Some would fear, I happen… would not. But to be more specific, I think we do what we do well œ we don‘t hide who we are œ we are who we are œ and people love us because of what we do and who we are. And there is no underlying secret message. We‘re having fun. We love what we do.

Gregory How about AIDS. Is it something the organization even discusses today.

Palant I think we‘re at a turning point and I think the organization is ready to make that turn. I‘m not taking credit for the turn, but during the audition I said, —I‘ve never seen anyone die of AIDS.“ That is a huge sign of the changing times that we have crossed the summit of this crisis and we need to begin celebrating those who are living and I will tell you that at retreat this year, the memorial had a component that was more about celebrating those standing there together remembering the past as opposed to not celebrating life. It was a

260 memorial in the path of death. This year it became a celebration of life and it was a very powerful evening.

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

Palant I can‘t comment on that. Honestly, I haven‘t been around for that. I‘m continuing relationships with Children‘s Hospital. We donated $5.000 in addition to toys and a huge refrigerator and we did a performance at the hospital this past December. We‘ve made it a priority to continue our relationship with the Arch Center. So, that is something that is very important to me. I‘m interested in building a relationship with Youth First Texas. I‘m in the process œ the manutia œ I have accepted to sit on the board of Youth First Texas and we support a softball team. It‘s about seeing the future and what we were talking about. It‘s about looking at tomorrow and not yesterday.

Gregory Yesterday was happening so fast and having to be dealt with. This is an issue of GALA choruses right now. You‘re doing a fabulous job of taking it beyond the stage œ where do you go. There was that glue…the glue is still there but it‘s not what it was. I know in the 90s it was constantly looking backwards. Now we wonder what the forward is. It was not œ it was day to day and not long term. It was short term, not long term. I believe that is where we were living œ there were people cashing in Insurance policies and still singing today. It was the short term œ do you have AIDS, do you not, are you HIV, are you not.

Palant I find it interesting, I was asked yesterday if I would consider a nomination for Jewish Family Service. Talk about getting in a comfort…Turtle Creek Chorale director in Jewish Family Service.

Gregory It just means we‘ve come a long way. We still have a long way to go, but what an honor.

Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

261 Palant I think it‘s leadership. I absolutely think it‘s leadership, vision. People don‘t rally without a cause or leadership. Otherwise, it becomes mayhem and it fades as fast as it strikes. And I think leadership…I think absolutely Tim Seelig,, but he wasn‘t alone certainly. That he was the face of the organization and he was the face of the leadership for 20 years. But, there is no way that I could do what I do without the trickle down support of leadership. Everybody takes their own role very seriously. Again, coming back to the priority of family and passion.

Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

Palant No. I don‘t know enough about the evolution of the chorale. I mean, the reality is, I was in Junior High School when it probably happened.

Gregory I hate you

Palant I graduated high school in ‘92.

Gregory I hate you even more now,

(laughter)

Palant So there is no way I could add to that question.

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

Gregory Are there any questions we didn‘t ask, but should have?

Palant I think what you‘re doing is super. I would just say that the question of where is GALA choruses going is a tough question because what is the purpose if you don‘t have…I don‘t want to diminish the struggle, but what is the struggle now when….

262 Gregory Does there have to be struggle? I think that is the key that everyone now is saying, you don‘t have the big argument of the —g“ word (it‘s still there),. You don‘t have the discussions of funerals every other day. So, does it have to have a struggle when the chorus was built on quality performance. Is the pendulum swinging to where it now is coming back to quality performance? It‘s a question.

Palant For me œ yes, absolutely. Coming into this job that‘s all I was concerned with. I have since learned how much more that there is to it then a realized, which has been a huge learning curve for me. Singers tell me, —You‘re so different now than you were a couple of months ago.“ I have to.

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241) Author Summary Jonathan Palant takes the podium as Artistic Director number five, following a 20 year stint of Artistic Director number four. He brings new vision with a learning curve œ like anyone else entering a formidable position. His youth and lack of experience hinder his ability to relate to the AIDS crisis, — I anticipate his words being backed by his actions. —I think passion for the organization itself. Not passion for the music. Not passion for the money. Not passion for the fame. But, passion and love for the family of the organization.“ Family and passion and group effort œ he seems to be aware of the organizations internal components, much like that of Tim Seelig in his first years with the chorus. Dr. Palant sees the future of Turtle Creek Chorale as supporting the youth. The chorale will continue to be an outlet for young adults to come out, yet as youth come out younger and younger, they need support. The chorale will be there. Jonathan graduated from high school in 1992. He hasn‘t experienced AIDS or the secret world of being gay. He brings fresh life to an organization that exudes life through music.

Pinnacle moment: ??? due to lack of experience…I see this as a new beginning.

263 APPENDIX R POLLAN, RUDY Supporter, Former board member, and Development Director

Date: April 2008 Time: Place: La Madeline, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Pollan My association with the chorale started in ‘80…2-83 when I went to my first chorale concert and then reintroduced myself to the chorale in the early 90s. When I moved to Dallas, and attended a concert, and then received an invitation to step on the board. And that probably would have been 96-97 and served on the board then until 2000 at which time I stepped off of the board and stepped on the staff as Development Director for 2003-2004.

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

Pollan Umm, gosh Craig, umm, I think at the time, first it was just the gay movement. At that time we were just coming into our own…so to speak. It‘s when we as a gay movement realized that, umm, we were valid citizens; we had our place in the world. So we started stepping up and taking our rightful place. I think the chorale served as that vehicle which reinforced that. Of course, as you know, at that time the AIDS movement was part of all that through…first of all, there were so many, first of all…we started seeing so many of our brethren dying œ we went through that. That whole process… We could come together and mourn. But then I think that‘s like when Will and Grace started on TV. We started seeing more acceptance and we started to touch hearts and change lives.

Gregory Anything else that influenced this movement to a world renowned organization?

Pollan Those are more external factors and then you can talk about internal factors. Within an organization itself, of course would be then the leadership, and the division of leadership. And where they wanted to take it in terms of the most recorded gay men‘s chorus in the world. That must have been something that‘s real important. Cause you and Tim were churning out CD‘s once every six months or something like that.

264

Gregory It felt like it.

Pollan A lot of it…anyway. So, internally they were your forces in terms of growing and touring and da, da, da.

Gregory You elaborated on a couple of them. Do you have anything else you want to say on those subjects? Basically, how did the budget process grow?

Pollan Bass-ackwards. Basically, the budget grew because that‘s what Tim wanted and without any consideration for the ability to support that budget. And basically, if you look at the budget trend lines the revenues always….expenses always exceeded revenue and never met budget. Because what happened is you would get into your last quarter of the fiscal year and that‘s where, frankly, you would have to cut something to make budget.

But, but what they did is the budget was always pushed to take it to that next level and then everyone would scurry around trying to find money to make that happen…whatever that next level would be. To do one more recording, CD. I don‘t know how we‘re going to pay for it, but we‘re going to do it. And you just did it. Then we scurried around to make it happen.

Gregory Blind faith.

Pollan That‘s part of being…sometimes you don‘t know how in the hell you‘re going to do it, and have faith and the forces of the powers that be. I think you have to balance the two.

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

Pollan I can only speak from my perspective, to my knowledge, as you know. During my time on the board, as you know there was broad divide between the board and the leadership. They never really brought to concert.

Gregory Can you elaborate?

265 Pollan Kay was the chair and Tim was the Artistic Director and they never got on the same page. Cause Tim knew what he wanted and how he wanted. And he did it with confidence. If Kay had just said…just had to basically, just had to fall in behind him. He would make unilateral decisions and then we would be told about them and that‘s what we‘re going to do. And there was the good and bad and if Tim Seelig said we‘re going to do it, we‘re going to do it. And there were others running around saying, —let‘s step back and how are we going to do it? We don‘t have….“ Those questions very often got squashed.

Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

Pollan Tim basically made the decisions.

Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

Pollan To my knowledge none. But then I speak with not being fully informed. I don‘t know to what degree… I know the board did not seek any outside help…well, oh there were, that‘s not true. There were one or two occasions where we would have Saturday morning retreats at Randy Ray‘s law firm where we brought in a consultant for us to get everyone on the same page. But it was for naught.

Gregory That was get on the same page as in….

Pollan The vision. Where were we going. Plotting a five year strategy. Where do we want to be in five years from now. Here is who we are today. Are we going to continue this projectile and it really was for naught. Of course, you and I both know we left that Saturday morning and it‘s on a shelf and gathered dust. Well….from XXXX XXXXXX saying we want an airplane. You may remember that. We want to have our own private jet. I just think, no rationalities in these thoughts. Then again, these were not astute business people. We want to be on American Airlines and the Turtle Creek Chorale have exclusive audio on American Airline flights. Anyway, just….

Gregory Reaching higher and higher and …

Pollen You so, you so well remember going down to look at the church…

266

Gregory To buy a building…

Pollen To buy a building. You remember that.

Gregory Yes, yes…

Pollan We could no more afford that then the man in the moon Craig. I was, you know, maybe take out a loan. How do you service the loan? And then how do you pay the insurance, the electricity, the upkeep? We were not in the business of running our own building. Put your money into the performances. There was something about buying your own building that validated you.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Pollan It depends on where I was at the time. Uh, in my relationship. Initially, the relationship was one where I served on the board. While serving on the board I had, my level of confidence was very, very high in the decisions that were being made by the paid staff. Umm, I didn‘t question, I thought, proven track record. But, I was very much an outsider, even though I was a member of the board. The board was not as… There were certain members of the board who really knew the inside story.

[If had confidence of 6 or great:] What gave you such confidence in the decisions?

Pollan Continue to see audience approval. You know, audience growth. Glowing reviews. Everything was turning up roses. Standing ovations….all the factors that you would look for. Sold out, sold out performances - supposedly. Membership at an all time high. Happy members. Everything was wonderful…supposedly.

Gregory And then you became a staff member

Pollan And on the other side you started seeing the reality.

267 Gregory And you confidence level at that point?

Pollan It became about a neutral. You know, I just knew what I was supposed to do. Basically, built a wall around my, my territory which was raise money and did not involve myself in artistic decisions. Course, aptly they were not welcome and would not have listened to me anyway. You know, the only thing I did on the artistic decisions was if Tim might say we want to use the organ and we don‘t have the money then I had to go find the money to then use it. But, that, that, it was very neutral, the confidence level I just. What I have to tell you yet…

Four years, my tenure was again, probably one of the longest tenure‘s of any personnel. So by the fourth year the confidence level was starting to wane very quickly.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

Pollan Uh, again Craig we‘ve got œ I‘m torn here œ because we‘ve got two separates of leadership in my mind. We have the internal leadership and the external leadership (meaning the board). They were two different entities. They were not on the same page.

The internal leadership, the decisions were made, you know, without…consultation, I felt. And the, a consensus was, as far as the board leadership was waving, it was fairly consensus there. The committees and decisions brought before the board. Very rarely was a decision made without question. Everything was pretty much rubber stamped.

Gregory Can you cite a specific example of how this took place?

Pollan To a certain degree, not as specific as you would like. Let‘s just take an auction. We‘re going to have an auction and we‘re going to have beer. And it‘s going to be blah, blah, blah, blah. And Tim would present it in such a way that you would feel a fool it questioned it. Or if you did question it., Tim‘s famous look, ”you‘re a fool for asking that question.‘ Belittling you - dismissing you. Dare you even ask such? That‘s how the concert or the auction. Well, you know, at a board meeting he would throw out dah, dah, dah, dah and duh. No forethought had been put into the pros and cons in that. That‘s what I mean by unilateral.

And nobody had the backbone to question. Very few did.

Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

268 Pollan You mean something problematically I tried?

Gregory You said decisions were rubber stamped…

Pollan Well yes, he was a fly in the ointment and even Kay got to be in a certain point. Let‘s take XXXXXXX for example. XXXXXXXX was brought in. I kinda got the feeling now that I look back, XXXXXXX wasn‘t really embraced by Tim. So then, uh, XXXXXXXX tried to do her thing, Tim tried to do his thing, and the two didn‘t mesh. And so she was out the door.

Gregory So, this rubber stamping had gone on for so long, there were people who began to question the rubber stamping.

Pollan They started, but… it had gone on for so long. They got tired of being the naysayer. XXXXX XXXX took certain pride in being the naysayer. And I applaud XXXXX in a way for just, just asking the hard questions. But, uh…. this is what very often happens under an organization of that, of that, of that uh stature. Craig, you know, Tim basically, this is Tim‘s baby. He gave birth to it. And that‘s what happens in leadership after so long then… They have to start letting go and letting a board who you... The chorale never made it past that juncture. It got caught in…. never could move to that next level of governance that needed to take place for a healthy organization to do. He continued to keep everything right here next to Tim.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the short-term pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

Pollan I don‘t think they did anything consciously. I mean, and to my knowledge there were no conscious conversations about such…it just evolved. The chorale was… didn‘t promote its gayness but yet didn‘t hide it.

Gregory I always said if it were the Turtle Creek Chorale Gay Men‘s Chorus, it would be redundant.

(chuckles)

269 Pollan Very much so. Yeah, I mean, yeah, my observation was just, uh….the board never really acted on any of that. Everybody just kinda knew.

Gregory How did AIDS affect the challenges of the organization?

Pollan That was really before my time.

Gregory OK

Pollan You know, After Goodbye and all that happened was… that all happened before me. So I really don‘t know any of that history.

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

Pollan The reason that it is so successful in the vein of that question is this is Dallas, Texas. We‘ve got the community here. What, what, what you had here was a convergence of forces, Craig, that you wouldn‘t have in Kentucky…or in….I‘m trying to think of where there might be other gay choruses…San Antonio maybe, you have, what you have is a unique pocket here of forces. Unlike anywhere else….except Seattle, I think Seattle had the same convergence in forces. The only thing is, in Seattle was really stronger than what we had here. That‘s because we‘re in the south. Up there is (inaudible), more driving force than some of us.

Gregory Can you name of those forces that converged?

Pollan Yeah, first of all the gay movement itself. The campaign for human rights, whether be it the Black Tie Dinner was on a roll. The gays in Dallas were… I say we were out and proud, because that sounds like we were out on the forefront with banners…. But, the chorale very tastefully positioned itself in that crowd with their performances. And the gay community was hungry for such as that, and the chorale fulfilled that.

270 Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

Pollan Yes, well it‘s, just what I said, —a convergence of forces.“ Where here in Dallas, unlike what you do Craig, is you drive off the need of your audience. It‘s not about the chorale. It‘s all about your patrons - they drive it. And so what you do is you identify the need of your patrons. And what happened here, up there, is a need in Dallas, in the city of Dallas, and among the gay community that the chorale stepped up and filled.

When gay men and women of Dallas…. Had an, first of all had a, at that time they had a need for social outlets. They had a need to come together as a community and celebrate their gayness… and the choral provided that at its concerts. To go to the Meyerson, to dress up, to be seen, to be, to be, have your name on the donor list. I am a major fiscal contributor. And there were really two forces going on here in Dallas. There was the Black Tie Dinner and the Turtle Creek Chorale. And those were the two… forces which enabled the gay community to come together and solidify the high of these two. So, it was not so much about the chorale and its greatness as much as the need that came to be within our community as we grew and became healthier in our own view of ourselves œ that the chorale felt. I think that‘s what contributed to it the most.

(pause)

Which doesn‘t happen in these much smaller... It did not have the means - for gay people to be more affluent, having more money, willing to spend it.

Gregory Excellent, excellent.

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated. Gregory Are there any questions we didn‘t ask, but should have?

Pollan No, not really.

Gregory You‘ve told me everything. You‘ve emptied your head of knowledge.

271 Pollan Yeah, I mean Craig, you know, you‘re going to go throughout these interviews with, get so many perspectives which is just wonderful. And there is no one perspective that is right or wrong because, it all depends on that person and where they were. It‘s that old routine when you walk in a room and say, —what did you see?“ And you‘ll see one thing and I‘ll see another. And what you‘ll have to do is filter all this down to see if there is some common theme here.

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241)

Author Summary Rudy Pollan experienced an external and internal leadership component ”not on the same page‘ with decision making. As a board member and patron the rubber stamping of the Artistic Director extended to, —unilateral decisions and then we would be told about them and that‘s what we‘re going to do.“ In opposition or concern for the financial liability facing Tim‘s decisions, —Questions very often got squashed“. Pollan sees the main growth in support for the chorale from the gay movement and the success of the Dallas gay community. —We were valid citizens; we had our place in the world. So we started stepping up and taking our rightful place.“ —But the chorale very tastefully positioned itself in that crowd (gays in Dallas) with their performances. And the gay community was hungry for such as that, and the chorale fulfilled that.“ The ”convergence of forces‘ as he calls it, allowed the patron (gay and non-gay) to find satisfaction in the performances and craved more. Rudy recognized the needs of the patron and excelled as Development Director for individual giving. The interviewed closed with a wise assessment of the Turtle Creek Chorale. Finding a common theme in the interviews will be difficult due to the level of activity for each person. The closer a person became to the leadership, the lower the confidence level of commitment. Conversely, the further a member was from the leadership, the higher the confidence in decisions and challenges presented to the membership and board.

Pinnacle moment: Meyerson (1990)

272 APPENDIX S RAY, RANDY AND VICTOR Singing members, Former Board Chair, and Endowment Trustee Date: April 2008 Time: 10:00 A.M. Place: Residence, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

V. Ray When was Seattle? Seattle was my first concert here. 1990 œ I got my 10 year pin in 2000.

R. Ray I started in 1991; When We No Longer Touch and I quit singing in 1999. Then three years as board chair.

Gregory And those years were 1999 œ 2002,

R. Ray Yeah, Edan was a baby. And then I guess, technically, I was the next three years as Immediate Past Board Chair but I didn‘t do squat.

Gregory Are you a trustee?

R. Ray During those years I was. When the large portion of the board resigned I became a trustee of the endowment. In 2002 I became a trustee of the endowment. So, that must have gone to 2005 when I stepped down from that.

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

V. Ray The timeframe œ the things that were happening during that time œ I think When We No Longer Touch was a beautiful piece of music and we sang it beautifully. But I think what was happening then touched a lot of people.

Gregory You want to elaborate on that? What was happening that was touching people?

273

V. Ray It was like, everyone was getting sick…the person. Three people down from you, you knew was sick and singing this music. So it touched you and people in the audience could see how we were feeling and so I think that helped tremendously.

Gregory Anything else that would cause that upward shift?

R. Ray I think they are all interrelated because I think that was something that people could grasp hold of within the chorale and outside the chorale. And the quality of music was so good that it was kind of self-perpetuating. People may have come….they may not have come just purely out of a love for music but they came for other reasons and got hooked for other reasons because the music was excellent. The quality of music and selection of music was really good. There was that giant… You‘re right, the early ”90s was a giant growth spurt. The time that you first saw the chorale…the time you first came later…Christmas ”88 or ‘89 may have been the first time we saw the chorale œ it was just an amazing jump in those years. It was all those things wrapped together. There was a reason for people to look for something to grab hold of. The music was so good. That was the reason in itself….the music, that kept people involved as well.

Gregory So, I have basically AIDS at that point, the music, and the quality of music as well.

R. Ray Those are the two biggest things, and the other things in regards to the growth of the staff and budget all fall along from that. We had the need to grow to try and take it to the next level in terms of how many of the audience we were reaching and the different things we were doing. The management that was necessary to accomplish that. And we had the beginnings of a CD recording that had its own œ as you know, the staffing needs in order to be able to expand upon having a few concerts a year to having different groups and multiple venues and doing CD after CD.

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

V. Ray The chorale: No. Leadership: Yes.

R. Ray Tim may have had a plan. But I still think it was like: here‘s a three year plan about how we‘re going to grow from X to Y and then we‘re going to be this.

274 Gregory There was no strategic plan to do it.

R. Ray No, It was incremental steps and they just followed one after the other.

V. Ray But if you ask any member of the chorale or even now œ they are not there to be famous. They are there to be the Turtle Creek Chorale. They are there to sing because it‘s what they love to do.

R. Ray Yeah, I agree, but by the same token, think about what an incredible feeling it was to have that performance at ACDA in 1993 in San Antonio œ I mean that was incredible.

V. Ray But they didn‘t do it for fame.

R. Ray No, they did it for a lot of reasons, but it made it that much more rewarding I think. But that wasn‘t the reason people were in it.

Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

R. Ray Now I honestly don‘t know because œ you do, because you were an officer œ but you hated that stuff.

Gregory What years were you an officer?

V. Ray I don‘t remember

R. Ray The first time you were an officer was early to mid ”90s.

V. Ray Yeah, it probably would have been ”92 or ”93

R. Ray That was the first time and then you hated it.

275 V. Ray I still hate it.

R. Ray I didn‘t get involved in any of that until ”96. The only thing I was doing was singing, I didn‘t have time to get involved in that.

Gregory OK, let‘s go with Victor, if you remember your years and how decisions were made and then we‘ll go to Randy, how decisions were made during his years.

V. Ray I honestly…I really and truly don‘t remember. I mean, my big thing during that time was the starting of the Big Buddy thing. I auditioned in ‘88 right after the Christmas concert. I went to two rehearsals and was bowled over by all of the men and how close they were. Very few people approached me and so I stopped going. So the next year I did it again. By then I had gone to a few concerts and met a few people. To me, it was the whole thing of, you all as a body are intimidating. So, we need to set something up for that. So that‘s what I did. I made the presentation. Everyone voted and thought it was a good idea. So it happened. That‘s my only memory of that….the other stuff I don‘t know.

R. Ray In ‘96, beginning of calendar ‘96 I volunteered to be on some committee or something and then got involved revising bylaws. And Kay was chair of the personnel committee and asked me to help her on that. I got on that and then the board in the Fall of ‘96. Sucked into it. (laughter) That was a big transition period. We were on the cusp. There had been so much growth without any thought…just coupled together. The concerns had been there….those of us just singing were impervious to the decisions and that‘s why Victor didn‘t like being an officer œ we didn‘t know what was going on behind the scenes. There was the whole issue of making smart business decisions and not compromising the artistic integrity. Frankly, keeping Tim in check in the process. That was the year we actually had an employment agreement with Tim which was a long tortuous process. That was the year we brought Shelly in to try and figure out how to organize things.

Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

R. Ray Yeah, we had Shelly Vandergrift come in as interim Executive Director to try and analyze this structure and see how to make it worked. We had a lot of false starts and stops and kept hammering at it to figure how to do it. I‘m not sure we ever got it completely right, although, by the time I stepped down as board chair there were still tensions, but the system was working. That‘s when we had evolved to David was Managing Director and Tim was sort of still overall in charge. But we got through a lot of

276 trial and error to see what would work. Part of that was in terms of Tim‘s dynamics and trying to manage the…leaving the artistic side, but managing the administrative side. You‘ll remember the process by which we started to really analyze the business side of making a CD. Looking at the cost and justifying what the return was. Not just making a CD because of the beautiful music, but what was the return on the money. Those processes were painful.

Gregory Yes, very painful.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

V. Ray It always amazed me that Tim would promise something or decide that this was going to happen and then miraculously the funding for it would appear from somewhere.

Gregory Did it raise your confidence level?

V. Ray No œ it was kind of like… We used to joke about it. OK, we‘re going to do this and it‘ll be paid for somehow. It always was. To me it always felt like a pressure situation. The concert is going to be this good so people will come so someone will donate money and so it will get done since it‘s already in the plans.

Gregory So 1-10…

V. Ray Seven

R. Ray I‘m probably a little bit higher: maybe an eight or so. Sitting there as a singing member there was a lot of faith. Tim knew what he was doing and there was a method to the madness and the faith he made it pull all together. It was a growing organization and there was a lot of opportunity and there was a lack of absolute certainty, but there was so much support that things would come together with people making smart decisions. Now it somewhat ratcheted down once I got involved and learned all the details. I was somewhat confident because I was involved in the decisions at that point. And if people had just listened to me during that time everything would have been fine.

(laughter)

277

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

V. Ray Past history and past performance

R. Ray Yeah, track record. A lot was Tim‘s own charisma and personality.

Gregory Can you cite a specific example of how this took place?

V. Ray I don‘t remember which CD specifically, I just remember he said we‘re going to record it and someone will donate it….and they did.

Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

R. Ray Oh yeah, I‘m sure even before I even got on the board. Not necessarily from a programming standpoint, but we kept trying to find different ways to raise money. We fell flat on our face over and over again. Every time we tried to do a fundraising event of any kind it didn‘t seem to work...it rarely seemed to work. I can think of the early ”90s, I can‘t think of specifics, but I remember trying to expand the fund raising efforts in the late ”90s. Whether it was a New Year‘s Eve event or a Valentine‘s event…

Gregory The Valentine‘s event…that made my skin crawl all of a sudden.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

R. Ray I‘ll take the —g“ word because it‘s an interesting dynamic. I think it was just where Dallas was as a GLBT community at the time in many respects and there was a history without the —g“ word in the name and I think for the most part people internalized. There‘s internal and external analysis to me. People bought into it internally. Not without discussion and controversy. But because we had such a wide cross section of people that we wanted to be open to anyone that joined and we realized that the perception of the community we lived in that people couldn‘t be fully out in every respect. So we had the issues of who we were going to be…there was going to be a film crew and who was

278 going to be…make sure, whether it was a rehearsal or performance….who was going to be in front of the camera…who was seen on camera.

Gregory I was reminded that Channel 5 showed up and all the teachers leaving the stage along with doctors, lawyers, etc….

R. Ray Remember that concert when….it was Pat Skinner… the concert that had an ad in the program that had the word gay in it. We had to go through every single program and pull out that page. Pat Skinner was beside himself because it had never happen. It was the early ”90s and every single page was pulled out of the program. Think about how far things have changed.

Gregory Was it about the choral or was it just an ad?

R. Ray No, it was just an ad with the word gay spelled out and GALA was never spelled out. That was the first time it was a major issue and literally, the pages were pulled out. Then we had times where we had a pretty significant discussion œ who was the tall tenor…..Lucas Gavitt œ was always on the forward edge of some real…potentially divisive debates about what position we should be taking in the community as being in the forefront instead of being back in the partially open door of the closet. And I‘ll never forget Denver where there was all that controversy. But once they heard us, in a large respect, that‘s when we sand When We No Longer Touch and a large part of that controversy went away….San Francisco and New York especially.

Gregory A friend called the other night that had just joined the New York Gay Men‘s Chorus and said they really hate the chorale… I said, —That‘s still going on?“

How did the chorus handle AIDS.

V. Ray To conclude Randy‘s answer. The gay word… adding gay to the chorale name was excluding anybody else that wasn‘t gay but dealing with AIDS, embracing AIDS, singing about AIDS, doing AIDS fundraisers were very inclusive. We were taking care of…it didn‘t matter who you were, if you had it or affected by it, we wanted to help. It‘s the same outcome in different ways. You‘re avoiding this word but you‘re embracing this cause.

R. Ray You‘re embracing throwing your arms around that critical time of what was happening to people. People didn‘t need to have gay in the name. It wasn‘t necessary.

279 Gregory I always thought it was fascinating that Seattle never caught that grief and they didn‘t have it in their name. After that GALA in Denver they discovered that 2/3rds of the GALA choruses didn‘t have it in their name.

R. Ray No, we were singled out because we were very successful.

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

R. Ray I think, in part, it was tied into the same thing. Unlike some of the other GALA choruses it was not focused inward with the…excluding everything else to the GLBT community. We were willing to be open as possible and have as broad a base of the audience and reach out to other groups. You think about how dramatic and different it was in terms of our relationship….not just because Tim was involved with the women‘s chorus. Our relation with the women‘s chorus compared to everything we ever saw in other parts of GALA. It was extraordinary. We never saw that. You had a couple of gay and lesbian choruses, but you didn‘t have gay choruses and lesbian choruses interacting.

Gregory Befriending each other…

R. Ray They were hating each other… I have to give…as much as I had problems with Tim… he had amazing insight in terms of reaching out to other groups and there by extending the reach of the choral and realizing the choral in those other venues and the broader community.

Gregory Victor, do have anything to add?

V. Ray I think it was pretty obvious at the time frame we were heading up that there were quite a few organizations that wanted to ride on those coattails.

R. Ray And that is true too. There was an attraction and we had a willingness. There were long lasting relationships because of it.

280 Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

R. Ray A lot of it is Tim. Tim deserves…as many things I can say problematic about Tim, his leadership is a significant part of that. It‘s not the sole reason. You have to have the right people, quality people, and the quality singers. Tim was a major force to keep pushing that along. It made the chorale stand out. But, I honestly don‘t know that if you dropped Tim into another chorus in a different city with another chorus it would have the same results. It was a combination of things that were happening here. It was confluence of several different things. You drop Tim into Cleveland or New York, I don‘t think the same things would happen. The odds for it to happen, I don‘t think are very high. Giving Tim credit where credit is due, but…and I don‘t know what goes on in Tim‘s mind, but not the sole credit by any stretch.

Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

V. Ray Denver œ at the GALA conference when we sang When We No Longer Touch… That‘s it for me. Seeing those people come out a sloppy wet mess. You knew you did something that few people could do.

R. Ray That‘s in a gay and lesbian context. The other one was ACDA in San Antonio.

Gregory As the choral stamp of approval?

R. Ray A. To get selected in the first place and then to blow people away too.

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

Gregory Are there any questions we didn‘t ask, but should have?

281 R. Ray Yeah, I think it will remain big. Like anything else, it will have its ups and down.

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241)

Author Summary Randy Ray is the most knowledgeable person regarding the bylaws and inner workings the Turtle Creek Chorale possesses. His partner, Victor Ray, was instrumental in the implementation of the Big Buddy System as the organization began to grow and required family enhancement initiatives. Both Randy and Victor share a passion for the organization as singing members, patrons, supporters, and board members. Their dedication, along with the dedication of the membership, staff, and leadership is best described by the following quote from Victor: —But if you ask any member of the chorale or even now œ they are not there to be famous. They are there to be the Turtle Creek Chorale. They are there to sing because it‘s what they love to do.“ Both Randy and Victor view the turmoil in GALA over the lack of the —g“ word in that name as, —…we were singled out because we were very successful.“ Because of that very success, organizations wanted to ride the coattails of the chorus via performances and recordings. The organization started big and has always been big. Randy says, —Yeah, I think it will remain big. Like anything else, it will have its ups and downs.“

Pinnacle moment: Denver GALA (1992 œ gay and lesbian context); San Antonio ACDA (1993 œ choral stamp of approval)

282 APPENDIX T RIEGER, RUSS Principle Accompanist Date: April 2008 Time: 2:30 P.M. Place: Oak Lawn Methodist Church, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Rieger I am the Principle Accompanist and I‘ve been œ actually this is my fourth season. I have sung for four years and just took over for Antoine this year as accompanist.

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

Rieger Well, I really believe it happened because of Tim. Because of the dynamics, as dynamic his personality is, I really think that he is responsible for taking it from that little group that started to its internationally renowned men‘s chorale.

Gregory Can you think of any other factors that might have played a role in that?

Rieger No…no, that I actually know about, I really can‘t think of any.

Gregory Let us take it one step further. What did he bring that gives you that inspiration?

Rieger Tim, again my personal opinion. Not only his ability as far as audiences are concerned. The man can walk out on stage and make you feel like you‘re sitting in his living room and you‘ve known him for ever. I think his ability to take the audience and patrons to be so beloved. I really think that had a lot to do with it.

Gregory Was that your experience?

Rieger Yes, that‘s my experience.

283

Gregory What was the first time you saw the chorale?

Rieger Oh gosh, I‘ll never forget. My roommate actually started the season before I did and so the first concert I went to moved me so much on… It was the first concert I saw was the one they did with Hamilton Park.

Gregory United?

Rieger Uhuh. That concert moved me so much I bought season tickets. The people around me jumped to their feet. It was the most moving…and I think, God, I want to be a part of this.

Gregory That evening, for me, was an alignment of stars. In that what we‘ve all experienced in the church. We grew up in the church but we‘ve been shunned œ not shunned but not accepted.

Rieger Exactly.

Gregory And that night we had a church with many of our friends - or soon to be friends.

Rieger In spite of all the obstacles too. I remember them telling stories about some of their members didn‘t approve of their participation. To have that happen and to have them stand up and say that‘s not right… not what we‘re going to do. So, that‘s the first concert and it got me…I mean, it really did.

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

Rieger Well, I think you do have to have a different mindset. I mean, you have to think bigger terms than just your little come and sing on Tuesday night. You have to think a lot bigger to move yourself, the dedication, the work to move to an organization œ especially the dedication. To move to an organization that is world renowned….

284

Gregory Can you think of any reason why œ what sparked it?

Rieger Again, I think it was Tim‘s motivation. He has the ability to move you in ways that œ I mean, I think it‘s a gift. Truly a gift to be able to motivate someone and dig down deeper than you ever thought you could.

Gregory In every aspect of the word and not just music.

Rieger In every aspect, you are absolutely right.

Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

Rieger What I‘ve experienced œ and Mark, my roommate is on the board œ they are trying to become a more transparent organization in that we are trying to keep (I‘m saying we). The board is trying to keep and involve the chorale more on the decisions. I know the board has been accused of not being quite as open and they are making a conscious effort. So I, some people think that the board is too involved and they are trying to move away from that perception. The board is making decisions and then presents what they have decided to the rest of the group. I know they are trying œ I don‘t think that‘s what‘s happening. I don‘t know for sure. That‘s just the impression I‘ve heard.

Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

Rieger Umm, no, no I don‘t think so. I know of lately œ they‘ve been interviewing other organizations trying to see what their models are. So they have been going to other GALA choruses œ not only GALA choruses but other arts organizations, dance, etc… to see what models been working well for them. In fact, there is a team… is it called —the evolution team?“

Gregory I heard that word today and didn‘t know what they meant by —evolution.“

285 Rieger Yeah, it‘s a group of folks that‘s David Cigelski œ although I don‘t think he‘s still involved with the organization.

Gregory He did an amazing job on the job search.

Rieger He did an amazing job œ I think they are trying to get that process published it went so well. So —the evolution team“ is looking at other arts organizations and I think we‘re going through an evolution now trying to reorganize and restructure how things are done.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Rieger I know a lot of people have not œ but, I‘ve been very impressed based on what I know…just what I‘ve seen of our leadership team and I just think it‘s something you have to trust the people you put into place and have the confidence in them to make the right decision. So, seven.

Gregory Has that changed over the four years being in the chorus?

Rieger I have not been, me personally œ I don‘t want to say I haven‘t been involved enough to be able to answer that well... I‘ve been satisfied with the results of decisions that had been made at the upper level, but I haven‘t been active in the… I should be at the board meetings, etc…

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

Rieger That‘s a very interesting question…

Gregory Don‘t shoot the piano player!

Rieger That‘s right!

286

Gregory That look on your face…

Rieger I don‘t think I can answer that.

(laughter)

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

Rieger As far as the AIDS crisis œ you know, we‘re not experiencing now what those folks experienced. I can‘t imagine, they were having a funeral every….

Gregory There was a time when we were singing a funeral a week.

Rieger See, we‘re not œ at least I‘m not and the group I‘m with œ we‘re not experiencing this now. At retreat, during the sharing time (I had to come back here for work) but they had everybody that was HIV positive come forward and there was quite a big number, but I don‘t know if it‘s advances in health care and education. We‘re not having to deal with. And I‘m…that period of time was something…we‘ve not had to deal with that in my experience there.

Gregory What about not having —g“ in the branding?

Rieger I know that has been a criticism for years. I don‘t know, me personally, you know our mission statement and as far as trying to build bridges œ it depends on who you talk to. I‘m sure. You‘ve got to decide where your focus is. Do you want to be…but then are you shirking your responsibilities to the community? It‘s not that we‘re not acknowledging, but it depends on where you see your place in the universe. Are you a world class men‘s…? So I‘ve never had a problem not using it in our name, but I know it upsets some people.

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek

287 Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

Rieger See, I don‘t know. I don‘t know.

Gregory Any opinion?

Rieger I‘m not sure. I know like for Susan G. Komen, we continue to do Sing for the Cure and Tim is doing it in England next year. I honestly don‘t know how we‘ve been able to maintain…

Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

Rieger Well, again, I think it has a lot to do with the leadership…Tim. I think mainly, that‘s my answer.

Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

Rieger Well, do you think the video….After Goodbye? I think that.

Gregory Good. And winning the EMMY didn‘t hurt.

Rieger You know, I think that certainly propelled us into the eye of the…storm.

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

Gregory Are there any questions we didn‘t ask, but should have?

288

Rieger I‘ll just share with you œ for me this transition has been pretty rough.

Gregory You‘re new œ he‘s new.

Rieger Oh, Jonathan treats me just fine. I don‘t know who could step into those shoes and be papa and beloved before that audience. And Jonathan has done a really good job, but he has taken a lot of grief.

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241) Author Summary Russ Rieger assumed the position of Principal Accompanist with the newly hired Artistic Director number five, Dr. Jonathan Palant. Russ is extremely excited, optimistic to the nth degree, and naïve in the history of the Turtle Creek Chorale. This could be a very good thing. Reiger sees the growth solely due to Dr. Timothy Seelig. —The man can walk out on stage and make you feel like you‘re sitting in his living room and you‘ve known him for ever. I think his ability to take the audience and patrons to be so beloved.“ Russ admits the transition has been rough, but a new day for the Turtle Creek Chorale. The AIDS issue is taking a new focus, the —g“ word is, —It‘s not that we‘re not acknowledging, but it depends on where you see your place in the universe. Are you a world class men‘s…?“

Pinnacle Moment: After Goodbye (1990)

289 APPENDIX U SEELIG, DR. TIMOTHY G. Artistic Director Emeritus Date: April 2008 Time: 3:00 P.M. Place: Office of Hope for Peace and Justice, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Seelig I became the Artistic Director in August of 1987. It was a part-time job for one year and then the second year it became a full-time job which I then held for 19 years after that and ended my tenure on July 31, 2007.

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

Seelig (pause) The thing, I think that made it after its seven years of existence and then of just, you know, sort of….being the same, regardless of who you talk to. When I got here there were 37 (some people say 45). Nobody says more than that at that point. They had been large, but not with a budget or staff or anything, that was just excitement. I would say that some of the keys to that immediate growth were variety in programming. Absolutely, I brought to it, I stretched the envelope programmatically where they had not been before. It got peoples attention. It wasn‘t cookie cutter anymore, it got people‘s attention by the variety in programming.

The second thing was that the singers became much more passionate about being engaged in what we were doing. They had had moments when they were passionate, but they had kind of dwindled. When you outline a vision, when you are a visionary and say this is where we‘re going, people will line up and go with you. If you go, well, what do y‘all want to be, who do you want to be, and where do you want to be, you‘re never going to get there. I brought definite opinions and vision œ I just went, this is where we‘re going.

It‘s funny, if you think I have on make-up, I do. Shawn shot me this morning for the GALA Video œ The 25th Anniversary. Part of that is, the difference in the way men process and the way women process.

That legendary first board meeting where I had not even met the board. They had no clue who I was. They said, hello nice to meet you, do you have a statement and I said, yes, we are going to be the best men‘s chorus in the world. They said, thanks and now you can

290 leave. Cause they wanted to talk about how they didn‘t have any money. I didn‘t know that‘s what they were talking about. I naively said, I want to be…I can‘t fail because of all the people in my past that wanted me to fail in my past. I set that as a goal and then said, Y‘all that want to go with me go, and if you don‘t…so I think clear vision œ no question. No question: clear vision.

And just FYI, you know this because you sat around and watched it. You know Eve and I had our fights through the years because when I would quit the women‘s chorus she would say, we‘re going to hire somebody and they will bring their vision. But you don‘t know who you are. The Women‘s Chorus doesn‘t know who they want to be. They have been whoever I have wanted them to be. You can wait around for the next person, but you need to figure out who you are before you hire somebody.

So that would be: variety of programming and a clear, very clear vision and then I would say, and I always said, if you….consistency of product and quality. Over the long haul, even if they didn‘t like (the audience) a particular theme, or whatever, or lasers, they knew the show was going to be good. Didn‘t like the lasers, but we‘ll forgive you for that. The show was never bad. Of the subscription concerts, we never laid an egg. There was never one that people went…. So, consistency and quality of product builds on itself. As I say, for your singers, and this is this motivational key for your singers….for your singers you‘re only as good as your next concert. You finish a concert, at the first rehearsal, what do you have for me know? What‘s next? What do you got for me now? What carrot is out there? For your audience, you‘re only as good as your last concert. If it was good, they‘ll remember it a week or two. Was bad, years….years. And they‘ll go, Oh, remember that last time I went four years ago, I hated it If it was great, they‘ll talk about it the next day and then it‘s gone.

Consistency of product I think however, led to that enormous growth of season subscribers œ that was ridiculous œ that was retarded. We would all go, geez. When I got here there were just under a hundred and we peaked at about 2,250. That was within the first 10 years. Then we hung around 2,250 and then everybody started….our experience was not unlike Seattle or anyone else as far as season subscribers and that trend….it ain‘t going to turn around.

(aside)

Umm, and then the key œ one of the huge keys was œ a really good balance of really serious and really silly. We had so much fun, it was just œ we had fun at every turn. I work with Coy now, it‘s so much fun œ this will blow your mind. This is the 10th anniversary, Jeff Surber died 10 years ago and John Thomas died 10 years ago this January.

Gregory Terry died 13 years ago. Isn‘t it crazy œ time has just flown.

291

Seelig The community that was built. Part of that was the AIDS crisis, but, which added to it, but I think we still would have been a community without that. We wouldn‘t of had the notoriety of an After Goodbye and all that stuff. People wanted to come to rehearsal because it was fun. And people wanted to come to the concerts because it was fun.

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

Seelig No, the Artistic Director did. They fought it every step of the way. Is that the right answer?

Gregory It is my expected answer from you.

Seelig The only way it would have been conscious when I arrived, would have been at my suggestion. Nobody from outside me, or Kris Anthony œ nobody from outside the artistic staff said, why don‘t we have fun? Why don‘t we sound good? Dennis said to me, when I first got here, make your Christmas (you‘ve heard this a million times from me) show the not to be missed event of the year and network with everybody on earth…everybody. We wore ourselves out. This is really key and should be one of the top five is we were out in the first five years singing with every single organization in town. We sang with the Lyric Opera, the Yeomen of the Guard , the Dallas Opera. We sang with the Symphony, benefits, Guitar Society, the Dallas Black Dance Theater. There is not an organization in town that we haven‘t sung with and probably in the first five years. Which is ridiculous, we were on a fairly fast pace. Networking…

I want you to buy, for yourself, or I‘ll buy it for you œ the 22 Immunible Laws of Branding. Fabulous book œ you‘re going to go, oh my gosh. I just want you to have it because it‘s about how to set yourself up as the leader in your field. Had we had this book 20 years ago we would have been a lot smarter. I‘m writing now, in this new book, about this. Why would somebody want to sing in this community choir when there are 10 in the area? Why would they want to sing in yours and not hers? What sets you apart? It‘s all branding. It‘s all about who you are and perception.

And even the GALA set œ now we‘ve had this web-i-nar on how to program your GALA set. My answer to them is, what do you want people to say when they walk out. Now back up and let‘s see how you‘re going to get there. And if you want to use the rainbow colors in anyway that people have never thought.

I went to Sarasota last weekend… They commissioned a song called, It‘s OK to be Gay. I‘m just going to shoot myself now. I think we‘ve figured that out. Whatever…

292 Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

Seelig Oh, Jesus, yes. The first consultant that made the biggest difference and could have made an even bigger difference, we went to a GALA Leadership Conference in Chicago. One of the seminars was led by the Development Director for the Minnesota Orchestra. We were smitten with this woman. We had no money. But it was Jack Pettit, Gary Lee, the whole crew was there. We came home and said, we have to get her here to consult with out board. Because we were just baby and didn‘t know how to get to the next level. Seriously, everybody gave a hundred bucks. We flew her down on a Friday night to work with our board and some of the leadership. It was life changing. There were three things she said œ two of which we did. One of them you will just go, oh gosh.

One...was always, doesn‘t matter what you do, have somebody answer your phone. Do not put it on a machine œ if you do, check it everyday and answer those phone calls. You remember there was one time when I didn‘t call them back and they hired the Vocal Majority for $10,000. Have somebody answer the phone. It will set you apart from all the other community choruses with machines that didn‘t get answered. One of the things I have always said is seize the opportunity. You don‘t know when it‘s going to come, but be ready and always answer your phone.

Number two was œ announce your season and sell season tickets in June. And we were like, we can‘t do that. And now everybody does it œ well, not everybody œ most people. It was that woman that year that convinced everybody. Dennis was still not doing it. Now we were all like doing it.

We were like, OK. We just had a flier and told what the season would be and we had money and cash flow (until the last couple of years).

Third, she said, everywhere the Turtle Creek Chorale name is, you put Tim Seelig. Everywhere. You are the brand…you are the brand. She would say, the famous music organizations are tied to their Artistic Director. She told everybody there œ she said, the organizations that change every two or three years, they just wander. You know, this is your name œ well, obviously it didn‘t fly past the…. And you know, Craig Gregory, that I never demanded it or asked for it or put it in my contract that you have to put my name…

She was the administrative one œ she said a lot œ people were taking notes. Looking back 20 years, this one woman said three things œ she was pretty powerful. Umm, let‘s see. You know, it‘s hard to say. It‘s hard to really just say, yes or no, because GALA is such a different kind of community than ACDA or any of the other organizations. ACDA they all go and watch each other. GALA you get down there, and I laughingly say, people say, oh, I missed Seattle‘s Christmas concert. People say, oh, just go to Dallas this year. If you miss Dallas, just go to Seattle next year.

293 You know the Tutu‘s on the heads? Seattle used that on their brochure this year. Gary Rifkin is in their brochure this year.

(laughter)

I would say that, you know, there were some times at GALA Leadership Conference that we had learned so much. They may as well been consultants. Jim Holloway, who died this year from DC, made a big impact on me as input. It wasn‘t like going to conventions because we sat down and said, what are we going to do? How did you fix this? We learned a lot from each others mistakes. In that regard, GALA is priceless because I can‘t afford to bring Dennis in to tell me that, or that one. I‘m not going to say my six years on the Chorus America board because that was worthless. That was just horrible. But those people don‘t get it.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Seelig Administratively œ 5 œ and that‘s being generous because I feel like being generous.

Gregory How about artistically. What confidence did you have before the outcome.

Seelig I seldom doubted. I felt like all along that if I showed any panic or vulnerability œ there were only a couple of times. There was the David Diamond piece that was just a mess. Tiger, Tiger œ but we fixed that by having cute dancers with big boxes. Just take the focus away. Yeah, the confidence in the outcome, but that is my problem. That was my problem with the Turtle Creek Chorale and that was, I can see the end product œ I know what it is going to look like, smell like œ I know what it is - shut up and we‘ll get there. The board on the other hand, it‘s that top down thinker and bottom up thinker. I”m a top down thinker. I see the top œ how we get there is up to you, or Robert, or whomever. Just help us get there. That‘s what makes the magic. The bottom up thinkers, which are mostly board members, the piece, and the budget and the plan œ and they hope that when it‘s finished you hope it‘s worth shit. If you are going to let the bottom up thinkers run your arts organization….. So that‘s my problem, I did not communicate. I understand, I take full responsibility. I did not communicate appropriately to the bottom up thinkers. I could have taken them by the hand, here is Europe, Sing for the Cure, Power of Harmony, PBS Special œ here‘s all this stuff and here‘s how we‘re going to get there. By that point I was already 10, 12, 14 years into this. And, you know, my obnoxious self was like, have I failed you yet? @#%^ you for asking.

294 Craig, you know this. Every show was fun and different. We created unbelievable moments and they still didn‘t believe.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

Seelig So, Dennis Coleman says to me, we were having a discussion about Michael Hayden.

(aside)

When Michael was having all kinds of trouble with his board and about to get fired, Dennis said, and I talked to Michael and Dennis talked to Michael and Dennis said, I said to Michael, do your singers love you and what you do? And he said, yes they do. And he said, that‘s all that matters. Boards will come and go and if there is no choir and no relationship between the conductor and singers, there is no need for a board. So when you say, how did you get commitment, I may be diluting myself, but not much, the singers were ridiculously committed to whatever I doled out. In the middle of the year, I would go to the chorus and say, do y‘all want to go to ACDA again? Absolutely, not even, there were no…the board, blah, blah, blah. Board members say, you can‘t go to ACDA because it‘s going to take focus. The singers want to go to ACDA, you don‘t get to say no. So how do you get commitment, it was about the relationship between the conductor and singers and the rest just had to go along.

Gregory Can you cite a specific example of how this took place? Do you have another one?

Seelig Well, from the beginning œ After Goodbye was one œ we all had to vote on that one. Well, before After Goodbye when Channel 5 or Channel 8 wanted to do that much of a segment on it. People left the room œ you left the room.

Gregory Yes, I left the room.

Seelig But then when Ginny came around….

Gregory I was thrusted into it.

Seelig Then Kris came around. It was just such a buy in. The other big one was…there were two that the board got crossways. No, no, no œ three. Sing for the Cure. I mean, I stood up, I had lunch with Peter and he said, Nancy wants you to do Sing for the Cure. I think it was

295 a Tuesday and I came to rehearsal on Tuesday night and said we are going to work with the Komen foundation. And the next board meeting was like, how are you going to pay for that. That‘s not really the point. The point was, is this the right thing to do. But, I didn‘t tell the board first…how many times did we hear that. And then Gary goes off on his first fundraiser for $60,000 or whatever. It worked out. What happened? Did we sell $135,000 worth of CD‘s to Bombay œ yes we did. Are they making a billion dollars? Yes. But grief to this day…nationally.

We‘re doing it in London next year. With the European GALA. I‘m taking a North America GALA chorus

Number two was œ the 25th Anniversary. I want a coffee table book. Nobody has a coffee table book. You can‘t…..this is the best storytelling in the world. Blah, blah, lbah œ we can‘t do it. So I stood up in rehearsal and I had already given this vision at reatreat and said I wanted to have a new PBS documentary and I want a coffee table book. I want… just laid out my vision. Somebody asked me at rehearsal, what‘s happening with the coffee table book. We aren‘t having the coffee table book. They are like, why? I had already figured out how we were going to make our money back. So, Scott came up and said how much do you need and I said, $20,000 and he wrote a check.

The worst experience with the whole Turtle Creek Chorale was The Power of Harmony œ I am so proud of it. It‘s what caused the big uprising. Rick Ashman, John Westfield, Doug Frankel, and there‘s one more, Kenn Morris œ they all quit in one day œit was all about Power of Harmony. Nobody knows this really. It wasn‘t about money. It was that they were like, how do we pay for this. I was like, we won‘t do it if we can‘t pay for it. This man, Andy Strifield put $400,000 into it of his own money. He paid Ginny, it was filmed in HD, he sent her to Guatamala, the whole thing œ he just paid for it. It was hell to pay for a year. Do you know this?

Gregory It was paid for, free and clear

Seelig Every penny. No, every penny. We did not pay one penny. No…he paid $400,000. Ginny wanted about $75,000 just to film it œ cause she wasn‘t working for KERA so she‘s freelance. I talked him into it œ she‘s the one that has to do it œ she has the heart. She‘s working for him. It‘s like !@#$, it‘s all fabulous. The renting of the Meyerson, he paid for all of it œ here it is œ a gift to the world.

You know, at our 25th Anniversary concert, when she showed excerpts and it was wonderful and people were like, it was wonderful, and I sat down and they played and we sang œ it was wonderful. She went back to finish the project. Unbeknownst to me, after the fact œ she had done these pieces œ after the fact, she said, there are some things that need to be tied together. So, she brought me back into the studio to tie these together. I was the logical person to tie these together. She brought Corianna back in to do these sections with Corianna. Unbeknownst to me, Kenn Morris, Randy Dalton (who was the

296 Executive Director for a minute), that whole executive committee, sat in a room, watched the excerpts, timed how many minutes I was in the excerpts. Watched the final product, timed how many minutes I was in it and were convinced that I went to Ginny Martin and said I wasn‘t in it enough, you need to put me in it some more. First of all, you know Ginny, wasn‘t going to happen. And so when that came out, I was like, you‘ve got to be kidding œ call Ginny Martin œ they basically called her a liar. They called Andy Streinfeld who owns AMS Productions that put ion the $400,000 and paid for all of it œ rented the Angelika Theater for three weeks œ he paid for the run. He said, Tim had no control over content whatsoever. I didn‘t have any control over Ginny and I paid the bills. What makes you think œ that didn‘t happen. They were convinced that it did and they would not hear anything else. I‘m like

Gregory I‘ve never heard that story…

Seelig You know, that was it for me. You can œ just bared my soul to try and make something wonderful. It was a gift for the Turtle Creek Chorale. You can bash me, but you are not going to bash me and my daughter both. It was eight people, Chris Stinnett was the President. There were eight people. When I see that they had wasted their time and energy œ it‘s all left over. Kenn Morris was a puppet of Kay Wilkinson. Nine years of Randy Ray, Kenn Morris, and Kay Wilkinson. That‘s when I said, The Power of Harmony was the straw that broke the camels back. I can‘t work with people like that anymore when I‘m working this hard to bring magic to the table. Can‘t do it anymore. That was it.

Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

Seelig Lasers (laughter)

Gregory They worked the last night!

Seelig I don‘t regret it at all. It was so forward thinking….what did we try that didn‘t work? What did I try that didn‘t work? Oh gosh yes, not really artistically, some people might say an all German concert from a gay chorus, but you won‘t convince us of that. It depends on who you ask. Asking me œ oh gosh œ the, programmatically, from an artistic standpoint, umm, not a whole concert. We were smart enough to mix it up enough that if they hated that one then they‘ll like that one. There was never a whole concert where people were like, they hated that œ it was bad. Certainly on the administrative side we tried plenty of @$^%# that didn‘t work. Our auctions. We made a mistake in our auctions œ they were growing each year and we came to the point that we should have hired a staff person like Seattle did. Their auction brings in $500,000+ plus a night.

297

Gregory There‘s more to it than just an auction….

Seelig It‘s a dinner…it‘s an entertainer…

Gregory It‘s their Black Tie of Seattle…

Seelig We can use that as an excuse…

Gregory I‘m not using it as an excuse because our auction could make more money. We could never have made $500,000 in one night.

Seelig We could at least turn a profit…. We never made $100,000 profit. I understand all that. There‘s some truth in it, is there not? What they did was, when they got to a certain level, they hired a staff person. They weren‘t like selling ”this‘ œ the garage sell auction œ they were getting cruises and cars. So the person was starting tomorrow getting acquisitions for next year. That‘s where we totally œ this is all volunteers can do. They were killing themselves. And then it kind of started going like that œ we didn‘t know what to do. In that year, we hired Carson Kressley and umm, moved it from $25 to $75 in one year because Carson Kressley was going to bring in that much money. And we lost out shirts on that one and then they did it again the next year. They hired a party planner for $25,000 that year. They paid Carson somewhere between $40 and $50,000. Were you at that one?

Gregory No, I was gone.

Seelig Spent a fortune œ oh my gosh, the invitations were… And you know, it was all, you know, you have to spend money to make money and we lost….$100,000…more than $100,000 and they didn‘t give a shit œ didn‘t give a shit œ didn‘t feel responsible for it. That‘s when Rudy left. Umm, somebody had to go. On the administrative side we tried some things. The things that I never was good at. This is the interesting thing about the branding book. You are going to love this part and you might find a place for this. Every company or corporation that has been a success. When things started to waffle, narrow its brand, not broaden its brand. I find that true in what we did œ when we tried to be all things to all people, it just kind of like, then you‘re nothing to anybody. When we stand and sing œ we sing really well œ and bring a prop or two œ this is that whole thing that Phillip Wier did œ No other sound on earth. It‘s about the sound, it‘s about the sound, it‘s about the sounds stupid. Narrow the brand. So if we make any mistake it was trying to be

298 all things to all people instead of saying this is who we are. We stupidly fell into it cause we didn‘t know any better. There were some things that I wasn‘t good at, and you weren‘t good at. The only person that I think had success was Terry with small groups. With ENCORE, with, it wasn‘t our forte, as Eve says œ let me say this, I‘ll be the first to say, don‘t give me a piece of jazz, a piece of blues, I suck at pop music œ suck at it. I‘m the one that said, will people really know Thriller. Yeah, that was me….oops. There were things that I was kind of like, will people know this? We certainly hired some boners like œ we entrusted some things to some people that probably shouldn‘t have….the graveyard of choreographers…(laughter)….that was trying to be œ I don‘t know what that was. She was a friend of the organization œ just putting her in the wrong place. So those were mistakes….there were never deadly œ we managed to cover them up.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

Seelig Well, as I said, I love this story œ I got to my first rehearsal and had never been able to ever tell me who this was on the front row, first tenor that was covered with sores at my first rehearsal. It was KS and I had no idea what it was. I said in the video œ I don‘t know if it will make it or not œ I came to my first rehearsal and there is a guy covered with sores, and in the Baptist church, you didn‘t show up with bad hair. And here is this person on the first row, singing, covered with sores, singing with no shame. AIDS to me was a dirty word. Dirty, dirty, dirty, nasty word. So the chorus had changed before I ever go there, so I have no œ I can‘t take any responsibilities for this, but you know, when I first got here the chorus was not a member of GALA and very closeted and Ed Young took me to coffee and he had me to coffee œ we didn‘t got out to coffee back then œ he said, you know, in two years, 1989, there‘s going to be a GALA festival and you need to go to the Leadership Conference in January to talk about œ but we‘re not members œ I said, WHAT? Why aren‘t we members? The board has never approved being a member of GALA because they didn‘t want to be that open. Kind of like it took years to march in a parade. He said, I‘ll pay the registration to join GALA if they decide to do it. There‘s no decision, send the money in. He was thrilled. So, pretty much we just filled out the paperwork and joined. Bless their hearts œ it just is what it is. The real issue was œ and you‘ve heard me say this too œ I‘m not going back in the closet for you girls œ it was hard enough for you girls œ I‘m not going back so come on. Michael Sullivan thinks I drug the chorus out of the closet, which is not the case. We all came out of the closet at our own pace. I was talking about Denver and When We No Longer Touch and we were closeted and I (very mistakenly) had edited a piece of press that I sent out. I don‘t remember exactly what that was œ I can‘t remember œ remember that big old dyke lesbian that was pissed off œ she was the board chair of GALA œ she was going to boycott, etc… We came back and counted all the members of GALA and 2/3rds didn‘t have gay in their name. Seattle and the chorale caught heat for it. But mostly the chorale….mostly the chorale. The reason we got more heat for it than anybody is because we did more things in the straight community. Such as ACDA. We did When We No Longer Touch but they

299 did Cole Porter with Harvey Fierstien. We were not as blatant. You‘ll remember what the Advocate said, they bashed us for After Goodbye because there was nobody wearing t- shirts with slogans.

Gregory Right œ they filmed rehearsal and we must have told them what to wear and not to wear any... I remember that.

Seelig I don‘t think the membership ever bought into…was ever affected, particularly by that, except from GALA. Every four years they had to listen to some of that. For example, I, in the leadership position had to listen to Stan Hill after all these years, and still do. Had to listen to Gary Miller œ and still do. The first openly gay chorus œ and now James Knapp in Houston says they are the only openly gay men‘s chorus in Texas because they changed their name from Montrose singers to Gay Chorus. So they are the only openly gay chorus in Texas. So, it‘s still there. Stan Hill….Gary Miller is gone, Stan Hill is still the only one that hangs onto it. We‘re the only —g“ word chorus….we‘re the only —g“ chorus…..

(aside)

Other choruses do have health issues. I think that other choruses should and could become involved, but none more affected than œ we never really took any polls, but we estimated 40 œ 50% of the guys were HIV+ at any given time. Geez, nothing correlates to that in the real world. I think on one hand it really brought us together and the other hand it really tore us a part. We came together, but how many people through the years just said, I need a breather, I need to get away from this. There were a lot of people that said, I‘m not going to sing for a while, I need to get away from this. Buffy said, I gotta get away œ I have it myself and I need to get away from it. People didn‘t just flock to be in the AIDS choir.

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

Seelig Choosing well œ choosing appropriate beneficiaries of those efforts. Very, even though sometimes it didn‘t seem planned and we took up most opportunities and accept. They knew what we would take up œ the big picture and a lot weren‘t. We chose carefully. AIDS Interfaith network œ we went every year œ it was really worthy and the people loved us and we could do something significant. We tried to partner with habitat for humanity œ that just didn‘t work out œ the Methodist didn‘t want us.

300

(aside)

I think that one of the things that we did was œ and this is œ you can take this for whatever truth œ you were there with every decision for all those years. It was you and me and Kenn and we would sit around and there is a real gift of intuition for knowing what‘s good and what‘s not good and kinda‘ going…umm….I don‘t think that one œ let‘s not do that one. Developing long term community outreach is important…we‘ve done poorly on some of that. Run in and sing and we never knew what happened. The ones we did consistently and ran in and sang and got feedback were much more important. I will also say, I did this today with Hope for Peace and Justice. What I want you to do is look at all our core values which include poverty, war, and all that. I want us all to look and say what is the one that we are not touching. We‘re doing these things, but what‘s the one thing that we as a group will agree in the importance of the next few months. So we create instead of just reacting. We create. We should do something for… That‘s what happened with Sing for the Cure, with some other…Children‘s Medical Center, cochlear implant choir. Those are the things we created from the conscious with some follow through.

Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

Seelig (aside)

I think that it was a moment in time and not to repeat the old story, but when the chorus was at a vulnerable, dysfunctional place, I was in a very dysfunctional vulnerable place. It was a magical coming together. Had they had somebody that had their shit together. It wouldn‘t have been the same. We struggled together, we grew together, we cried together, we laughed together, we grew together œ It‘s never going to be like that again. Who knows what would have happened…I go back to, and you know this œ few are driven like I was driven. And I drove people crazy. !@#$in‘ crazy. Ran people off œ not singers as much as staff people. I do have, I‘ll say this about me when I look back on the choir. I had a really good sense of how far I could push amateurs to be the best they can be without just going…. And I‘ll go, ok stop (inaudible) to this moment and be ok with that. That‘s hard œ especially for the academically trained conductors because they strive for perfection no matter what. Instead of saying, take that œ here we go. I had a sound in my ear œ and that is one of those things that you know. I had a sound in my ear that we continually tried for and we achieved on about three occasions. When we were on all cylinders about three times. More live than recordings. We don‘t have any proof of that œ don‘t you remember. There were some times œ there are some recorded moments that will never be duplicated with a 200 voice men‘s chorus. I think that is because of the

301 sound I hear in my own head, my own framing, it just happened. It‘s not a big testament to me, it‘s just the way it was. Because I was trained as an opera singer, I wanted that big beefy œ a lot of people don‘t like that œ too bad œ it‘s what we had for so many years. The other choruses …it‘s not going to happen. You have to hammer it away at those boys non-stop to get there and the minute you don‘t listen or turn your head, they are back singing like shit. I would say, the thing that I wish I had been better at was just demanding better musicianship from the group. I do œ I wish œ I wish I had been a little more demanding. I don‘t know how I could have been (giggles). It is totally œ it‘s pretty miraculous that for 20 years we œ people still willing to drink the kool-aid.

Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

Seelig Yes, you were there. It is so difficult. It is very difficult as you well know. Because we are not in the barbershop world so you can get a medal. Festival is not a competition (air quotes and giggles). It is not a competition. So there is no stamp of approval that says you are the best. And we as gay people are always œ we never think we‘re good enough œ we just never think we‘re good enough. I would say, being the first GALA chorus to sing at a national ACDA, was a great honor. And people said they weren‘t going to come to the concert œ blah, blah, blah. The minute we sang in San Antonio and the first national ACDA œ we came completely out of our comfort zone, which was out of GALA and Dallas and came onto the international stage of conductors and knocked their socks off œ that was the moment I said….we had arrived.

For me œ it was the stamp of approval. We sang two shows œ standing ovations œ and I talked about humor. That I think we œ the GALA movement has helped all choruses outside the GALA movement, not be so serious. I use the example of, Jesus, Patsy Kline‘s dress toured….all state choirs….we don‘t know where it is….we made so many. They saw that as, after that first one in San Diego the audience member shouted, —God, we needed that!“ That was one of the greatest contributions that we have was programming and sense of humor. Obviously, helped us get through the AIDS crisis and all that drama in our lives. The thing that I don‘t know how a community chorus can recreate this œ that feeling when somebody comes to the first Turtle Creek Chorale rehearsal and they cry. Most of them cry. That‘s because all of a sudden, who you are, who you really are, and the thing you love to do is sing and come together to get to do it all at once. I don‘t know how you recreate that. Well, you don‘t in a symphony chorus. But in a community chorus, I think the leader can that if he‘s smart.

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, portions have been eliminated

302 Everybody knows what I think. Everybody knows my faults because they loved to talk about them. It‘s OK, it goes with the deal. It‘s OK. I have no question that in my mind œ I did a great job.

Gregory Not one person would deny that.

Seelig Artistically, they all say he did a great job artistically.

Gregory Yes

Seelig I‘m the first to admit my perfectionism is why we got were we did. I drove people crazy. There is no question that in my departing and years prior to that, I said when they searched for an Artistic Director, and they did a really good job, they worked really hard at it, they were very methodical. I was like, I said, had you ever done a search like this for an Executive Director œ things might have been different. We hired people from hell, as you well know. Whoever the hell board member that didn‘t have a job. ”I feel like I‘m having a life change and can I work for the Turtle Creek Chorale.‘ Ruby didn‘t know what he was doing œ Rudy wouldn‘t write a grant. If you hog tied him œ he wouldn‘t write a grant. Here I am at a fairly sophisticated level for Artistic Directors and had you, and some great help….oh my gosh, are you kidding? You, I look at that family season brochure where we‘re all over at the market and you just go œ dream team œ you, me, Antoine, Anne œ how could we !@#$ it up? We didn‘t. But on that side? Holy !@#$ they hired anything from County Seat to Jeannette worked for the SPCA, that qualified her. (loud cough œ giggles)…. It was just a string of people to taking whomever to run this million dollar corporation that had no….no. Joanna will tell you, cause this is her deal œ her deal was two things. That we never hired anybody to be the administrator that had non-profit experience. We hired people from the for-profit world, at one after the other.

(hearsay œ aside)

The board chairs, no experience œ the best one we had was Randy Ray. He was hard. It didn‘t help that he was best friends with….he got tainted, in my opinion by the people he was hanging around with. At least he was organized. Will you ever forget some of those meetings with Kay. The board has never, and Joanna will tell you this. The Turtle Creek Chorale board has never gotten what their function is suppose to be. Set policy, raise money and shut the !@#$ up. Set policy œ raise money. They never could stay out of my backyard. This is the part that Joanna and I could never figure out. We are a success beyond your wildest imagination. Leave us alone and let us be that. Rudy always used to say œ I used to sit there and say, if the board ever œ you‘re in a hot air balloon œ if the board ever stopped holding you down, what might have happen? If they said, we believe in you, create whatever you want, we‘ll figure it out….

303 Part of it is my fault. I didn‘t communicate well to them. I didn‘t know œ what did I know? I came out of the church, Jesus, I was an opera singer in a church, I had deacons. No preacher or Minister of Music communicates to the deacons. That‘s not what that‘s for. I had no way to know. I know and you know from day one it was… it was bad…from day one.

Gregory You mentioned that at the 15th Anniversary Dinner.

Seelig I did? Really?

Gregory It was all about the Essmiller, had been fired and the board hired you as a visionary, they wanted a leader, someone to take off and go. But the board was like, how do we hold onto the reigns of this thing. We need to hold on a little tighter because of what happened in the past. And to this day it is still the same thing.

Seelig Kay was like, my job is to hold onto Tim Seelig. As you well know, and you know this well, they never knew what they had. They didn‘t know they had somebody who could create magic and balance a budget. They didn‘t know what they had. Cause those two…they were really lucky because we watched every penny. We never went to them and asked them to come up with blah, blah, blah. Really, I hope now, I mean, I hope that they will search for an Executive Director. I bet there is somebody out there œ I bet there is somebody on the board right now œ Julie Adkins who is on the board. She‘s a preacher over at Trinity where Danny Ray and Wayne Davis is the music minister.

Gregory That church is closed.

Seelig She‘s without a job….(big gasp of air)…

Gregory A preacher, that would be interesting….

Seelig You know, that‘s how it always happens.

Gregory Yep, it is.

Seelig A year and a half ago we had two people actively running to be the board chair. My last year was Peter and Mike Renquist. And they voted for Peter. (pause) go figure. It would

304 have been a really different place with Mike Renquist. It would have been a really different place œ a good, thoughtful - poor Peter œ his follow through.

Gregory Are there any questions we didn‘t ask, but should have?

Seelig No, I couldn‘t have done it œ I should have said in the top five that surrounding yourself with the right people has to be in the top five. And the things, the accidents that happened, like Annie and Antoine showing up on the same day. And having Anne say, Hi, my name is Anne and I play the piano and then Antoine coming out of the clear blue to audition and the fact that they loved each other so much. That will never be replicated. Never be replicated. That Anne and Antoine together will never be replicated; because usually there is some competition or something. Not those two. We were in this most fortunate of all positions to be able to create music, to commission music, we were never were without. If we didn‘t have the money to hire musicians, somebody would come up and pay for it. Or a CD, Scott would pay for it. We always found the money to do what we wanted to do.

There were a few things along the way that we just couldn‘t do. Going to Europe again. It was the biggest thing in all our lives. Especially for the singers, but for all of us, but for the singers they still talk about 1995 and when we went to Europe. We can‘t recreate that, it‘s too expensive for everybody. But, you know, being so lucky to, you know, you and I , whoever has 10 years of being best friends and just the ying and the yang, but what I didn‘t want to do and what you didn‘t want to do, I wanted to do. It was just demanding and magic.

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241)

Author Summary Dr. Timothy G. Seelig held the position of Artistic Director (number four) for 20 years. Seelig is attributed as the visionary and a key player in the growth of the Turtle Creek Chorale. I stretched the envelope programmatically where they had not been before. It got peoples attention. It wasn‘t cookie cutter anymore, it got people‘s attention by the variety in programming…surrounding yourself with the right people has to be in the top five. Dennis Coleman of the Seattle Men‘s Chorus was instrumental in guiding Tim along the way. One of their initial conversations Dennis said, —make your Christmas (you‘ve heard this a million times from me) show the not to be missed event of the year and network with everybody on earth…everybody.“ Tim did just that. The Development Director for

305 the Minnesota Orchestra gave the organization three bits of advice (two of which were followed and the third was shunned by the board). One, always answer your phone. Two, subscription brochures and ticket sells begin in June for the next season. Third, use the director‘s name as part of the branding (The Turtle Creek Chorale under the direction of Dr. Timothy Seelig). Seelig sees leadership in two forms; first) top down thinkers, and second) bottom up thinkers. Boards will come and go and if there is no choir and no relationship between the conductor and singers, there is no need for a board. —I did not communicate appropriately to the bottom up thinkers. I could have taken them by the hand, here is Europe, Sing for the Cure, Power of Harmony, PBS Special œ here‘s all this stuff and here‘s how we‘re going to get there.“ He views the process as a lack of trust and the board viewed each decision through their fiduciary lenses.

Aside: this interview left this researcher speechless and with my head spinning in circles. I worked for Dr. Seelig for 10 years and learned a number of valuable lessons: the truth is never as it seems and who do you want to believe? Discover for yourself.

Pinnacle moment: being the first GALA chorus to sing at a national ACDA, was a great honor (San Antonio œ 1993)

306 APPENDIX V SHORE, JOHN Singing member and former Public Relations Date: April 2008 Time: 5:00 P.M. Place: Residence, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Shore I began as a singing member in August of 1989. This was the first time the chorale sang in the newly opened Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. I then later became the outside Public Relations person when Randy Rhea passed away from HIV/AIDS. I had to not only step up to his legacy but take us in a new direction. We had lots of drama and press and public against us. But we really rose to the occasion and accepted by the mainstream press after a lot of pushing and bitching on my part to local and national press.

I was always second chair of the Baritones. A mythical position that competed against David Fessende.

(laughter)

I was then on the auction committee for many years and co-chaired for a couple of years. Raising the bar financially and even getting straight people to attend. My partner at that time was on the board œ as a matter of information, I probably knew more pieces of the pie because I was staff, a singing member, and heard about the board drama. That was a good thing and not such a good thing. Too much information is not always a good thing and was part of my decision to leave at one point.

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

Shore Quality of the singers, the actual performances because I think being in that hall made us better than we were.

Accompanists œ we had really great accompanists.

Programming from Tim and variety of programming œ there was something for everyone. A performing member to an audience member…

307 Gregory Could you please elaborate on the [top two or three] factors? Can you give me specific examples that illustrate the factor?

Shore The quality of the group rose in an amazing way. I felt it was due to just plain talent coupled with the fact that we were losing so many people. We had a legacy to uphold and continue. This helped us bond internally as a chorus and externally with our audiences. I know there were many times I couldn‘t believe I sounded that good œ we were nearly perfect in rehearsal or performance, nearly perfect. We had a brilliant director that would not accept anything less. At that time there was a great synergy between the director and the chorus demanding the same level of quality from each other. We all worked tirelessly to achieve these results.

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

Shore I think we realized that AIDS was going to kill us as an organization if we didn‘t really embrace it as a daily fact of life and learn to pull together and share, cry, bitch, be angry, and that we had a choice in all those things. We could hold our heads up high and go forward or bury our heads in shame. This was before any drugs were really on the market as far as AIDS inhibitors. There was so much discrimination against AIDS and ignorance towards HIV and AIDS. We embraced what we had at the time. I think it was happening so quickly, I didn‘t have time to fear of what is this going to do to the organization.

Gregory [If a conscious decision:] What sparked the decision to undertake a major transition?

Shore I think when the development of, and the shooting of When We no Longer Touch / After Goodbye, I think we thought this was going to catapult us some way nationally and we better be good.

Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

Shore Well, from my perspective it was a top down…from the Artistic Director, not even through the board or to the board, but from…it was Tim, I‘ve made this decision, we‘re doing this and this is why we‘re doing this. He would constantly remind us of why we were doing this strategy and we all chimed in and said, OK, OK. And I think there were

308 so many outside pressures of just day to day life œ learning the music at that level. And not all choruses are off book and that was a big challenge for some people. Some can‘t read music, they had health issues, they were concerned about friends dying outside the chorus and inside the chorus. A lot of the decisions were good. But I think the board was left out.

Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

Shore I don‘t recall any outside advisors œ he certainly didn‘t need any artistic advisors… Administratively, Shelley really tried. She came in with great corporate experience and I thought it was great asset, but it didn‘t work with our structure and she was too corporate and, you know, everyone was trying to bust everyone‘s balls and she just left.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Shore At that time: eight. There was something in the back of my head that…this seems risky or this is all too fast or this is way ahead of the curve for gay acceptance. We‘re being a pawn, a toy for Tim.

Gregory Was that earlier or later

Shore Later, but I think that sneaky feeling was in me of are we doing this for his own good or for our own good. We‘ll see that later. He would say, you‘ll see what I‘m talking about. And I did see. Being on the press side of it, was interesting to see that direction. I really didn‘t change the direction or decision, it was monkey see, monkey do.

Gregory You‘re singing confidence number was eight. Was your confidence the same number as staff?

Shore I think I was really able to separate this piece of pie from that piece of pie. They were two different jobs and enjoyed the money. Was out to prove something and it fit in with the rest of my clients. High level, high quality clients that do this and this and this and they are all the best in what they do.

309 Gregory [If had confidence of 6 or great:] What gave you such confidence in the decisions?

Shore Tim, and then also there was no sidebar conversations of what do you think of this or that. Among the members when we went to lunch there was no question. And there was muttering that increased as time went on.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

Shore I think by circumventing the board it worked to the success of the chorale, the buy in of the members, and then he could say, see, all the general singing members like it and that‘s what we‘re all about. You guys are great and you oversee our books and our books are perfect and we‘re making money (that was always his safety, we‘re making money) and, higher than budgeted income and net revenue. That going around the circle of the board and then coming back up through it. And that‘s my perception.

Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

Shore Well, I think Tim really pushed us artistically to try…there were a couple of pieces (I can‘t recall when exactly that was). There were a couple of pieces that were like, we‘re not that good.

Gregory But we did it…

Shore We did it. I dug in and learned that !@#$@ and sat down at the piano and it may have sounded like a big jumbled…. But we weren‘t doing the bake sales and car washes, and reminded us of that. I would have to say artistically pieces that were too hard. We didn‘t have pieces that were too gay or too campy, like people just don‘t connect with it, but usually somebody would say that.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

Shore The AIDS impact I think I alluded to. I get into it earlier. I don‘t think we did so well with it as far as œ maybe we needed an outside therapist to come in and talk to us. That is

310 something that Tim tried to…and did, be all things to all people. I could call him at 2:00 in the morning and have breakfast with him at 6:00 A.M. It wasn‘t because I was…or I was…. He could also separate me as a staff member. You knew these measures are just not going to work and he would…

All we did was take care of each other and go to funerals, but I do think the AIDS Fund and little things like singing at someone‘s house or other things like that. I‘m not sure the infrastructure of Dallas was in place at that time. We pulled together and took care of our own.

As far as the —g“ word. I don‘t think we really thought about why. We were very defensive at GALA ‘92 in Denver. You don‘t live here, you don‘t live in the buckle of the Bible belt, you don‘t know what it‘s like. We caught so much shit. It was hard to be revered in the elevator and then slapped in the lobby. There was a love hate œ like the cheerleading team that you know is going to win, but you hate ”em. I still think it was the right thing to do to maintain our name, especially in Dallas, because it helped to build our non-gay audience. You would always see a couple of them march out in the middle of a Christmas concert, but rarely.

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

Shore I think that we slowly came out of the closet œ carefully œ got them to love us artistically. Love Tim as a personality on stage and I made sure that he was Chinese water torture in the press. Definitely he could speak, things like Thanksgiving Square was a subtle and smart way to go around the hatred and build that love. He could speak articulately on TV, in person, on a stage, at a funeral. And there has to be straight people at these funerals.

I don‘t think we ever repeated a song unless it was really popular by demand and I talked earlier about the variety of programming. He would listen and adapt. He listened to the membership. He listened to the audience. He might tell ”em to go to hell, but he might make a change. At intermission he might change a song because it wasn‘t going to work. He also made us sing a song to teach us a lesson. Make us fall on our face œ I think we had one train wreck where we completely stopped.

Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this

311 transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

Shore It‘s hard to put my finger on it. I think being gay in the South is a little bit of a challenge. Also, I‘ve always said as a Dallas-ite, I always feel like we over achieve. My mom says that ever since the Kennedy assassination we have to prove ourselves. People wouldn‘t have a layover in Dallas because it was bad for their life or their business. But I mean, if you look at sports and the Cowboys and the Rangers and the Mavericks and the Stars and business and oil and fashion. We‘re a fashion mart, we‘re a design mart, and we‘re an arts mart. Tim probably had something to do with the seeds of the Arts District in one way or another.

I do think there are amazing quality singers here that are willing to risk coming out publicly. It was a big risk. And also I think some people hid. It was neat to attract a few straight singers.

That‘s my take. Unless you‘re from here…and really a non-answer, but unless you‘re from here and been in our shoes. We‘ve had hatred and it was Tim telling us stay strong, stay strong. I was surprised we didn‘t have protestors or throw eggs or call us faggot in the middle of a performance.

Gregory There was one performance where we were going to have protestors outside, I can‘t remember what it was, but they didn‘t show up.

Shore I also think Tim got a lot of hate calls and emails and letters that he protected us from.

Gregory And a lot of them were from the gay community and the chorus.

Shore I‘ll also say we have a lot of Type-A personalities and super overachievers.

Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

Shore When we were at Jesuit High School singing the Requiem - they didn‘t get it all and we were so good and the organ and the performance œ and the same month was the Transfiguration performance and to me it was those two performances that did it for me. There was the love of the audience. But if we could overcome homophobic, high school straight boys chewing gum and not paying attention and be perfect.

312

And then this may be a little bit later œ probably the greatest moment of my life was that electric performance in Germany. I got to be the one to open the door when we went back on and they screamed!

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

Gregory Are there any questions we didn‘t ask, but should have?

Shore Not at this time.

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241) Author Summary John Shore was contracted for public relations during the early ”90s, taking over from Randy Rhea who had passed away due to HIV/AIDS. John says he, —not only (had to) step up to his legacy, but take us in a new direction.“ I do admire his humbleness when he explains the quality of singer rose exponentially during this time period and he was often impressed with himself at the quality of vocal production he was attaining as the organization grew. With, —a lot of Type-A personalities and super overachievers,“ within the membership and leadership, Shore shares the opinion of a number of persons interviewed in the decision making process of the organization. I think by circumventing the board it worked to the success of the chorale, the buy in of the members, and then he (Tim) could say, see, all the general singing members like it and that‘s what we‘re all about. You guys are great and you oversee our books and our books are perfect and we‘re making money (that was always his safety, we‘re making money) and, higher than budgeted income and net revenue. That going around the circle of the board and then coming back up through it.

313 Pinnacle moment: Jesuit High School and The Church of the Transfiguration performances.

314 APPENDIX W SPENCER, ANTOINE Former Accompanist Date: April 2008 Time: 2:00 P.M. Place: Residence, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Spencer I believe I started in the fall of 1990. I know that‘s right - and just finished last year, so that would have been 17 years.

Gregory Were you the accompanist the entire time or did you sing for a while?

Spencer Well, I started as Assistant Accompanist and sang for a good many years œ more than I played. I don‘t remember, because Anne Albritton was playing full time. I don‘t remember when I started the transition when Anne was able to keep up with everything anymore. But I do remember that my first concert that I played as principle accompanist was Psalms. It was the first concert I didn‘t get to play because it was all organ œ there was no piano. And that was my first one as Principle Accompanist.

(laughter)

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

Spencer A big part of the growth was what was happening in the community at the time. HIV and men dying of AIDS œ that was a catalyst for the music that we did a catalyst for the membership and giving of funds.

Second, which after the fact you can see more clearly than when you‘re in it. Dynamic leadership and quite a few dynamic people in the leadership positions on the board, the director, the musicians (Anne and myself were there) and also Craig Gregory. I think that would be number two.

Number three, would just be at that time the Dallas community had a need for a social type organization for a lot of the members to be a part of something or doing something for people suffering from AIDS.

315 Four, political activism was kind of the beginning of we‘re gay, we‘re here, we deserve equal rights. That was a strong draw for members at that time through the mid ”90s.

And then for five…I think the music had a lot to do with it. Some really groundbreaking music and we did premieres, and once in a lifetime performances that we were having every year.

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

Spencer I think on some level there was some conscious decision, having worked closely with Tim all those years, I know how he was. He had a very unique talent in combining the classical with the pop which had an enormous audience appeal. I think also, a lot of it was being in the right time at the right place with these events converging that I mentioned previously. That somehow in the universe, the music and the chorus met at just the right time and incredible things happened. So I can see both.

Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

Spencer I was not really a part of a lot of the decision making. That was almost by design because this was not my fulltime job and I was doing a good job of keeping up with the accompanying duties there. My understanding is that it was driven overwhelmingly by Tim and it was for the other folks to go along with it or not. I think it was definitely Tim‘s vision and I, again, after being out for a year and seeing how things have progressed since then have really come to a greater sense of appreciation for his leadership ability. His ability to have a vision, not only have it, but put it into action and see it through to fruition.

I was one of the skeptics who thought, you know, it wasn‘t that. But I can see how truly it was his energy that moved and weaved its way through everything. And I also think, as a leader at a school, I see the same thing. I see that the… whoever is at the top and whoever is driving whatever organization is for or fulfilling the mission statement of what that organization is has got to be able to accomplish those things. So, I‘ve just seen different leadership in my school and how different the choral leadership is. Also in my own experience and work with different leaders. I really have to say that was the single most important….

Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

316

Spencer As far as outside consultants for composers, librettist, the folks who wrote Sing for the Cure and Journey and To a Dancing Star. Those people were consultants in helping Tim fulfill a vision because he knew what he wanted. He would tell them this is what I would like to see. They would write music or… I see consultants in that regard. We both know that consulting outside, there was not a whole lot of that. It was basically on the artistic side with Tim‘s vision. In some ways it was appropriate and sometimes it was… I don‘t even know any of that.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Spencer There was always a song or two that we were going to do that I wasn‘t really totally sure about. I would always tell myself, this is Tim, this is going to be wonderful, work your way through it and it was totally right on. One concert particularly was Songs of Our Nation (one of Tim‘s last one‘s he did). All Americana, I didn‘t think that concert was…I look back and think it‘s one of my favorite ones. The way it started and moved forward…and I got to play a lot. It was almost all piano. So it was a wonderful experience for me and you know, Tim probably saw that coming and it was a lot of work and I don‘t even like all this music.

Confidence level, I would give myself a seven and a half.

Gregory [If had confidence of 6 or great:] What gave you such confidence in the decisions?

Spencer Well, my confidence level at that point was being in the organization for over a decade. And knowing our audience and what appeals to them and whether it worked in the past. Those type of things. Knowing my own ability and what I can do, I can spruce this up. There‘s a way an accompanist can spruce this up, it‘ll be fine.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

Spencer To me it goes back to the leader at the top. Tim did it by just being incredibly good at communicating with people. On an artistic level… outside of that he was not good at communicating on a personal level. A great communicator, he could see it, and he could

317 tell you how it was going to look and you could see it in your mind. Months out he already knew what it was going to look like.

Again, I think Tim was able to get the commitment from his track record. He could draw on that, and he did at times. He would say, remember that. And the guys would say, yeah, yeah it was great. I think Tim would get commitment by making it really worth while. He really, really pulled deep meaty material and to me, that has a way of increasing the buy in of the singers. It‘s not a bunch of fluff, but it has some meaning to them and also some meaning musically and it really would draw on the singers then.

Gregory Can you cite a specific example of how this took place?

Spencer That Songs of Our Nation concert œ at first he really did.

Gregory Why? That sounds like an easy one…

Spencer He lost some singers because of the material œ one of the songs, he lost the black singers because one of the songs at the beginning of it. The Harriet Tubman song and the suffergets and if black men have the right to vote, why can‘t we… and stuff like that.

Gregory Remember retreat a while back when the blacks were going to walk out because of I Bought Me a Cat?

Spencer Yeah, I was one of those.

Gregory I told someone the other day, I wish I had a dollar for every time a person said I didn‘t like that at the first rehearsal. I would be rich!

Spencer That opera concert we did was tough, but that was my favorite one. We had two concert grand pianos and it was one of my favorite concerts and still remember it vividly. Some of the Christmas concerts that went so far off the wall, he had a hard time with those.

Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

Spencer Everything worked. I can‘t think of anything that didn‘t work right now.

318

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

Spencer The chorale handled AIDS by…I think the chorale embraced it. We sang When We No Longer Touch all over… We started the AIDS Fund. I think we‘re openly supporting our members. I never saw a conflict in that. It was a pressure, yeah, it was pressure on everybody. I never saw that as a conflict on the chorale because music was such a wonderful medium - reached people through the music. Every year Christmas doing the poinsettias dedication and all œ there was a way to address that very effectively under Tim.

Now, the other was dicier. I think it‘s interesting that you asked me that question because I have no problem with the —g“ word now being in the chorale‘s mission statement at the time and still. As a principal and teacher, it doesn‘t bother me. I like that. It‘s not that I‘m trying to hide, it‘s nobodies business. It‘s a personal choice. I‘m playing for this wonderful choir, let‘s look at music first and the other stuff doesn‘t really matter. When you‘re on stage in front of 2,000 people you don‘t think of being gay œ it doesn‘t even cross your mind.

(laughter)

I know there was some outside pressure from GALA and all that crap because we don‘t have the word gay…Turtle Creek Chorale Gay Men‘s Chorus…those people were the ones detracting from this, jealous of what we were doing. How could anyone say we‘re not out by doing this or this… Queen, we‘re just as out as we want to be. How did we handle that pressure? Doing what we do and doing it better than anyone else at that time. You know we could have addressed it and we could have changed, but we stood up as to what our mission was at the time and stuck to our message.

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

Spencer I think it goes back to the collective energy of the group and when people come and get the generic —blessing“. When people come and get —blessed“ they wan to come back and get it again. It‘s not very often when you get that. That‘s one of the things I‘ve given up because I‘m not playing anymore. I‘ve given up having that collective experience and

319 —blessing“ by being on stage and you can tell the audience gets it and they are right with you and the person way up there gets it and you can feel that. When a song ends and you can‘t hear anything and it‘s perfectly still because everyone was so moved by it. I think when you have the opposite experience, and you got everyone on their feet and everyone is giving you the accolades… that‘s a rare opportunity for most performing arts organizations. They want to come back and be a part of that because they got a generic —blessing“ from the experience. They want to get that back.

Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

Spencer The connectivity of the chorus with the audience… It was a connection that somehow transcended the stage and connected with people. It was something that was intangible. When we were together as a team, when we were together as an organization we were able to transcend. Tim would make a conscious effort and he would communicate that to us. This is how we need to portray this song to the audience œ this is the message I want to convey in this song. I remember him saying that. He knew what he was after, but getting there was a totally different thing. Could it be? Could it have something to do with the energy, myself, Anne (whose spirit was always there) and in the singers…could it be that?

Gregory Did it happen day one? Tim was the fourth conductor.

Spencer Do you think Tim had it on day one?

Gregory Was is the same in 1990 as it was in 2007?

Spencer Yeah, by the time I got there and Anne and Tim were working together œ yeah, it was there.

Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

320 Spencer I think it is when we went to San Antonio ACDA. That was a major threshold when that chorus sang in San Antonio. We did Cindy and Blow the Trumpet. We just blew ”em away. I remember thinking we‘re all scared to death. And Tim made us scared.

(laughter)

He did that. He kept talking about how they will be sitting there with their pads and everything œ he made us nervous. That was definitely a transcending moment. And I think after that it wasn‘t quite the same. We did how many different ACDA‘s? I mean, I played for one.

Gregory San Antonio, San Diego, and Los Angeles

Spencer When we went to Los Angeles, that one didn‘t have anywhere close near the energy we had in San Antonio.

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

Gregory Are there any questions we didn‘t ask, but should have?

Spencer I think, you know that for me, stepping away from it and seeing the role that I played in talking about that somehow œ that team œ that family œ that incredible group of singers. Taking myself out of it, you kind of see where it‘s missing. When you‘re up there all the time it‘s like, OK œ you don‘t really see that. If there was one thing I could tell Jonathan, it‘s don‘t try and be Tim.

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241) Author Summary Antoine Spencer began his tenure with the Turtle Creek Chorale as the Assistant Accompanist to Principle Accompanist, Anne Albritton. Antoine chuckles at his first concert as Principle Accompanist, —Psalms. It was the first concert (as Principle Accompanist) I didn‘t get to play because it was all organ œ there was no piano.“

321 Antoine sees Tim‘s connectivity and communication with the audience as vital to the overall success. As a High School Principal, leadership is paramount. —…whoever is at the top and whoever is driving whatever organization is for, or fulfilling the mission statement of what that organization is, has got to be able to accomplish those things.“ I was quite surprised at his candor pertaining to the lack of the —g“ word in the branding of the organization. —Queen, we‘re just as out as we want to be. How did we handle that pressure? Doing what we do and doing it better than anyone else at that time. You know we could have addressed it and we could have changed, but we stood up as to what our mission was at the time and stuck to our message.“ As other interviewees have expressed, it‘s the Dallas way. Antoine is concerned with the transitional process even though he is not longer involved with the organization from the inside. In the myriad of dialogues pertaining to the transition, there is a presence, sound, decorum, and tradition that must be maintained. How does Artistic Director number five balance it all? —If there was one thing I could tell Jonathan, it‘s don‘t try and be Tim.“

Pinnacle moment: San Antonio ADCA (1993)

322 APPENDIX X WILKINSON, KAY Long time supporter, 10 year board member, 3 year board chair Date: April 2008 Time: 10:00 A.M. Place: Residence, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Wilkinson OK, I had been involved first as a, umm, just someone who loved to sit in the audience and loved to hear the music. And the chorale just took my breath away. And then Chet Flake, who was a chairman of the board at that time, wanted more women. And people who had fund raising ability to come on the board of directors. So he asked me if I would serve and I‘m not even sure what year that was.

Gregory I was going to ask you what year that was.

Wilkinson I‘m going to say that was early ”90s, but I‘m not…had to be around…like ”93 maybe?

Gregory …and you were chair of the board

Wilkinson I was on the board for 10 years and sat in every chair. I did the auction twice. And umm, they were so proud. The first year we raised $63k and they had never earned that much. I was very proud of that. And then the second year we raised $83k.

Gregory would that be ”90 œ ”91

Wilkinson You may be right œ you know we may need to go back and get the minutes and verify the dates because at 53 my sense of time has œ time does fly. But umm, then I did the human resources position, I can‘t remember, I did fund raising, I did development. Umm, and then I sat in the secretary chair, the vice-president chair, and the chairman. I was Chairman for 3 years.

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

323

Wilkinson Well, first of all the music was excellent. Umm. the one thing we can say about the Artistic Director, which the whole, my whole tenure there was Dr. Timothy Seelig. And the staff, such as yourself, is that musically, artistically, bar none they were excellent. Umm, in every sense of the word and umm, with the exception of having music and music being repeated too often in my opinion. I never once sat in the audience that once wasn‘t moved to tears….and just thrilled by the music. It didn‘t matter if it was the Meyerson. Of course, just to walk into the Meyerson is magnificent. There were other venues. At SMU and other places that were just as impressive. It was the music. The music was inspiring and uplifting

When I was there I had been an activist and a volunteer for the AIDS œ supportive of AIDS œ with. I started the supper club in Oak Cliff that exists today and other things. There was such fear and there was so much sickness and there was so much death and dying that the music, umm, was a place of healing. And, umm, I think in the way the outreach œ the outreach came from everybody was affected by the AIDS crisis. So it didn‘t matter if you were gay or straight, or whatever, old or young. Umm, I think we brought in families; we brought in organizations that were dealing with this crisis. We always gave tickets…free tickets to AIDS victims. And umm it was just a place of healing. So I think that was the second thing.

Three is umm, it was such a time politically. Umm, where people were at odds. I think it was the birth of the division we have today. You know, right, left œ we have conservative, liberal. You know, and I think that the music…was always a place for people to come together. The mission statement of building bridges and reaching out. So umm, it was so good to bring different people in. Umm, Like we would sometimes involve the Women‘s chorus. Sometimes would invite Hamilton Park. So outreach to the black church. Which traditionally would not be very cohesive with a gay group. Umm, We brought in the Women‘s Chorus which would bring in different people. So traditionally in most, our city is very unique that the men and women bring people together. So that was part of the growth was that we started having guest artist. We had people from other choruses. Gay choruses from other cities œ Seattle, LA. So that would be a big draw. People would all come to see that. And plus we‘re the antithesis of being in the closet and gay. We‘re very active politically. We‘re very active in our churches. So we really outreach. It was a place for the gay people of Dallas to put on nice clothes. Umm, go to a lovely dinner. Hear lovely œ you know, it was a sense of Pride.

So we did outreach bringing others in. I think the other would be…so that would be three and four would be the Pride. Everyone took such Pride in the Turtle Creek Chorale. It was something that when your parents were in town, you could bring your parents to. I always brought. I always. One of the things I did for Christmas I gave two tickets œ if they had kids let me know œ I always brought my whole company to the Christmas show. I would bring 50 people. I think other companies did that. I know that other people on the board would bring their companies as a treat.

324 Wilkinson Yes, it was a great place. It was a sense of pride œ and FIFTH? What would be the fifth?

Gregory I have five here

Wilkinson What do you have?

Gregory I have music, AIDS, politically, outreach, and the pride

Wilkinson I think finally, just a sense of umm….just the mission itself. The mission statement to is uh, to me the things that keep me umm loving the chorale is its mission statement. That every time we embrace that mission statement we grow. And every time we hold true to that build bridges and reaching out through beautiful music it brings people in. So I think the mission statement by itself is important.

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

Wilkinson No œ I would say I think there would be those that disagree with me. I think the Artistic Director who had just left the Baptist Church. He was a brilliant…he was very talented. Came to us in a time where he was rejected in Houston by another...by the radical right and then very definite religious feeling that what he had become leaving his wife and coming out of the closet was wrong. So, I think that personally he had a sense of —I‘ll show them.“ So I think that was one of his impetus to grow the chorale. At the same time the AIDS crisis came. So people were looking. Our own singers were dealing with that. We started honoring those that were lost and those that were sick. People were saying these people are great…they help. The beautiful music is so healing. They are so supportive of getting through this. And then we did our little AIDS support. We‘ll help you pay our car. If you can‘t pay your œ if you‘ve lost your job and pay your bills. Our AIDS Fund brought more people in and we used that to ask for money. It was that crisis for us to band together and there was automatic reach. And then through that came some beautiful music….what is that called…..When We No Long Touch. That became like a phenomenon, so every gay chorus, and it really started with us. Didn‘t it? It did.

Gregory And ten years later was Sing for the Cure which is now national as well.

325 Wilkinson Right, right, right. So I think it‘s because we banned together for things and then that beautiful music went to LA, went to Seattle, went to Washington DC, went to the New York men‘s chorus. That brought us notoriety. I think from just doing the right thing. I think from taking care of our own. And what did we say about ourselves. The group itself, the Board of Directors, the audience, the artist, the leadership in the office - there wasn‘t anybody that was involved that didn‘t have an A+ personality. So, everybody just by being who we were, were driven. I don‘t think we ever sat down and said, —OK, let‘s grow this to a multi-million dollar thing.“ It was like that perfect time where everything came together. We got an Artistic Director that had passion for the music and passion to prove something. We had an AIDS crisis that needed the healing. We had music that was absolutely…will live beyond us. I think When We Longer Touch will stand the test of time and other choruses sing it. It‘s like doing the musical the Rain Man. In one act, doing Helen Keller. I think that music will live and the fact that it went to other choruses. So that‘s my assessment of why we grew.

Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

Wilkinson Painfully. There was so much growth so fast. There was a constant struggle - for œ this is the best thing about us and our Achilles heel. There was so much growth came in and money started coming in quickly. And the artist said, —OK, we‘ve got all this money, let‘s spend it. Let‘s do this, this, this.“ And the business people were like, —But let‘s make sure we have œ wait, wait, wait.“ Every time we grow the budget œ you want to have something in reserves. You always want to have a contingency plan if it doesn‘t go. But the artist were like, —we can do more recordings, let‘s do another night at the Meyerson, let‘s, let‘s, let‘s buy every bodies tux!“ And the business people were like…., —no.“ You know, I think for seven or eight years Chris Kovalis who was an excellent financial person. He was always like, —wait a minute.“ He was very good at pulling everybody back. So, the leadership on the board. One idea we played with. I think this is one thing they‘ve changed back again. That we said, —wait, wait, wait, OK, your job [Artistic Director], your role is to create beautiful music to make sure the performance is great and our job is to budget the money.“ And it was a constant, you know, this isn‘t your personal checkbook. You know, and there was just always….‘But wait this is for the men of the Turtle Creek Chorale.‘ We want to make sure the men five years, ten years, and 20 years from now can….so there was just a constant battle over running the business verses the art. And I think that is prevalent in a lot of the arts organizations. I think, we have a little money, let‘s spend it. I often think that‘s true. I‘m a mortgage banker, I think it‘s true in a lot of households. Very few people plan personally and professionally in the business world plan for that contingency. It‘s one of the rarest things we do. Even look at Bush today œ he went in as the fiscal conservative œ the compassionate conservative. Well, he got in there, he

326 just thought the federal government was going to….he was going to play army. With the money œ just writing checks. And you see where we are today.

Gregory And now we‘re going to get a check

Wilkinson Right. Now we‘re going to get a check and our children, and grandchildren, and their children are going to have to repay this. It may be a tipping point for us to not be sound. I think that is what is so important, we had so much money. And we spent every dime that came in every year. Screaming and yelling back and forth.

Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

Wilkinson You know, we, umm. That was something else that we struggled with. We always were looking at are we being fair. And if we would get at odds and there was no impasse, then yes. That‘s how XXX XXXXX was first to be a business consultant that came in. We had XXXXX XXXXX come in because it got so…

Gregory I forgot about XXXXX XXXXX. That was therapy.

Wilkinson Passionate. Absolutely! What else did we need? A consultant as much as a better was to communicate. Let‘s get someone in here that goes in and helps people communicate. At the same time he was a therapist, he would go into small businesses or do some consulting with boards that didn‘t get along. And talk about opening lines of communication. How you receive the information.

That‘s another part.

If you did personality tests. You had the singers that were half of the board and you had non-singers which were the other half of the board. I think artist in general take in information and send out information…with much more passion. And umm, then business people are, the way they ear things œ the way they see things. It‘s a natural conflict. It didn‘t make each side bad…it makes each side…..we weren‘t hearing each other. And the way we took information in and then out. So we would say, —let‘s, for example, let‘s really do some analysis on perhaps we don‘t need to do a CD for every concert. Let‘s do some analysis on that.“ That meant, let‘s see how much it‘s going to cost. Let‘s see how much ticket sales. We can always add the recording at the end. And all the singing members and the artistic staff said that board is going to ruin us. That board. They‘re not right. They said no again. It‘s this natural…That‘s not what we said at all. We said, —Can we get some figures on that.“ So, then we just do the recording

327 anyway. And it would be at the next concert and there would be a recording that never came back to us. We thought we decided because we had the…..we decided to….here we go again. We spent the money. The idea was, oh they‘ll never know and I would rather apologize than get approval. We would go….

We can‘t keep doing this. So then it got to where umm, things kept happening like that. It was just natural. The way we receive and send. And we would see that as insubordination and they would see that as stuffy and wrong and didn‘t know what we were doing. So we‘re like, WOW! Here we go again. And it just went on for years. It became the elephant in the room. So every time we grew and it got bigger, then there were a few more obstacles….and you‘ve got to remember we were all volunteers œ there were very few paid people. Why in the world are we sitting here taking all this grief and dealing with all this money? It became we all were so passionate about the Chorale. This was like a second full-time unpaid job. Why are we, why are we doing this? When it got huge it just got bigger.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Wilkinson I‘m going to have to say…again…knowing win, lose, or draw, when the vote was taken I feel very confident.

Gregory In the boards vote.

Wilkinson In the boards vote. We always had open discussion regardless of the chair. I felt that we always…not always….But once the vote was taken (not always) but I would say eight times out of 10 we were very confident that we made good decisions

Gregory [If had confidence of 6 or great:] What gave you such confidence in the decisions?

Gregory So it was the chair that gave you confidence, the chairs decision, the chairs in put

Wilkinson not the chair œ not the chair - the board of directors

Gregory The open dialogue

328

Wilkinson The open dialogue… Remember, there‘s always the singing members. Always open and lively debate. So when we voted after much discussion.

(chuckles)

I always felt like, even if the non-singings members didn‘t agree once the vote was taken, we banded around that decision and honored it. I think that was powerful

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

Wilkinson Well, that‘s another problem because…just the thing. You would go to rehearsal and sometimes, umm, the artistic director and the staff would use the bully in the pulpit of the…to caucus for his, the way he wanted things to run. So then we would get an onslaught of emails œ at that time emails were not as prevalent. Mostly we got, in the mid 90s we would get letters. Long passionate letters. Ironically, they would always come on a Wednesday after a Tuesday rehearsal. So, we could always tell we were rallying 150 œ 225 people against any point that the Artistic Director or the singing members, the President of the singing members, you know, the XXXX XXXXXX of the world œ if they didn‘t like something, they were out there stirring it up with section leaders. We could always tell when we got a signed letter from the section leaders. We would be like….here we go…..(laughing).

Gregory Can you cite a specific example of how this took place?

Wilkinson Umm, yeah. The poster with pants around… Those we got the most awful œ you know Tim at this time œ Tim just became œ at one time he came to the BOD and had gone to the officers meeting. He wanted it œ there are two times. The first time is when it was always the Turtle Creek Chorale. And umm, that was our logo œ the TCC or the Turtle Creek Chorale. And Tim came to us and said I want it to be The Turtle Creek Chorale under the direction of Tim Seelig. No, you get priority placement in the…everyone knows it‘s you…we give you the honors and the distinction. The mission… Unbeknownst to us he just put in The Turtle creek Chorale under the direction of Timothy Seelig

And the other time œ he went to the officers and said the officers were in agreement to this and we said we”re not. We want to hold to the mission and make it about the men and not about you. Because it came more about one man instead of the 225 members. That was the bone we never could pick. That‘s why we couldn‘t get that pulley bone pulled apart and worked through

329 And there was a time œ there was a year‘s time. I don‘t know what was going on in our Artistic Directors life, maybe a divorce, or something. There was a true shift where it was just, umm it was all about him to the nth degree. It was a one man singing concert that was more about his life than anything else. And there was this poster where he was in his tux, but with his pants were down between his legs. So, we‘re like, we‘ve done all this outreach to straight people. We had just done Sing for the Cure. We brought in all the Susan G. Komen people and the very next concert was a concert about Tim. So we had a misogynistic undertone…. It was all about how horrible it was to be married and how horrible it was to be with women and then there‘s this poster with his pants around his legs. It was more offensive to women then men œ the men just laughed about it.

We said that poster can‘t go out. It was voted on œ it‘s in the minutes œ you‘ll have to find it. It may have been struck from the minutes. I don‘t know by now. We said do not put that poster out. And it went out anyway. So those are two….I mean, and to the day his last concert Turtle Creek Chorale under the direction of Timothy Seelig and we voted that down. (HA!) And the poster couldn‘t go out. I wanted those damn posters burned. We couldn‘t find them. They were all over town.

So that‘s two.

Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

Wilkinson You know, yes. I think that the single…anytime that the chorale…there was always humor, always, always, always acceptable and fun skits for one point they went from funny and humorous and light and this is a gay chorus and even thought your sitting in this audience and you‘re not gay œ lighten‘ up and you can laugh œ to raunchy. You have to sit in the audience where people would shift. And then there were some things that got so great that the AD decided to preach to us during the….quit talking and sing. Anytime that we veered from our mission we got in trouble. You have to stay on your mission and you have to hold each other accountable for the mission and anytime we left our mission statements which was to build bridges œ reach out and bring people together through beautiful music. Anytime we tried to pull the bait from the stage, in that same environment you know the years that Bush was being elected œ anytime we nitpicked at that. It was Texas for god‘s sakes. It was a red state. It made people uneasy and made people say we‘re not coming back. That‘s where we…we filled the audience. We got the Susan G. Komen people there. They bought season tickets. That doesn‘t work. You have hold true to your mission and be true to your cause.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the short-term pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

330 Wilkinson Well, you know again, we‘re Texas. Umm, The Texas Coalition for Gay and Lesbian. I have to say, Dallas, Texas is the model. We got great flack from GALA because we didn‘t use gay in our name. They were always on our back about it. When we went to GALA, we were very active in GALA- we always sent large Delegations to GALA. In the budget we paid for that. We were very good to our singing members and very active. We said, In Dallas the proof is in the pudding. The Turtle Creek Chorale œ everybody knows we‘re gay - we wear red ribbons. The Women‘s Chorus of Dallas, also did not use gay, they also got in trouble. The pressure/ Look at our model, we don‘t. We are men and women, gay straight, and we know what works in our brand, so, I think again you have to hold true to what your city, your audience, your group and the hold to that regardless of the pressure and let the chip[s fall where they may. If you start accommodating any one person, any one group and you allow them to shift you from your core values, from your mission statement and from your business plan œ you‘re cruising for trouble. You have to know your brand and stick to it. Every time that we said, —Umm, maybe we should do this.“ Even thought some of us were going, —Wait!“ Is that, is that really our mission? Maybe we shouldn‘t do that because it‘s not our mission. And we got in trouble every time.

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

Wilkinson It seems to me that‘s giving back. To me that‘s building bridges. Like the children‘s choir. Boy, that was something. We said, OK, should we bring children to sing with a gay chorus. And will our œ will we make sure that those children are safe every moment. We wanted to police ourselves more.

Gregory One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

Wilkinson I will tell you. It‘s like the Hamilton Park Men‘s Chorus just sang again. I will tell you. Again, I think that is our mission to build that. We gave scholarships. We invested in those children that came. They, we raised money to keep a music program in some school…Seagoville High School said, —We don‘t have any money.“

331 (Interruption)

Where was I? Because I think that is our mission statement and because we always gave back. Every time we grew or had wealth and grew in our own wealth and it was like tithing. It was almost like manifesting. I think that‘s part of any business and any organization and any individual that makes it big time. You‘ve got to give back. I mean, that is that core spiritual section. If you get so big and you‘re not doing anything for anyone else, you‘re not. I mean, how many times did we help the Women‘s Chorus survive? We helped the Seagoville program survive. Now, those redneck parents came right in there. We would ask, are y‘all They were clapping laughing and tears in their eyes. We did that.

Then was the church we did in Austin. I mean we absolutely gave back every time. We gave to that church and then in Europe and Prague raised money. In Prague it was the first AIDS fundraiser. Those people were like, why would y‘all come over here? Why would y‘all do this for us? It was an honor for us to give back. So everything we did like that, that had an element of giving back, it‘s that law. To whom much is given, much is expected. But, if you give, it comes back to you ten fold.

So you see what it did? It brought others to us. It helped people say, which is not in our mission statement, but it made them say, A) God loves gay guys, they are friendly, B) they are nice looking, and C) how great is it that they give back and music is phenomenal. It helped to build those gay bridges - these people are not that bad. I‘m not sure I want to spend every day with them but I‘ll go buy a ticket and listen to them sing. And then the Silent Night. Nobody would say (sarcastically), —Are they going to do that again this year?“

Every year there was continuity. I don‘t know. I think giving back is one of the most powerful things we did. To reach beyond ourselves and to give to others and to not always make it about that. The best thing we did was reach out to people who weren‘t gay.

Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

Wilkinson I think it was that perfect storm. That perfect coming together. We had some phenomenal leadership. I have got to tell you . Few people know how brilliant Keith Griffin was, David Mitchell, Chet was excellent. I‘m going to tell you XXXXX XXXXXXX on financial. If he even saw a cash flow thing coming. He would say,

332 —Everybody alert. This is going to be a period of time we are going to have a cash flow crunch. We‘ve got make payroll, we‘ve got…“ You were on staff. Did you ever have to hold your check? Didn‘t your checks always clear?

Gregory Yes

Wilkinson You know, some of those choruses that didn‘t make it. If you staff isn‘t paid on time. You know, we really worked hard to get benefits for their staff. Very few small choruses can afford benefits. So we did some things to take care of our staff.

There was a time when we maintained. I mean, I‘m not sure if it was appreciated. My own staff, I‘m in mortgage banking, they are like grumpy, grumpy, grumpy, They don‘t understand it. But I had to take a pay cut ion the last few months so I didn‘t have to layoff anyone. People don‘t know. And finally this one person kept asking. I said you know, I took a pay cut and I‘m wondering if I made the right decision. But I tell you, I‘m not going to listen to you complain. Do your job or get it out. That‘s why it‘s called work. We never did that with y‘all. We probably should have done that with Tim a few times, but we didn‘t. We really worked hard to take care of our core group because we felt our core staff was powerful and wanted to empower them to make music.

Making sure that we had the money to take care of the chorus. You know, the Meyerson checks never bounced either. You know, the programs were always there on time. And umm, we ran a good business. I think we ran a tight business. Now that drove the singing membership crazy. Because they had good business people. Umm, but we did. And then, umm, we all bought into the mission and I think, and we kept it alive. Our mission statement, we insisted the mission statement be listed on every program and everything we did. And we read the mission statement, we insisted on this, the mission statement had to be read by the chorale before every business meeting. And I know that‘s crazy and I know you‘re like, good god, could she say mission statement fifteen thousand times in this interview when you hear it played back. That is so key. And our core values. To make sure that we are honest and ethical in everything we did. And umm, and that we did reach out to others. I know I keep saying the same thing, but it all comes back to that. But, we had talent. I will tell you Dr. Seelig is as powerful a director as there is. You were very talented. If he was sick and couldn‘t do anything and you do…off and do small groups, we could really be two places at once. We could be at that XXXX XXXXX big hoo-ha that we played for with you directing and him over here. We could be, our small groups were very effective. That‘s one thing they should have, we sort of got out of. It became a second, full time job. The small group singing at….from every thing from the Rotary Club to the Junior League was such a great thing for us and it kept bringing in more tickets. I think all those things just came together. It was just a great time. We had great people. You know what, we didn‘t always agree, but we really did have great people. And the times that we agreed to disagree and pulled our energies together, it was magical. I mean it was really magical.

333

Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

Wilkinson I think it happened with When We No Longer Touch. I think that having that beautiful piece of music. Here at a time when people were dealing with death and dying. I think that piece of music….Now, did I think we needed to repeat it fifteen thousand times? No. But the first three times we did that music. I don‘t mean….the first three concert series….not the sixth and seventh. Yes, please, can‘t we sing something else? But I think that our first recording, Peace. That would have been before When We No Longer Touch. The fact that we had a CD that was in Borders, that was in Barnes and Noble. That was in….what‘s that furniture store I like? But in places….it‘ll come to me. But beautiful places we could take and the people were in there buying their Christmas music and it became that Peace, beautiful Christmas music. I think was a stepping stone to When We No Longer Touch. And When We No Longer Touch was just an emotional release and it was that perfect tipping point where it was bringing in. The chorus itself wanted to sing it. It was healing for the chorus members. It was emotional and binding. It was powerful music. So there, that was that. And then it brought in family members, friends, the community. We were losing people everyday. It was people sitting in an office everyday. God, how many funerals have we gone to. I just got to where I just couldn‘t go to another funeral for a number of year. I was just like, I couldn‘t go. I just couldn‘t do it. Umm, it was just that perfect point that was a healing and you get over to that acceptance. I mean when you get through that music, you literally are so tense during denial and so when you get to acceptance, it‘s like you feel. I mean felt ten pounds lighter when I left the music. You literally go through the stages of grief, and death and dying and grief. And when you get to the end, it‘s just so powerful. It‘s a spiritual piece of music. And then that brought so many people in and they said, —what else can you do?“

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

Gregory Are there any questions I didn‘t ask, but should have?

Wilkinson The one question that you didn‘t ask is how do you keep the group together? How do you keep the singing members singing? I think that anytime we failed, in those years that we dipped under - the number of singing members. We failed to take care of them. When we could, we argued about dues and no dues. That was one question that I bet every group struggles with. I tell you this, we can do financial waivers for someone that‘s in trouble.

334 Dues are very important in a group like this for buy in. $10 a month makes them buy in. I think that ought to be in your thesis somewhere. I feel very strongly about dues or buy in. If you can‘t pay your dues and get a waiver, you ought to be serving the punch or filing music or doing time answering phone in the office or stuffing envelopes. I think everybody has to buy in. And I think it‘s the board of Directors, not the chair, but the Board of Directors has to support the mission and support the individuals in the group of singing members if they are coming….anytime you have people come for their own because I want to be…because I want to be the chairman of the board, you have no place at the table. So you have to keep that in check.

So that‘s all I know.

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241)

Author Summary Kay Wilkinson has sat in every board position of the Turtle Creek Chorale of her 10 years as board member during the late ”80s and early ”90s. Kay‘s focus was always on the chorus and board missions, —Anytime we veered from our mission we got in trouble.“ I ask the reader of this paper, how many times has that statement been uttered in arts administration? Kay sees the chorale and its concerts as —a place of healing“ for social and political issues over the decades. Straying from the mission only diluted the impact. And every time we hold true to that build bridges and reaching out through beautiful music it brings people in. So I think the mission statement by itself is important. Just as commitment of the membership and buy in to the mission. Monthly dues offered that same commitment. Contrary to the buy in was an excess of cash flowing into the company when the growth occurred so quickly. Wilkinson explains that the business side was saying, —wait, wait, wait…every time we grew the budget œ you want to have something in reserves.“ The artistic side was, —we‘ve got all this money, let‘s spend it. Let‘s do this, this, this.“ We spent every dime kicking and screaming Giving back to the community and building bridges beyond the gay community through quality music seemed to be the larger focus of Kay‘s interview. She supplies this researcher with numerous examples across Dallas, the state of Texas, and outreach to a world-wide community through When We No Longer Touch, After Goodbye, and Sing for the Cure.

335 I think giving back is one of the most powerful things we did. To reach beyond ourselves and to give to others and to not always make it about that. The best thing we did was reach out to people who weren‘t gay.

Pinnacle moment: When We No Longer Touch (1990)

336 APPENDIX Y WILLIAMS, PAUL J. Singing member Date: April 2008 Time: 7:00 P.M. Place: Residence, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Williams I became a member of the Turtle Creek Chorale, actually, without an audition. I met Tim Seelig, the conductor, at a dinner in late ‘88 and he asked me if I would come sing. I was like, well, sure I guess. Come to rehearsal. I came to rehearsal and it was about three weeks prior to the actual concert. I was like, there‘s no way I can learn this music by the concert…so I sat in on it. There were 68 singers at the time. So my first concert was actually Christmas of ‘88. I really vacillate back and forth whether it was ‘87 or ‘88.

Gregory ‘87 was his first one…

Williams So it was ‘88. The way I remember it, is in December of that year, I bought my first new car. It was an 88 demonstrator and the ”89s had come out, so yeah, ‘88. I giggle about the fact that I never auditioned. He knew my brother and it was so….I saw the chorale at the last portions of its being a small organization and then in ”89/‘90 the chorale exploded with members. I was there at the beginning of the chorale‘s association with the Meyerson Symphony Center. And then I became a contract employee of the chorale by selling advertising space in their concert programs and once we started recordings I handled the consignment sales of recordings. I remained with the chorus until June 1997 when I left Dallas to move to New York City. ‘88 to ‘97 œ almost nine years of singing with them and only laid out for two concerts during that time because I was cast in a show.

Gregory Were you involved in a leadership role during that time?

Williams I was Vice-President œ I do not remember the years - by virtue of that office, I served on the board.

Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

337

Williams Number one: honestly, Tim Seelig. It was his drive, and I think many of his ideas which made the chorus explode. And then, really, everything tentacles off of him because most of these ideas or suggestions are his.

Number two: would be the public relations. No one had done PR for the chorus before. Suddenly we had this PR machine Randy Rhea. It just exploded everything.

I think moving into the Meyerson Symphony Center gave the chorus some cache and it reached a broader audience within the arts community of Dallas.

I think knowing how to walk the line at that time of being an arts organization versus a GLBT organization was a very important step œ one the chorus took a lot of flack of nationally œ but it worked in Dallas.. I think having the chorus become an arts organization first and then a GLBT organization second worked in its advantage.

And then I think, beginning the recordings - getting recorded œ gave it an extra marketing tool to send the message of the chorus out there. And I think that really exploded the organization and helped it grow.

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

Williams Yes, I believe so. And here again, I credit Tim Seelig with that. As its leader, he saw the potential of the organization to become more than just another chorus. Or, just a community chorus.

Gregory Can you come up with approximate years, or time frame, when this shift started or did it happen when he first started or first hired?

Williams No, he started in ‘87, I didn‘t see all this happen until ‘90 or ‘91. But when it did happen, it exploded.

Gregory What sparked that decision?

Williams Honestly, Tim Seelig‘s ego. And I have said many, many times and I will contend to this. Were it not for Tim Seelig‘s ego, the Turtle Creek Chorale would not be where it is today. Consequently, it‘s a double edged sword and it was his ego that got him in trouble

338 in the waning days of his tenure. But, it was also his ego that exploded the chorale. So, you know…it was a good thing at the start.

Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

Williams Well, you know, you come at that from a singer‘s standpoint. It seemed to be that…honestly; I would say my answer is the same from both standpoints (singer and employee). What Tim wanted, Tim got.

I understood the way that Tim worked because I come from the same background in which he did œ church music. Especially, large Baptist churches where it‘s all glitz and glamour. I think Tim brought that to the chorale and we could be…to speak it in church terms: we could be the Eastside Church Choir of Garland, Texas or we could be the First Baptist pageant of Dallas, Texas. He just saw it, the potential, as being something grand.

He also came from a place where he was told he wouldn‘t amount to anything. It all comes from his vision. He believed we could do something or other. He put it in his season, brought it to the board, and I think there was a certain element of under- handedness or we will do this regardless of whether or not you think it will work. And once things began to take place and things did change for the better, I think the board became blind-sighted to whatever Tim wants, Tim gets.

Gregory What was the role, if any, of outside consultants and advisors in making the key decisions?

Williams Zero.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Williams Well, before you knew the outcomes, I would say a 10. We were all of the belief that whatever Tim said was gold.

Gregory Was that mentality the same even while you were on the board?

339 Williams It began to crack while I was on the board…but not much. All of my opinions about the Turtle Creek Chorale were pretty set until I actually left the chorus.

Gregory You see it with different eyes.

Williams Yes, you see it with different eyes and you realize what a master Tim Seelig was at smoke and mirrors. You see how he would spin a story to his advantage. You know, when you‘re in the midst of all that….anyone who bad mouths the choral, I would bristle at that. Once I got away from it, I realized: the Emperor‘s naked. But the confidence level at the time: absolutely a 10.

Gregory [If had confidence of 6 or great:] What gave you such confidence in the decisions?

Williams He was getting results and so you think, OK, I could look back now and I think of particular things that…for instance the problem we got into with Betty Buckley. She had every right to bitch and moan. But, Tim made it look like she was the bad guy.

The problem we got into with the SMU orchestra with royalties and payments, etc… Tim spun it to where they were being too demanding. When in reality they were being exactly what they should have been.

But, when you are in the chorus you accept Tim‘s spin on things as gospel because he was a master at that.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

Williams I wouldn‘t call it strong-arming, because it wasn‘t. There was very much a Jonestown mentality.

Gregory Paul, I can‘t tell you how many times Kool-Aid has come up in this entire process

William Tim is brilliant. In many ways I mean this in a positive way. He was brilliant at getting people to go along. You know, when I served on the board, it was one of the many times that Tim‘s salary was brought up, and was increased, and we voted for it. Anybody that questioned whether or not it was the right thing œ and there were many that did œ were

340 quickly convinced that that questioning was out of line, or was ungrounded, or the thing was, we need to give him this freedom because, look how the chorale is growing. Look how much money the chorale is making. Those things were always implemented rather easily because he had quite an art for persuasion.

Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

Williams Yes. When limits tried to be put on Tim. Yes, that didn‘t work. Questioning what Tim did was tried and it was shot down.

Gregory Questioning by…?

Williams From a board standpoint, again, the chorus is still your lemmings. And this is how it worked for Tim. He kept that mentality in the singing membership. I vividly remember Brian Bircham leaving the chorus and writing a scathing letter. Tim choosing to read it to the chorus to bolster his point of…rather than saying, this is something we should think of. It was, can you believe how angry this person is.

Gregory Again, turn it back on that person.

Williams Right. So, anytime things were called into question of Tim‘s leadership and management - those attempts failed. So when you say was anything tried that didn‘t work, that‘s what comes to mind.

Artistically, you know, you could say that certain concerts didn‘t sell as well. Certain ideas didn‘t sell as well. The Oktoberfest/Opera concert at the Apparel Mart. We still look back on it and say, —What?“ But nothing really big stands out other than dissent failed initially. Dissent meaning: the dissent of the board. We really don‘t need to raise Tim‘s salary to a six figure thing. No chorus makes that kind of money. But we‘re going to do it anyway. Look how much our budget has grown and Tim deserves to be remunerated for that. And I wasn‘t there, but after I left, you know, the voices that Kay Wilkinson raised. She was made to be a pariah, a crazy dilettante. So, anytime that dissent is raised, it was shot down. So I consider that as something that failed.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

341 Williams OK, first of all, let‘s take the AIDS crisis. I think the chorus, I mean, really responded. Not only was the community at large being decimated in the early ”90s, but this particular chorus was being decimated. We couldn‘t stand by and watch what was happening. I think the biggest way they responded was with After Goodbye. As the PBS special so poignantly points out, we couldn‘t have scripted a more dramatic turn to those events. The poinsettias at the Christmas concert... We spoke to our own and we spoke to the community at large. And I remember Tim saying one time, that someone had said to him that they were getting tired of hearing about AIDS all the time and Tim said, —I will stop talking about it when it goes away and right now it‘s not going away.“ So, it was a pointed decision to be very active in responding to the crisis.

Now, the —g“ issue œ was touchier. I think it was responded to perfectly for the Dallas environment. Was it the way it was done…would this have worked nationally? No. But it worked for this community.

Gregory It backfired nationally.

Williams It backfired nationally in that we became a joke. Umm, I don‘t think it‘s necessary that the word gay be in the title of any organization even if that is how it identifies. And quite frankly, in Dallas it would have hindered the growth of the organization. In New York City, LA, it works because those places…that kind of delineation would help an organization thrive. It gives it a cache. That here would have held it back. If it had been the Dallas Gay Men‘s Chorus, we wouldn‘t have had the success we had or the entrance to the Meyerson. But as the Turtle Creek Chorale it became a situation of, —Wow, they are great. And did you know they were gay? Oh, really?“ It just wouldn‘t have worked the other way around. So, consequently, you have to handle it on a city by city basis and I think the way it was handled was the way it needed to be handled for Texas.

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

Williams I think it‘s a different answer for every organization. What may be the reason for Komen may not be the same for Hamilton Park. I think with every simpatico relationship that is created, a) they are created for a different reason, and b) they endure for a different reason. If there is one underlying thing that I think they all have in common is that the chorale reached a point of success within the Dallas arts community that other people

342 wanted to be attached to its name. And was that wanting to be attached to the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s name or Tim Seelig‘s name œ I don‘t thing that‘s important.

Hamilton Park is an unusual pairing and an unusual success story. I almost think it was more important for the chorale to be associated with Hamilton Park than Hamilton Park to be associated with the chorale. It gave the predominantly white gay men‘s chorus a cache into the African-American community. And by hanging onto that it gives the chorale continued access to the African-American community. On a lesser degree of the opposite relationship, it‘s helped the gay and lesbian members of Hamilton Park have an outlet because they don‘t have that within their community. So, I don‘t want to take every single one, but I think these relationships last because other organizations see that the chorale is successful as a Dallas arts organization, because they had a million dollar budget, because they were represented in the financial realm of the Dallas Theater Centre and the Dallas Symphony. It was just good PR.

Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

Williams A director with an ago the size of a globe... And I think that stands true for Dennis Coleman too. It is not just about the mission of the chorus and being…having great singers and having a great repertoire and having a great fan base. You wouldn‘t have any of those if you didn‘t have a conductor that felt the chorus was an extension of their essence, their being. So, I really think that is the reason that Seattle….because I think that Dennis and Tim sat back and looked at each other and said, —Oh yeah, well, I‘m going to one up you.“

Gregory Baptist battle 101…

Williams Absolutely. Did they steal from each other or other choruses? Absolutely

Gregory They shared at the same time…

William I agree… but if they stole, they did it better than who they stole it from. I just think overall when you look at all the GALA choruses, if you were going to admit that Seattle and TCC were the two to beat, assuming that is a truth, then the reason is the directors. I really think it comes down to that.

343 Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

Williams I think the first one was moving to the Meyerson. I think mentally and emotionally what that did to the chorus was, —we‘ve arrived.“ We are a huge player on the Dallas arts scene because we have a world class symphony hall as our home. I think that gave everybody in the chorus so much pride that was reflected in its performance. After that, no question it was After Goodbye. I shudder to think what the chorale would have been like if Kris Anthony had not passed its doors. Now, did Tim push Kris? Yes. But, I think Tim realized the jewel he had in his hands and made that happen. But, yeah, I think the PBS attention really pushed the chorale into the national spotlight.

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

Gregory Are there any questions we didn‘t ask, but should have?

Williams No.

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241) Author Summary Paul J. Williams is quite familiar with the pulse of the world-wide gay community. Williams is a comedian traveling the world performing to gay and non-gay audiences. The lack of —g“ in the name of the Turtle Creek Chorale became a national joke. —I think having the chorus become an arts organization first and then a GLBT organization second worked in its advantage.“ Paul claims to be the only member who never auditioned to be in the Turtle Creek Chorale. Tim Seelig met Paul at a dinner party in late ‘88 and invited him to rehearsal and subsequent Christmas performance. Williams has been a singing member, soloist, officer and board member, part-time recording sales, concert program ad sales, and the Wicked Witch of the West in both chorale performances of The Wizard of OZ. His honesty is paramount in his humor and assessment of the chorus. —Were it not for Tim Seelig‘s ego, the Turtle Creek Chorale would not be where it is today. Consequently, it‘s

344 a double edged sword and it was his ego that got him in trouble in the waning days of his tenure.“ He does continue on and say that Tim‘s Baptist musical background did provide the —glitz and glamour“ needed to win an audience. Paul acknowledges Tim‘s brilliance in programming and vision, —It was his drive, and I think many of his ideas which made the chorus explode. And then, really, everything tentacles off of him because most of these ideas or suggestions are his.“

Pinnacle moment: Morton H. Meyerson performances (1990) and After Goodbye (1990)

345 APPENDIX Z YOUNG, ED Singing member Date: April 2008 Time: 2:00 P.M. Place: Residence, Dallas, Texas

Gregory Could you briefly give an overview of your relationship to the Turtle Creek Chorale œ years involved and primary responsibilities held?

Young When I found out about the chorale, I realized I needed to be more open in my life as a gay man and make some kind of a statement I guess to make life easier for the next gay and lesbians. There were three things that came available about that same time. One, I went back into the Methodist church and decided it was their problem. And then I met Jack Pettit and he told me about there was gay volleyball, which I thought was great. Actually, I guess the chorale started before that and so this is number one, I like to sing and I hadn‘t sung in many years. I thought this would be an outlet that would make this group that I would be a part of and have the potential of coming out process and also having some kind of effect…plus, gays need places to be other than a bar.

Gregory What years were you involved?

Young This was 1979… the first year of the chorus. I didn‘t go for a couple of weeks and I had just met Paul Wignall. He wanted to go too. So we showed up at the Catholic Church and Harry was there œ he knew loud, louder, and scream.

Gregory Were you ever involved in the leadership?

Young Well, yeah…they thought I had lots of money. I was an officer on the board. I was Vice- President for a number of years. That was back when we were just not making any money. We were spending more money in an effort to support the really good singers in Spotlight, but it made no money. We used that income off of whatever we were getting more for that than for us. It wasn‘t until…I can‘t remember…I guess we began to charge? We didn‘t charge a whole lot. When Harry was there we didn‘t have a lot of income œ and Christmas we just did for free. We didn‘t make any money at Christmas. But with Harry we didn‘t do a Christmas concert. It wasn‘t until Dick and Michael that we began that. The first one was at Holy Trinity and we actually made money on it.

346 Gregory What did you see as the top five factors that contributed to or caused the upward shift in budget, membership, audience, notoriety, and staff?

Young Well one of the things œ it was just our community thing and then all of a sudden we decided we were good enough and we could make some money. Because we need a place to rent, we needed to buy music. Even then, we had to pay someone to write music because there wasn‘t a whole lot of music. So there was a need for somebody to keep up with the books and music and rent. It kind of involved. It wasn‘t a whole lot of money. Then we heard about other places, I think we heard that they were making the most money off of Christmas. That is where it was the beginning of where we started making some money. Christmas began to be the main thing that we did that we would make money. We would do it and perform wherever we could. Mainly at SMU a lot of time we couldn‘t get that thing. So we kind of lolly-dolled around there. Even with Dick Flemming œ I was on the board at that time. We told him we would pay him and he just have the money back. It wasn‘t until he decided to leave and we founded the thing down at the competition where we came in…

Gregory The Mann competition

Young The Billy Mann Competition. That‘s where we met Michael. We won and realized we weren‘t such a bad choir and we had potential. So Michael came and we still weren‘t making a whole lot of money undoubtedly. But we were spending a lot more and of course that‘s why he left is because we couldn‘t…the business manager which was the one that started the place œ he was taking care of all the books and things. It wasn‘t done very professionally. Then my good thing that got to be President and started looking around and realized we were in debt up to our ears and also that…$20,000 or something like that to the IRS œ they didn‘t have enough money to pay any of the taxes on the two employees. (laughter) And at that time we were paying Michael like $32,000 a year and I don‘t know. I guess we were paying œI don‘t know œ we were paying him something, I don‘t know how much, we were still kind of flying by the seat of our pants. It wasn‘t really until Tim came that all of a sudden the board realized they were responsible. Tim was present at that time and at every board meeting they took a collection to keep us afloat at that time. Tim thought he was going to get a job at $35,000 or so, but he only got $15,000 or something like that œ it‘s all we had at the time. So we were really suffering and I think that when Tim came he was of course just the right person for the job because he was very motivated because of what the church had done. He needed some way of making a statement that —I will survive and I‘m going to do…“ So, he was highly motivated to increase the choir and increase our singing and this and that and the other. And when he came, we decide to go back into GALA that year. And we had dropped out for a number of years…a couple of years. We started with GALA and then we dropped out because Don Essmiller didn‘t want to pay the money probably and plus he didn‘t

347 want to deal with the œ cause we were catching a lot of hell because we didn‘t have the —g“ word in there.

Gregory We‘re going to get to that in a minute. So you joined GALA and then backed out. So Seattle (1988) is when you came back in.

Young We were actually a part of that for two or three years. When the first GALA started we were still a part of GALA at that time. And the first GALA was in New York and I remember Don saying, we don‘t want to go to New York and sing with a bunch of gay choruses. At that time…I guess at some time I wasn‘t on the board they dropped that. Three years later I found out about GALA and nobody knew about it down here. Well, Don knew about it, but nobody in the choir knew about it. I was playing gay volleyball and had met some people. One of them was the director of the choir in New Orleans. He was playing volleyball up there (or wherever we were) and I went to GALA too. Our first pianist (or one of the first pianist) had graduated from SMU and he moved back home to Seattle and so I looked him up and had dinner with him and Dennis. And they raked me over the coals, —why are y‘all not a part of GALA and why are y‘all…“ Just raked me over the coals and I think one of the reasons why we didn‘t want to…I think Essmiller didn‘t want to argue about the gay situation. Even thought Seattle never had gay in their name. The purpose of those other big choruses was not the same as ours at the time.

The differences were that they were in your face gay and were singing to gays only…

Gregory And the chorale was…

Young The chorale was to sing as much beautiful music and affect in some ways, but we were not going to be political and be an in your face gay chorus. We‘ve never sung any really gay, or very little gay, until recently. We only sang….you know. That was not the reason why we were formed. We were formed to have a place we could sing and outreach to each other and feel good about ourselves.

Gregory So you would say that the reason the chorus became successful was due to the quality and mission of the music and Tim‘s vision to make the organization larger.

Young That and we also, slowly, that sort of changed after we went to Seattle. But up until that time we were very careful about not singing gay songs. We did campy stuff but it was not anything in your face œ two men sitting there singing a love song to each other œ that we have done since that time. Actually, the chorale has come out of the closet as we grew. And that was the process and to our advantage, I think, that‘s one reason why Seattle is doing as well as it has. They have done the same œ they have been more open œ and they

348 have a large straight following. We would not be here today if we did not have a large straight following. They are not anywhere as fickle as the gays.

Gregory We are our own worst enemy…

Young Right. So, they give us money. That changed when Tim came and I went back to GALA and we began that year to begin to do something with GALA and when I came back I told Tim these are the list of things. Number one we have to go to GALA in Seattle and I was the one that ramrodded it and I was the Vice-President that got the money together and saw that we got there. I had other people help me, but that was my… That‘s when I œ before that when I came back from that, I said to Tim, we need to see if we can‘t help a women‘s chorus and he looked at me like I was crazy. So when we went to Seattle, I never had butterflies before singing œ we all had butterflies, we were so hyped. And of course we were well received and we realized we were just as good as anybody else. And that was the changing point that we realized we could be a lot more involved than we ever expected. That was one of the big turning points and during that time the men‘s chorus from San Diego and the women‘s chorus of San Diego had the men‘s chorus come and sing with them on the …because they said they would not have been there if had not been for the men‘s chorus. And that went Ah ha with Mr. Tim and on the way home he decided he was going to start a women‘s chorus. It wasn‘t very long, a year or so after that that we began The Women‘s Chorus of Dallas. So that in itself….

Gregory Did the Turtle Creek Chorale make a conscious decision to initiate a major change or transition during this time frame?

Young It was Tim‘s conscious. That was his drive to make something of himself and he could kind of thumb his nose at his family and the church that tried to destroy him. He was really, really driven to make something of himself and because of that we got lots of great things from Tim. And he also changed how we sing. Not only did we just…I found out also when I went to the first GALA. You know, after so many hours of penguins singing, it doesn‘t matter how beautiful it is œ you have to have something funny œ you have to have something different œ you gotta‘ surprise people. We kind of begrudgingly went that direction because Tim was trying to get us to do a little dancing and twirling. So I was realizing that‘s not good. One of the other things œ the first time I didn‘t sing when I got back from that second œ I had that program and we were always complaining we had no music to sing. There were 17 or 18 songs and we had only sung two. So I sat there and gave it to the director and said here are the types of songs if we were singing with GALA. And that is one of the benefits because they find music and write music and it continues to this day. It‘s a big market now. I think we just bought into it. Tim was a good Baptist preacher œ he got us all hyped and I think one of the first things is when we were invited to San Antonio a the ACDA œ the first openly gay group to ever sing there and I think that was the second time I had, everybody had butterflies. We were so hyped and Tim

349 was about to have a conniption. He was just out of his mind and we were well received and I think that was all of a sudden we realized we were one of the top men‘s choruses in the United States anyway. That we were going some place. And we were very lucky to be in existence and be the first group to sing in the Meyerson. The Meyerson was a big….wait, before then, we had never sung more than 500 at a time because there was no place of that size. I think the sound of the men‘s voices just turned people on and lots of people came because they wanted to hear something in the Meyerson and we were the first other than the symphony to perform there. And the same thing happened when the organ…people came to hear us sing but wanted to hear something with the organ. So I think those two things also helped give us a bigger name and bigger following of straight people and then I think that by that time the gay community realizes that how powerful we were. Speaking for them and the effect we were having on the city. We began to get a lot of people to support us and give us a lot of money so we were able to do more and more things. That was kind of the process to get us upward. Like Joe Paccetti that toured with us and was excited what we were doing for the gay community.

Gregory What was the process by which the Turtle Creek Chorale made key decisions and developed key strategies during the transition era œ not what decisions the company made, but how did it go about making them?

Young I think there were different times that we had the…I know at least three or four different times we hired somebody to talk to the board about how…what would work and what wouldn‘t work and probably not having the gay word in there was to our advantage. And how to reach out to folks and how, you know, to maybe come up with some people that would get us some money from all kinds of sources. And all that sort of came along as we grew. Because we kept on growing so we kept on making money and we were selling out and spending well, so we could add on another concert.

Gregory Who was making those decisions?

Young The board… you know, considering they were fly by night kind of a group, there was always the undercutting of…even when Tim began. We hired the Presidents sister-in-law and she ran the office and she didn‘t kiss Tim‘s butt at all and he was wanting her to do this and he was not happy. Tim just gradually got more and more control over all of that. As long as things were working out right and we were making some money, and were going upwards, there wasn‘t a whole lot of problem. It was only in the last four or five years that…since you‘ve left it‘s gotten worse.

Gregory I say 10 years.

350 Young They‘ve tried œ I know they‘ve put him on probation so many times and when he got off probation he would go back doing whatever he did. The reality was, we had to figure out if we were getting more out of the situation than not. And generally speaking…in most cases we got more. But, we got more….couldn‘t keep good staff and all that. We just had big turnover.

Gregory On a scale of 1 to 10, what confidence did you have in the decisions at the time they were made, before you knew their outcomes? (Ten means you had great confidence that they were very good decisions with high probability of success. One means you had little confidence in the decisions; they seemed risky œ a roll of the dice.)

Young Well, you know, whatever we were starting with Tim in the first 10 years, there were a few glitches here and there, but it was nothing really major that we lost a whole lot of money and generally we kept on going up. I knew we had a little problem because he would…when we went to Seattle we sold these tapes to pay our way to Seattle. And we made $10,000 but Tim kept $10,000 and wouldn‘t let me have the $10,000 to pay our way like we were suppose to do. So, he was already beginning to work the system. He just kept on pushing that system the longer he stayed, the more he felt like he had the right to do that. In some ways, maybe he did, I don‘t know. In time it wore the board out.

Gregory So, you‘re saying your confidence level was high before you knew the outcome.

Young I think it was high until about the time œ you know œ things were going OK when you left five years ago.

Gregory [If had confidence of 6 or great:] What gave you such confidence in the decisions?

Young Financially they were helping us œ they were helping us pay for our retreats. We weren‘t out a whole lot of money. We weren‘t being harassed except for the fundraisers. Basically, even that was always working. There were a lot of unethical things that were happening, but even then we‘ve never run it like a business and we‘ve never been open about salaries and this and that and the other. All we get is a little budget at the end of the year and even with the salaries you can‘t figure out because they are in different areas; you had to trust those people. And most of those people were very trustworthy. They were proud to be a part of us and they were working at it pretty hard. Then it began to…Tim, erosion. It was already beginning when you left. There were lots of bad feelings.

351 Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale get commitment and alignment with its decisions?

Young They certainly didn‘t ask us anything. And of course, there were a lot of times he would ask the board and if the board would say they didn‘t have enough money, he would say it in front of the chorus and they would have to figure out how to pay for it œ couldn‘t call the board a liar. That‘s how he got whatever he wanted to do. Sometimes they just didn‘t have any money to do it. Sometimes it just turned out wonderful like the Tuna thing turned out to be a big wonderful thing and we made lots of money, but you know, Gentleman Prefer Blondes thing was a complete bust and he didn‘t take the responsibility for any of that. But that‘s kind of the way he did things. He felt it was his ideas and then we would do it.

Gregory What did you try during the transition from good to great that didn‘t work?

Young They did the Spotlight stuff and it never worked.

Gregory When did that end? Did they do Spotlight when Tim showed up?

Young It stopped œ they might have done it one more year, but after that it stopped.

Gregory How did the Turtle Creek Chorale manage the pressures of, a) the AIDS impact, and b) recognition as a gay chorus without the —g“ word in the branding, and making long-term changes for the future?

Young In 1980 when we started, it was still not safe to be gay. You could get fired. Every one of us that joined that choir had to take that into consideration before we made that step…somewhat. Until we began to…and then you had the next step of who were you going to invite. Would you just invite your gay friends or did you invite straight people that you thought would be supportive to the situation. So you have to sort of play that game. I think it was pretty much that way and it still is. Many of the singers today join the Turtle Creek Chorale to out themselves to their family and their friends. Even today… they do it all the time. Kids still invite their parents or they will invite people they work with or things that…this is their way of being out. And it‘s a very…some of my employees never figured it out.

(laughter)

352 It was a way to have a group that you could be a part of œ there were not very many groups at that time. We had good times together and we were more like a family. We kind of took care of each other and of course we didn‘t want the gay in there. It wasn‘t necessary and it never has been. And it‘s been to our advantage all the way through and we‘ve done more and more gay. Were you there when Seattle came and sang and we had all the trauma of whether the small group could come out as cheerleaders and do a little song?

Gregory That was ‘89 or ‘90. I was at that concert.

Young We almost had it censored œ it went back and forth. We didn‘t want to sing with them, we would let them sing. And of course they loved the cheerleaders come out and do their thing. That was the beginning of being more openly gay. So it was a process and us being more comfortable with it. I think that was good that we had that and then during that process is when fellows started getting sick and we didn‘t know what it was. It just naturally came that when we found out what the problem was we became caregivers to friends. Just like somebody said to the parents, I‘ve sung and buried more friends than you have in your life. And the process of that whole thing, I think that was a growth process, also for us. We are strong and that we can deal with this and we will deal with this and I think the straight people we‘ve met (the mothers and fathers and people) were just blown away at how well taken care of their sons were. And what kind of community that we did have and it was much more of a community at that time up until it kind of, AIDS slowed and now we‘re trying to go back to that, but we worked at it. We were more of a family at that time. The CD we have on Family. That is one of my favorites. I would love to sing some of that music again. Beautiful music in it…

Gregory Many community choruses undertake programming changes and outreach initiatives, yet their efforts do not produce lasting results. One of the remarkable aspects of the Turtle Creek Chorale‘s transition is that it has endured œ it was not just a short-term upswing. I find this extraordinary. What makes the Turtle Creek Chorale different? What were the primary factors in the endurance of the transition far beyond the first few years of rehearsals and performances?

Young I think that a lot of people because of the caliber we are and how well we sing. I think that they thought that they could get some patrons from, like the Dallas Wind Symphony or some of them and introduce them like New Arts Six that they…it was a good thing to work with us and be a part of us because then it would open some venues to them from our patrons and visa versa. So I think that because of our name and where we are that still true today. Other people would like to be a part. It‘s a treat to sing with us and I‘ve tried to talk our new director into more of that.

353 Gregory The Seattle Men‘s Chorus and the Los Angeles Gay Men‘s Chorus are the only two from the new generation of GALA choruses to achieve this magnitude of success. What was different about the Turtle Creek Chorale that enabled it to make this transition? Other choruses could have done what you did, but didn‘t; what did you have that they didn‘t?

Young Well, I think that Dennis and he had a really good thing together and they shared lots of music and lots of thoughts back and forth. When I found the boomwhackers…

Gregory They are on YouTube now. (laughter)

Young I think there are two things. 1) we didn‘t have the gay in the name and 2) we didn‘t sing those songs like the lesbians…they were angry and scary singing lesbian songs. And then that was pretty true with the Denver…they were still plenty of that. But you know the next year there was a whole lot less and now it‘s almost none. But I think that because we didn‘t have…it was not a gay agenda. I can‘t speak for Seattle, but I think they were more out about it, but I don‘t think they were pushing it in people‘s face. Plus, they were in a city that was much more liberal. Like New York and San Francisco and Chicago and…all those were basically gay period. And in your face; it was real interesting when Heartland came down and sang all this gay stuff. Our group was…and then they heard what we had to sing and how many straight people were there, and of course, they don‘t have a whole lot of straights because they don‘t want to hear that. They want to hear something else. It was an eye opener to them that they were limiting their clientele or people that come. You know, gays are sort of fickle and once the newness wears off they don‘t want to come anymore. So because of that we‘ve…and because the name we‘ve made universally. People actually fly down here from places to just hear us sing. Just the Power of Harmony, we‘ve had people from all kinds of places fly down here to hear us sing. I think there are people in ACDA that come to hear us sing because…it‘s a happening, I guess you might say. And so I think that we fed on each other, they used a lot of ideas together, they shared a lot of good music together, and I think that both were driven in their own way to make a name for themselves. I think Tim was driven in a different way than Dennis and I think it was… They sort of have a new auditorium too and I think that helped them. You‘ve got to have a well-rounded and you‘ve got to continue to grow an audience. That‘s not where we are today.

We touch hearts. I think that‘s one of the things that‘s very powerful with the chorale and that most directors are not real great about is that Tim got better at it as it went on. Through his Baptist background of bringing us together, almost praying together, getting us synchronized together and one of those things that other gay choruses say, —We sing with heart.“ We touch their hearts. It‘s not just beautiful music, but it‘s something that really grabs yah. I surmise that it makes people want to come back and makes people feel good. And that‘s pretty much what happens in Seattle. I don‘t know, but I have a feeling.

354

And so that‘s the reason why those all gay choruses are not thriving because they have no straight following. They have not reached out to the straight community. And the newness is gone. And so there‘s not a reason and they are not doing well financially because they don‘t have enough money because they are not making enough money to…they are having to go from smaller houses to smaller houses. I don‘t know…

Gregory Can you think of one particularly powerful example or vignette from your experience or observation that, to you, exemplifies the essence of the shift from good to great for the Turtle Creek Chorale?

Young I think that the one that we realized we had…was when we sang in San Antonio ACDA. I think first time we sang at GALA in Seattle we realized that there were things going on, but the next big step was San Antonio.

Gregory Who else would you strongly recommend that I interview?

Due to confidentiality, this portion has been eliminated.

Gregory Are there any questions we didn‘t ask, but should have?

Young No

(Questions for this study are modified from Collins (2001), Good to Great, pp. 239-241)

Author Summary Ed Young is a storyteller. The depth, insight, and honesty of the history reflected in the above transcript is staggering. Ed recalls the beginnings of the chorus as, —just our community thing and then all of a sudden we decided we were good enough and we could make some money…we were flying by the seat of our pants.“ I was quite stunned to discover that the Turtle Creek Chorale had been a part of the formation of GALA in the early ”80s and then dropped out (thus the difficulties in Seattle (1988) and Denver (1992). As Ed says, simply and clearly, —The differences were that they were in your face gay and were singing to gays only.“

355 The chorale was to sing as much beautiful music and affect in some ways, but we were not going to be a political and be an in your face gay chorus. We‘ve never sung any really gay, or very little gay, until recently. We only sang…you know. That was not the reason why we were formed. We were formed to have a place we could sing and outreach to each other and feel good about ourselves. I must admire Ed‘s insight into the various generations of men that have used the chorale to come out to parents, co-workers, and friends. The large group of membership (from the early ”90s) did just that. Used the organization as a catalyst for discussion and coming out. Today, 2008, the chorus is still used as a coming out tool for gays. It is the wish of this researcher that this not be lost and yet nurtured for future generations. As Ed says in praise of the straight audience, —We would not be here today if we did not have a large straight following. They are not anywhere as fickle as the gays.“

Pinnacle moment: San Antonio ACDA (1993)

356 REFERENCES

Advert.org. (2008). United States statistics summary. Retrieved January 18, 2008 from www.advert.org/statsum.html

Allison, M., & Kaye, J. (2005). Strategic planning for nonprofit organizations. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

American Association of Community Theaters. (1936). About. Retrieved October 7, 2006 from http://www.aact.org/aactorg.html

American Association of Museums. (1906). About. Retrieved January 18, 2008 from http://www.aam-us.org/aboutaam/

American Choral Directors Association. (1959). About. Retrieved November 1, 2005, from http://acdaonline.org/about.shtml

American Choral Directors Association. (2007). Who and what is ACDA? Choral Journal, 47(10), 40.

American Symphony Orchestra League. (1942). About. Retrieved October 7, 2006, from http://www.symphony.org/about/index.shtml

Anna Crusis Women‘s Choir. (1975). About. Retrieved November 3, 2005 from http://www.annacrusis.org/herstory.html

Archivaria. (1901). From the Buffalo Volksfreund, Monday June 24, 1901. Retrieved January 16, 2007, from http://www.archivaria.com/PanAm/welcome.html

Babbie, E. (2007). The practice of social research. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Ballweg, D. (1987). The choral artistry of Paul Salamunovich: An emphasis on stylistic philosophies and rehearsal techniques regarding the interpretation and performance of renaissance choral music by the mixed choir. Dissertation Abstracts International, 48(11), 2756. (AAT 8800636)

Berkowitz, S. (1997). A new approach to sight singing. New York: W.W. Norton.

Byrnes, W. J. (2003). Management and the arts. New York: Focal Press.

Callahan, S. (2004). Singing our praises: Case studies in the art of evaluation. Washington, DC: Association of Performing Arts Presenters.

Carr, E. (2007). Wired for culture. New York: Patron Publishing.

357 Carver, J. (2006). Boards that make a difference: A new design for leadership in nonprofit and public organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Cathedral Choral Society. (1941). Retrieved October 1, 2006, from http://www.cathedralchoralsociety.org

Chagnon, R. (2001). A comparison of five choral directors‘ use of movement to facilitate learning in rehearsals. Dissertation Abstracts International, 62(1), 17. (AAT 3002819)

Choral Arts Society of Washington, D.C. (1965). Retrieved October 1, 2006, from http://www.choralarts.org

Chorus America. (2002). Leading the successful chorus: A guide for managers, board members, and music directors. Washington, D.C.: Chorus America.

Chorus America. (2003). America‘s performing art: A study of choruses, choral singers, and their impact. Washington, D.C.: Chorus America.

Chorus America. (2007). Conductors count. Washington, D.C.: Chorus America.

Chorus North Shore. (1931). Retrieved January 16, 2007, from http://chorusnorthshore.org/pages/about.html

Cherbo, J. M., & Wyszomirski, M. J. (2000). Mapping the public life of the arts in America. In Chubo, J. M. and Wyszomirski, M J. (eds). The public life of the arts in America. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Chuang, P. (2005). The conductor and the ensemble: From a psychological aspect. Dissertation Abstracts International, 66(6), 2012. (AAT 3178733)

Collins, D. (1999). Teaching choral music. NJ: Prentice Hall.

Collins, J. (2001). Good to great. New York: HarperCollins.

Collins, J. (2005). Good to great and the social sectors. New York: Harper Collins.

Collins, J. C. & Porras, J. I. (1994). Built to last: Successful habits of visionary companies. New York: HarperBusiness.

Corbin, L. (1982). Vocal pedagogy in the choral rehearsal: The influence of selected concepts on choral tone quality, student understanding of the singing process, and student attitudes toward choir participation. Dissertation Abstracts International, 43(8), 2485. (AAT 8300226)

358 Decker, W. (1976). A study of vocal pedagogy for the choral rehearsal based on theories presented in published literature from 1960 to 1970 and on interviews and observations of selected choral conductors. Dissertation Abstracts International, 36(12), 7920. (AAT 7612037)

Demorest, S. (2001). Building choral excellence: Teaching sight-singing in the choral rehearsal. New York: Oxford University Press.

Dissanayake, E. (1988). What is ART for? Washington D.C.: University of Washington Press.

Dreeszen, C. (2003). Fundamentals of arts management. Amherst, MA: Arts Extension Service.

Drake, S. M. & Dingler, R. G. (2001). The practical guide to finance and accounting. Paramus, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Dropkin, B. & LaTouche, B. (1998). The budget-building book for nonprofits: A step-by step guide for managers and boards. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Eisner, E. (1991). The enlightened eye: Qualitative inquiry and the enhancement of educational practice. New York: Macmillan.

Evrard, Y. (1997). Democratizing culture or cultural democracy? Journal of Arts Managmenet, Law and Society. 27(3), 167-175.

Fisher, R. (1991). The design, development, and evaluation of a systematic method for English diction in choral performances. Journal of Research in Music Education, 39(4), 270-281.

Free Online Dictionary. (2006). Success œ definition of success by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 4, 2006 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com

GALA, Inc. (2006). GALA choruses associate choruses (alphabetical). Retrieved April 8, 2006, http://galachoruses.org/membership/choruses/associates_alpha.php

Garaway, G. (2004). Participatory Evaluation. In K. deMarrias & S.D. Lapan (Eds.), Foundations for research: Methods of inquiry in education and the social sciences (pp. 249-265). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erbaum Associates, Inc.

Garretson, R. L. (1998). Conducting choral music. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Gay and Lesbian Choral Association, Inc. (1982). Meet GALA Choruses. Retrieved October 1, 2005, from http://www.galachoruses.org/meet/index.html

359

Gay Men‘s Chorus of Los Angeles. (1979). Retrieved November 13, 2006, from http://gmcla.org

Gregory, C. (1999). Watch and Listen on CD: Video Enhanced CDs Are Here. The Voice of Chorus America. 22(4), 9.

Guidestar. (2007). Retrieved from http://guidestar.com

Hammar, R. A. (1984). Pragmatic choral procedures. New Jersey & London: The Scarecrow Press.

Hammersley, M. & Gomm, R. (1997). Bias in social research. Sociological research online. 2(1). Retrieved April 23, 2008, from http://www.socresonline.org.uk/socresonline/2/1/2.html.

Hammock, R., & Scully, S. (2004). Success. Retrieved from http://www.mybusinessmag.com

Harvard Glee Club. (1858). Retrieved January 16, 2007, from http://hardvardgleeclub.org/index/html

Hays, P. A. (2004). Case study research. In K. deMarrias & S.D. Lapan (Eds.), Foundations for research: Methods of inquiry in education and the social sciences (pp. 217-234). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erbaum Associates, Inc.

Heilbrun, J. & Gray, C. M. (2001). The economics of art and culture. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Hibbard, T. (1994). The use of movement as an instructional technique in choral rehearsals. Dissertation Abstracts International, 55(2), 175. (AAT 9418994)

Hicks, M. D. (1895). Does art study concern the public schools? Proceedings of the International Congress on Education of the Worlds‘ Columbian Exposition. New York: National Educational Association.

Hutchinson, S. R. (2004). Survey Research.. In K. deMarrias & S.D. Lapan (Eds.), Foundations for research: Methods of inquiry in education and the social sciences (pp. 283-301). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erbaum Associates, Inc.

Jones, I. (1986). The keys to singing: Enhanced by yawn-sigh vocal pedagogy. A practical treatise on developing voices (falsetto blending, messa di voce). Dissertation Abstracts International, 47(9), 3232. (AAT 8626659)

Jordan, G., & Weldon, C. (1995). Cultural politics. Cambridge, MA.: Blackwell Publishers.

360 Jordan, J. (1996). Fundamental choral conducting and rehearsing. Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc.

Jordan, J. (2007). Learn conducting technique with the Swiss exercise ball. Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc.

Kaplan, A. (1985). Choral conducting. NY: Norton.

KERA, (Producer), & Martin, G. (Director). (1993). After goodbye: An AIDS story [Motion picture]. (Available from KERA, 3000 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, Texas, 75201)

KERA, (Producer), & Martin, G. (Director). (2003). The Power of Harmony [Motion picture]. (Available from KERA, 3000 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, Texas, 75201)

Klein, S. (1956). The functions, organization, and development of a community chorus. ADD, 1956, 102. (AAT 0269809)

Kotler, P., and Scheff, J. (1997). Standing room only. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Kuehne, J. (2003). A survey of sight-singing instructional practices in Florida middle school choral programs. Dissertation Abstracts International, 54(10), 3624. (AAT 3109293)

Lamartine, N. (2003). A curriculum of voice pedagogy for choral conductors: The effect of solo voice exercises on individual singer technique, choral tone, and choral literature. Dissertation Abstracts International, 64(10), 3528. (AAT 3108922)

Lamb, G. (1974). Choral technique. Dubuque, Iowa: W. C. Brown.

Lavender, P. (1995). Market the arts! New York: ARTS Action Issues.

League of American Orchestras. (2008). Membership directory. Retrieved January 18 2008 from http://www.americanorchestras.org/utilities/membership_directory.html

Los Angeles Master Choral. (1964). Retrieved October 1, 2006, from http://www.lamc.org

Lupica, A. (1996). Vocal training in the choral setting. Dissertation Abstracts International, 57(09), 3740. (AAT 9705138)

MacInnis, L. (2005). Find your own definition of success. Retrieved on October 4, 2006 from http://www.workopolis.com

361 Mancuso, A. (2002). How to form a nonprofit corporation. Berkley, CA: NOLO, Inc.

Mann, C. (2003). A keen and baffled anxiety: One writer seeks to make sense of copyright law. In Hawthorne, C., and Szanto, A., eds., The new gatekeepers: emerging challenges to free expression in the arts. National Arts Journalism Program, New York: Columbia University.

Master Chorale of Washington, D.C., The. (1967). Retrieved October 1, 2006, from http://masterchorale.org

McGill, S., & Volk, E. (2007). Beyond singing: Blueprint for the exceptional choral program. Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corporation.

Mendelossohn Club of Philadelphia. (1874). Retrieved January 16, 2007, from http://mcchorus.org/history.htm

Miller, B. F. (1997). Fundraising at the Gay Men‘s Chorus of Washington, D. C. Masters Abstracts International, 35(01), 15A. (UMI No. 1381757)

Mulcahy, K. (2000). The government and cultural patronage: A comparative analysis of cultural patronage in the United States, France, Norway, and Canada. In Chubo, J. M. and Wyszomirski, M. J., eds. The public life of the arts in America. New Brunswick , NJ: Rutgers University Press.

National Endowment for the Arts. (2004). How the United States funds the arts. Washington, D.C.: National Endowment for the Arts.

National Governing Bodies of Sport. (2003). Success criteria / model framework. UK: Deliotte & Touche.

Nelson, S. H., & Blades-Zeller, E. (2002). Singing with your whole self: The Feldenkrais method and voice. Lanham, MA: Scarecrow Press.

Neuendorf, K. (2002). The content analysis guidebook. California: Sage Publications, Inc.

Pankratz, D.B. (1993). Multiculturalism and public arts policy. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey.

Patton, M.Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. CA: Sage Publications.

Putnam, J. (2003). Breathe! Dallas, Texas: Turtle Creek Chorale.

Root, R. (2001). Choral rehearsal memory techniques. Dissertation Abstracts International, 62(5), 1768. (AAT 3014111)

362 Rousmaniere, K. (2004). Historical research. In K. deMarrias & S.D. Lapan (Eds.), Foundations for research: Methods of inquiry in education and the social sciences (pp. 31-50). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erbaum Associates, Inc.

Rudman, B. (1995). Essentials of effective public relations. In Melillo, J. V. (1995). Market the arts. Brooklyn, NY: ARTS Action Issues.

Seattle Men‘s Chorus. (1979). Retrieved October 1, 2006, from http://www.flyinghouse.org

Seelig, T. (2005). The perfect blend: Over 100 seriously fun vocal warm-ups. Nashville, TN: Shawnee Press, Inc.

Seelig, T. (2007). The perfect rehearsal: It‘s a trip. Nashville, TN: Shawnee Press, Inc.

Schaberg, G. (1991). Technology for teaching: Music technology for special learners. Music Educators Journal, 77(6), 56-57+59.

Shaw, R. & Blocker, R. (Ed.). (2004). The Robert Shaw reader. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Shuster, J. M. (2001). Who should pay for the arts and culture? In Rothfield, L., Ed. Unsettling —Sensation“: Arts policy lessons from the Brooklyn Museum of Art controversy. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Simon, J. S., & Donovan, J. T. (2001). The 5 life stages of nonprofit organizations: Where you are, where you‘re going, and what to expect when you get there. Saint Paul, MN: Amherst H. Wilder Foundation.

Skillings, P. (2007). The stonewall riots. Retrieved November 5, 2007 from http://manhattan.about.com/od/glbtscene/a/stonewallriots.htm

Snyder, A. (1993). The sight singer. Miami, FL: Belwin, Inc.

Snyder, A. (2007). Sing on sight: A practical choral sight-singing course. Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corporation.

Sparks, J. (2005). Gay & lesbian choruses: Then & now. The Voice of Chorus America, 28(4), 27-44.

Stake, R. (1988). Case study methods on educational research: Seeking sweet water. In R. Jaiger (Ed.). Complementary methods for research in art education (pp. 253-273). Washington, DC: American Education Research Association.

363 Stankiewicz, M. A. (1997). Historical research methods in art education. In S. D LaPierre & E. Zimmerman (Eds.), Research methods and methodologies for art education, (pp. 57-73). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Stokrocki. M. (1997). Qualitative forms of research methods. In S. D. LaPierre & E. Zimmerman (Eds.), Research methods and methodologies for art education, (pp. 33-55). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Stonewallinn.com. (2007). Home. Retrieved November 5, 2007 from www.stonewallinn.com

Telfer, N. (2005). Successful performing. San Diego, CA: Kjos Music Press.

Thomas, K. (1971). The choral conductor; the technique of choral conducting in theory and practice. New York: Associated Music Publishing.

Turtle Creek Chorale. (1980). About. Retrieved January 21, 2008, from http://www.turtlecreek.org

Van Maanen, M. (1990). Research lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Warda, M. (2004). How to form a nonprofit corporation. Naperville, Ill: Sphinx Publ.

Weiss, J. (2001). Vocal health in the choral rehearsal: Common ground for operatically trained singers, studio voice teachers and choral conductors. Dissertation Abstracts International, 62(8), 2710. (AAT 3023509)

Wilson, B. (1995). Choral pedagogy: Crossroads of theory and practice in sixteenth century Germany. Dissertation Abstracts International, 56(04), 1283. (AAT 9525980)

Wolf, T. (1999). Managing a nonprofit organization in the twenty-first century. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Wyszomirski, M. (2000). Raison d-etat, raisons des arts: Thinking about public purposes. In Cherbo J. M. and Wyscomirski, M. J., eds. The public life of the arts in America. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

364 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Born October 30, 1961, CRAIG ALLEN GREGORY is an educator, arts advocate, and musician. Dr. Gregory received his Bachelor of Music and Texas Teaching Certification from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1986. He taught choral music for eight years in the Arlington and Richardson, Texas school systems. In 1992 his avocation became his vocation as Assistant Conductor and Director of Artistic Operations for 10 years with the Turtle Creek Chorale of Dallas, Texas. Believing that artist should be leading the arts, Dr. Gregory furthered his educational experience at Florida State University. In 2005 Gregory received his Masters of Music in Arts Administration through the College of Music. During his master‘s work at Florida State University, Gregory interned with the Tallahassee Community Chorus and subsequently served as Executive Director for four years. In 2009 Gregory completed his Ph.D. in Art Education / Arts Administration through the College of Visual Arts, Theater, and Dance. A passion for the grand scale, Dr. Gregory has produced concerts coast to coast and more than 30 recordings of choral literature. Whether it is an all-city choral tribute to the military, the Christmas pageant, or the spring concert, Gregory obsessed in making it grand for the audience and participants. Among the many honors bestowed upon Dr. Gregory, the following exemplify his lifetime of dedication to the choral arts: Pi Kappa Lambda - Lifetime Member (Spring 2005 Inductee); Lifetime Member Award, Turtle Creek Chorale, Dallas, Texas (2003); Texas Private School Music Educators Association, All-State Choir Clinician, San Antonio, Texas (1995-1996); Teacher of the Week, Fort Worth Star Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas (1989); Texas Lifetime Teaching Certificate in Choral Music. Over the years, Gregory has affiliated himself with the following professional organizations: National Academy of Recording Arts and Science, American Choral Directors Association, National Association of Male Choruses, Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Choral Directors Association, and The Gay and Lesbian Choral Association. Some memberships may have lapsed during graduate school. Dr. Gregory firmly believes we never stop learning and all art forms are vital for communication in our ever shrinking world. Choir and band group travel has allowed

365 Gregory to experience a wide variety of art and culture, domestic and abroad. Whether by virtual or physical travel, the world and its art are at our fingertips to explore and enjoy.

366