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Project Contact:
Julia Church or Lisa Phillip     Julia: jchurch2@carolina.rr.com and Lisa: tphillips5@aol.com

Volunteer Organization Name:
The Symphony Guild of Charlotte, Inc.

Orchestra Name:
Charlotte Symphony

City:
Charlotte

State/Province:
North Carolina

Meeting group size of the orchestra:
Group 2

Number of active members in the volunteer organization?
101-200

Name of the project:
Musical Petting Zoo

Project Description:
The Musical Petting Zoo (hereafter, will be referred to as the MPZ) is a program in which the general public is given the opportunity to hold and play our orchestra instruments at community events.

After 17 years of presenting our program to 4 & 5 year old children attending pre-schools, we wanted to take our program in a new direction. Our goal was to target and make an impact on children and teens of all ages and hopefully, spike their interest to pursue getting their own instruments and music lessons. We also wanted to find a permanent facility to house our instruments and eliminate storing and transporting them from the Co-Chair's home each time that we participated in an event.

In February, 2007, the MPZ was asked to present our program at ImaginOn. ImaginOn is a division of the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County and is the first and only free-standing library for children and teens in the United States. It opened in October, 2005, and was awarded the LEED Silver rating by the U. S. Green Building Council in Washington. ImaginOn's first priority are young people and their resources, programs, and services are primarily intended for youth from birth to age 18.

At this very first presentation, the Co-Chairs realized that this was an opportunity to be an excellent collaboration. Over the next 6 months, in addition to fulfilling our prior commitments with the pre-schools, the MPZ presented its program at ImaginOn on a trial run basis. We were a success. We also had discussions with ImaginOn regarding scheduling, instrument storage and insurance coverage for our instruments. Our goal of finding a permanent home to present our program to children and teens of all ages was achieved.

The MPZ did ten (10) events at ImaginOn and participated in four (4) street festivals. Two festivals were sponsored by Charlotte Center City Partners, a high profile business leader in the city, one festival was sponsored by The Main Library and we participated in one festival at the request of The Charlotte Symphony. The sponsors furnished the MPZ with a tent, tables and chairs and did not charge an entry fee to participate.

The MPZ touched the lives of 3,700 children, teens and adults - an increase of 2,225 over the previous year. Having a permanent facility allowed us to present our program in less time than the pre-school arrangement and also greatly reduced the manual labor involved in loading and unloading our cars.

Our new approach was so successful that the Co-Chairs were nominated by ImaginOn this past May for Volunteer of the Year. Nominations for this award are submitted by every library in Mecklenburg County.

The MPZ events have been listed on ImaginOn's website calendar and the printed calendar that is available on site for the public.

Role and number of volunteers involved:
The Co-Chairs plan all events. We work with the contacts for the events, set up the MPZ at each event, provide all supplies needed, recruit the volunteers and send thank you notes to the volunteers.

Nine (9) volunteers are needed for every individual event at ImaginOn and shifts of nine (9) volunteers are needed for the street festivals. This number includes both Co-Chairs.

This year, we used a total of 171 volunteers:
101 Symphony Guild Members
48 Youth Orchestra Members
22 Friends of the MPZ

The Volunteers along with the Co-Chairs, instruct people how to hold and play the instruments and sanitize the brass and woodwind mouthpieces between each use.

Planning Start Date:
N/A

Project Dates:
N/A

Gross revenue from all sources:
$0.00

Total expenses for this project:
$287.00

Net Revenue (Expense):
$-,287.00

The total value of all in-kind contributions of donated products and services.
Instrument Donations: Value is given by the Donor 1 - Bell Set - Oct., 2007 2 - Full size Violin - Nov., 2007 3 - Trumpet - April, 2008 4 - Clarinet - April, 2008 - Needed repairs-due to cost of getting in good working order, will use parts if repairs are needed on our other clarinets. Co-Chair Donations: $237 $70 - postage to send thank you notes to volunteers $32 - 28" suitcase for packing instruments $15 - Trombone Repair Kit $20 - Mallets for Bell Set $25 - MPZ favors for New Members Retreat $75 - Bottled water and snacks for volunteers at street festivals