2021 has arrived… and we invite our members
Dear friends & members
This is a message to our current and recent members of l’association Musique Cordiale. You are the people who own the association that has run our festivals in France since 2005. Events staged in Britain are run separately either by individual organisers or by our English charity, The Musique-Cordiale Trust, which also supports the festival and association. We require membership of the association if you are to sing in the Festival choir. Other members join because they want to support Musique Cordiale concerts and activities. On this occasion, we are also writing to our 2018 and 2019 musicians who may not have enrolled as members but whom we are keen to involve in our plans and future – because, especially courtesy of Covid-19 and Brexit, it will probably be very different from our past and we need to be imaginative and energetic if we are to begin again differently after 16 years
Many of you participated in the annual AGM / Assemblée Générale of the association. In August 2020 this took place online via Zoom when the cancelled 16th Festival should have been concluding with its intended final concert that evening. Previously it has happened, with attendance in person, towards the end of the festival in Seillans. This ensured maximum member involvement and replaced meetings in Seillans in the past when they took place earlier in the year.
There is an annual report and review of the association’s activities, accounts and budgets at these meetings (see HERE) and, since 2006, members have also elected the Conseil d’administration (Management Board) every 3 years for 3-year terms. At the 2020 AGM, we agreed to do this by email after the meeting this time and we also recognized that, in future Conseil / Board meetings could also take place online (whereas these previously took place in Seillans when were all there at various times of year). Obviously in 2020,many members have barely visited Seillans. But we have learned to zoom and WhatsApp. So we can hold meetings at any time, regardless of our location. There need be no geographical limit on who is elected to sit on the committee.
So this message has 2 purposes:
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to remind those who usually renew membership in January (most choir members, for example) to do so now; other supporters may have later start-dates. You can join or renew your membership HERE; note that students under 26 and musicians who are not fully-employed or in receipt of pensions are invited to join this year for free – just send us an email: your membership will be supported by The Musique-Cordiale Trust) and
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to invite nominations to the Management Board / Conseil d’administration. PLEASE SEND ME AN EMAIL BY 10 JANUARY with your nominations (members can nominate other members or themselves). Following conversations in recent days, we already have some nominations and several members of the 2017-20 conseil are ready to stand again. We hope to attract some younger members and to include people who have experience in our choir, orchestra, academy and audiences. But this is an open and democratic process and we will also confirm that nominees consent! (The officers of the association are chosen by the committee at its first meeting after the elections).
We are keen to attract people who have ideas, who are ready for active involvement and who care about what Musique Cordiale might do in the coming 3 years. Joining the committee requires minimal work (unless you volunteer for particular tasks or roles – which you hope some of you may). We envisage that future activities will continue to take place in Britain and France and possibly elsewhere in Europe. You need to be a citizen or resident of a Council of Europe country (a bigger group than the EU and still including the UK as well as Switzerland and Russia). Many of you have been having a horrible year, without music, performance or livelihood. PLEASE consider joining our team, contributing your ideas and getting involved. Musique Cordiale is not a big thing but it has played a big part in the lives of some of us over the years. We hope may see this as your small opportunity in these dark times to HELP TO PLAN HOW AND WHEN WE CAN REVIVE YOUR LIVES as musicians or people who love music and music-making!
Please respond with your nominations, offers, ideas and membership dues as soon as possible so that we can start talking about what Musique Cordiale can do in 2021 and beyond as we recover and devise and adapt to a new normal for music, performance and audiences after such a horrible past year!
Thank you!
Jonathan@musique-cordiale.com
1 January 2021
Musique Cordiale
Norfolk Cottage, The Street, NEWNHAM, Kent ME9 0LL, United Kingdom
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217 chemin des Moulins, 83440,Seillans, France
