Joyful Collaboration in Evanston -- Worth the Work for All Involved

Sunday marked the third year that I have attended the Evanston Symphony Orchestra Holiday Concert.  Each year it has been a treat, with multiple local groups participating, doing the best-of-the-best holiday music,which I can personally never get enough of until January 1st when I abolish all things old and welcome the New Year, shifting my focus to my many, many, many, many, many resolutions.

But this year.... this year trumped everything.  It wasn't just "the best yet"....  something exploded and the concert seemed like the shortest in the history of Evanston and left all us wanting more and a little shocked that it was "over already" even though the length remained the same as previous years.

It was, in a word, glorious.

In fact, I was so moved by the whole production that I feel a profound sadness for every single person who didn't get to experience those couple of hours with me.

This admiration seems over-the-top, even for me, I know.  And yet, it's not.  It is not.  Since exiting ETHS late Sunday afternoon, I have been thinking about what made the event so effective.

It absolutely was the collaborative effort of the groups involved.  Not one of the groups --gorgeous, brilliant and talented though they are -- could have singularly had the same effect.  Collaboration can be difficult, time-consuming, compromising, uncomfortable and inconvenient.  But it can also be inspiring, rewarding and successful.  The ESO Holiday Concert, in conjunction with the Evanston Children's Choir, the Evanston Dance Ensemble, the North Shore Choral Society, the ETHS high school a cappella group and the Evanston Symphony Orchestra Holiday Gospel Choir, is a model for when it works -- really works.

These are some of the reasons it worked, and something to take into the New Year.

1. Common Project Goal.
     All partners clearly understood and contributed to the goal, to execute an arts performance that celebrated and ushered in the 2015 holiday season and showcased their respective and collective talent and skill.  They also shared an interest in expanding and diversifying their program, performers and audience members.

2. Care in Selecting Project Partners.
     The orchestra was able to select partners who complemented what they offer without forcing compromise or mission-creep. Each group added a genre, a visual impact, an age variance or some other piece to add to the broad appeal and interest without losing quality.

3. True Integration of Artists.
     Sometimes what we call collaboration is actually just sharing a venue and audience and doing our own separate pieces.  In this case, the partners performed with one another, sharing the spotlight, the leadership, the creative energy and the outcome.  ESO played the music for the dance ensemble and choral groups.  The choral groups performed together for the finale, with all musicians accompanying.  The groups were at times directed by each other's directors (which is not an easy thing to manage!)  These were not partners-on-paper.  It was total integration and it worked beautifully.

4. Attention to Logistics.
     The performance was extremely organized.  Each group knew precisely when and where it was entering and exiting the program, and movement between set-ups had clearly been practiced so that downtime was kept to an absolute minimum.  The groups were strategic about where to place the intermission to make stage management easier as well.  The program moved from one part to another with seamless transitions that did not drain the attention span of the viewers.

   As an arts administrator, I looked at an amazing experience and gave a lot of thought to the planning, organization, communication and TIME it must have taken to put it all together.  Most people in the audience just knew they had been gifted with "inspirational", "joyful", "exciting", "fun" and "wonder".  Hopefully that makes it worth the extra work for all organizations involved.

Cheers to a job well done, Evanston arts.  May your successful event give other arts organizations the courage and desire to pool resources and talent to the benefit of our entire community.

Thank you for making the season #joyful.