Members and Friends,

In case you missed the announcement on Sunday, here it is: The Music Ministry Transition Team has reviewed resumes, conducted Zoom interviews, then in-person interviews, and rehearsals with a group of choir members with our final candidates. We are thrilled to announce we have completed the search for our new Interim Director of Music Ministries, and Garrett Bond officially started in this role today!

He will begin leading the choir rehearsals this evening, Thursday, October 24th. If you’ve been thinking about singing in our church, this could be a wonderful time to check it out. For now, we have the two vocal choirs meeting in our Main Street Sanctuary on Thursday evenings: The All Come Community Choir (former and current choir members know it as Grace and Amity) from 5:30 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. and the more Advanced Choir (former and current choir members know it as Radiance and Harmony) from 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. To get the door code, email Garrett.

If you’d like to try joining our Bells Choir, that is also a possibility. It will be resuming at some point, likely on Wednesday evenings – please look for upcoming announcements from Garrett. 

Some people have asked why we are having an interim period.  An interim period is a chance for us to both rebuild and renew the parts of our music program that serve us well, AND it is also a chance to experiment with and try new music-making activities that may enhance our offerings. We will be facilitating opportunities to hear from our music-making community (singers, instrumentalists, vocal choirs, and ringers) and to hear from people in the wider congregation about what your hopes are for the future of our music program in worship and beyond.

These are the five tasks of interim music ministry:

• HERITAGE– Reviewing how the music program has been shaped and formed.
• MISSION– Defining and redefining sense of purpose and direction
• LEADERSHIP– Reviewing community needs of children, youth, and adults of all ages, and the music program’s ways of organizing and developing leadership
• CONNECTIONS– Discovering and nurturing the relationships between the music ministry and other parts of our congregation
• FUTURE– Preparing to move towards the next era of leadership

Welcoming Garrett is a milestone, and we are pleased to be at this point in the transition. Look for upcoming opportunities to participate in conversations about music at First Unitarian. If you have any immediate ideas or thoughts, we’d like to hear from you at musictransition@firstunitarianportland.org. 

With gratitude,

Theo Harper (chair)
Ameena Amdahl-Mason
Michael Murray
Rich Scher
Holly Stern
Henriët Fourie Thompson
Rev. Alison Miller
Rev. Tom Disrud