Support the MCO's Education & Community Programs
THE MANITOBA CHAMBER ORCHESTRA WANTS ALL MANITOBANS to experience the joy and enrichment of classical and fiddle music regardless of socioeconomic, cultural, and geographic barriers. Our annual program of education and outreach remained impactful and evolving in spite of the pandemic, and this season our E&O programming is back in full swing! Read more about that below, but in the meantime, our Fund-a-need Campaign is underway!
Fund-a-Need
The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra is committed to supporting our community and ensuring a thriving future for music and cultural outreach on the prairies. Below are examples of what your support can do for the MCO! Click the gifts below to Fund-a-need!
$100 - Funds a school bus to bring a school group to an MCO matinée concert!
$250 - Funds a pre-concert workshop or musical clinic at a Winnipeg school,tailored just for that classroom!
$500 - Funds production of a short online educational video featuring an MCO musician for young musicians across MB!
$750 - Funds one children’s concert at a library or school in Winnipeg, featuring the Fiddlers on the Loose outreach ensemble!
$1500 - Funds two of our popular free community concerts in Winnipeg (e.g. at a farmers’ market, park, or Downtown) featuring MCO ensembles.
$2500 - Funds a day of workshops & concerts in rural or northern Manitoba; students meet and interact with professional musicians who offer encouragement and guidance.
Donations of any size are all gratefully received and receipted. Click here to make a donation in any other amount to MCO Kids & Community!
More About Our MCO's E&O Programs
Every year, we offer dozens of free satellite performances in libraries, outdoors, penitentiaries, schools, and hospitals; we offer complimentary tickets to our Westminster concerts for hundreds of students, newcomers, individuals living with mental health challenges; and our Fiddlers on the Loose ensemble tours remote parts of the province.
For 16 years, the six musicians who make up the Fiddlers on the Loose have traveled throughout the Frontier School Division, giving workshops and concerts for students and communities at no charge. In many towns, private music lessons are not available, and students rely on YouTube to learn music technique. We try to encourage, guide, and support them, and in return they challenge and inspire us. We work closely with instructors in the Frontier School Division’s Frontier Fiddle program to support the wonderful work they do.
Through the pandemic, of course, we moved much of our program into the virtual realm, and we plan for that to become a permanent part of our outreach, along with in-person visits. The MCO’s Fiddlers on the Loose have spring and summer plans for many free satellite concerts for children in libraries, hospitals, and communities across northern Manitoba. We will also continue to present virtual interactive sessions along with versions of many of these concerts even if the pandemic prevents them from taking place as in-person events.
Our new Director of Education and Community Engagement is Dr. Suzu Enns, who has joined the MCO just in time for our 50th anniversary! As a musician, teacher and arts administrator, Dr. Enns possesses the vision, commitment, and expertise to bring in this new era of Education and Outreach at the MCO. Your support allows us to enhance and continue to offer the wonderful selection of existing programming while also developing, implementing, and delivering a range of new programming over the coming years and expanding and strengthening our impactful outreach and community partnerships.