Well, it has been quite a different time over the last few years than I expected when I signed up for this role. For those that do not know the District President Role is really a 6-year commitment. 2 years as Executive Vice President, where you get the opportunity to job shadow the President, then 2 years as District President and then 2 years as Immediate Past President where you get to share your learned knowledge from serving in the role with the others coming onto the board. With the shut down in early 2020 the opportunities to job shadowing were minimal.
Reflecting back on 2021 it was a year of reopening seeing many choruses getting back together in person and from time to time going back to Zoom which was how many folks stayed connected through the shutdown in 2020. Fortunately, 2021 we had the District 75th Anniversary Show as a Celebration of our District’s rich history and way for the District to come back together. We had a highly successful fall convention in St. Catharines where both Toronto Northern Lights Chorus and Hamilton Harbourtown Sound choruses have qualified for 2023 International Contest in Louisville in July. But the best for me was just seeing everyone back together again. This was my vision for 2022 that our District get back together, and we did that! We certainly had our challenges Spring Convention was cancelled to name one.
Looking forward this year my goal is to build chapters. I will need your help to do this! We are currently working with the Division Coordinators to connect through them to the chapters and find out exactly, in their own words, what their needs are. Your Executive Vice President Mr. Ted Byers is heading up the District Chapter Support Committee where we are finding out how the District can assist and if we can’t how we can get the required assistance for our chapters so that they can thrive. If you are a chapter leader, please let your Division Coordinators know your needs. I can say indisputably that the number one issue raised so far is Membership, how can we get more members through the doors and keep them! Trust that we are working toward that goal.
Ted and I will be participating on the District President Council (DPC) which is a council that represents the members of all 17 Districts and is a voice to the Society Board and to Nashville’s Harmony Hall Leadership. I also sit on the DPC Financial Task Force committee looking at the Society’s finances with the Task Force’s goal of holding them accountable to manage the finances responsibly and inform the entire DPC of our thoughts and findings through this process.
I will close by saying Let’s build our Chapters this year, grow our membership and share our love of Barbershop Music with our communities!
I look forward to seeing you at the Spring Convention in Belleville and at all the District functions throughout the year.
Dan Locke,
Ontario District President