Fall 2024 Updates
2024 GALA Festival
This past July, nearly 50 CWC singers traveled to Minneapolis for GALA Festival, a remarkable 5-day festival that was attended by over 120 choruses and over 7,000 singers. GALA (Gay And Lesbian Association of Choruses) is a national organization that guides and supports LGBTQIA+ choruses throughout North America. This is the second time CWC has attended the festival, which takes place every 4 years. CWC performed a thirty-minute set, plus a short set in the Legacy Blockbuster concert with the San Diego and Grand Rapids Women's Choruses. We enjoyed attending many powerful, fun, and creative performances and hearing new songs we may add to our repertoire someday. Many singers attended workshops on topics such as Audience Development, Fearless Fundraising, and Equity, Access & Belonging. We enjoyed socialization time as well: some singers visited the George Floyd Memorial site and found it very powerful. Other outings included visits to the Sculpture Garden, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and walks along the Mississippi River. Meeting for meals and karaoke was fun too!
Financial support from our generous audience members was crucial for allowing some singers to attend GALA through our scholarship fund. We returned home excited and inspired to continue growing CWC’s presence and impact in our beloved community. We can’t thank you enough, and we are already excited thinking about returning to Minneapolis for GALA Festival 2028!
Written by Janie Mac Neela (A1); Edited by Katie Otto (S1)
Fall Concert: Generations
Did you know that there are nearly 60 years separating our oldest and youngest members of CWC? Our incredible generational diversity brings a richness to our community experience, with wisdom and learning traveling in all directions between our youth and our elders. This semester, we celebrate this interconnectedness with a concert of generation-defining songs from Silent Generation all the way to Gen Alpha. Come enjoy our mixtape of classics from The Supremes, Fleetwood Mac, Queen, Kelly Clarkson, Chappell Roan, and so many more! Led by Acting Artistic Director Cara Valenti (while Kristen Stinnett is enjoying a semester of leave), our Fall Concert is not one to miss. We hope you’ll join us on Saturday, November 23rd, for performances at 3pm & 7pm at Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (ERUUF). And feel free to dress & represent your own generation: plaid pants, patent leather, shoulder pads, bell bottoms, goth, grunge, whatever! Join in the fun! Tickets will be on sale SOON, keep an eye out for more details!
Written by Cara Valenti (Assistant AD), Janie Mac Neela (A1); Edited by Katie Otto (S1)
Singer Spotlights
Our upcoming concert has inspired us to share Singer Spotlights so you can get to know us better. We are interviewing several of our talented singers from across generations, including members who’ve been with us for more than 30 years! As new spotlights are created, you can view them on our website here. We hope you enjoy learning more about our amazing singers of all ages and experiences!
Written by Janie Mac Neela (A1); Edited by Katie Otto (S1)
Pauli Murray Center Grand Opening
On September 7th, we joined other community organizations hosting tables at the Grand Opening of the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice in Durham. We were delighted to celebrate the opening of the newly-renovated Pauli Murray childhood home and the Center's work in honoring this civil rights activist, lawyer, poet, and ordained priest. Visitors to our table were excited to hear about CWC's upcoming Generations concert on November 23! We also shared the news of CWC's plan to premiere the choral work "Sincerely Yours, Pauli Murray" in the near future. This GALA Choruses commissioned piece brings Pauli Murray's story to life in a new multi-movement choral work by composer Steve Milloy, with libretto by Kim Hines. More about the GALA commission can be found here.
Written by Julia Storm; Edited by Katie Otto (S1)
Pride: Durham
The LGBTQIA+ community has had a long & storied history in Durham since 1981 when folks gathered for the first time as an act of protest. The Pride movement evolved from there and has had many forms over the past 4 decades. In 2018, the LGBTQ Center of Durham took it on and has continued to grow & improve this festival. For many years, CWC has been invited to perform at Pride: Durham which is always such a blast! This year the event was a two-day celebration that spanned the weekend of September 28th & 29th. The concert stage was in Downtown Durham where we wowed the crowd with several songs from our upcoming concert, including the crowd favorite "Bohemian Rhapsody." We also enjoyed marching in the Pride Parade with a decorated pick-up truck. We are glad to be part of the annual Pride: Durham celebrations and to share our music with the Durham community!
Written by Janie Mac Neela (A1); Edited by Katie Otto (S1)