December 2009
Dear Friends,
Greetings to you all and on behalf of the Philadelphia Ceili Group, we wish you all a safe, happy and prosperous new year.
I want to this opportunity to talk to you about the Philadelphia Ceili Group and the economy. As the president, I want to update you on some discussions that we have been having at the board meetings. The mission statement of the PCG is to promote and perpetuate Irish music, dance and culture in Philadelphia and throughout the Greater Delaware Valley. To do this, we sponsor many concerts and ceilis throughout the year plus our festival. We are a non-profit organization so we are not actually looking for a large profit but we do try to make a little money to put toward the next event or at least try to break even. This past year just about every one of our events lost money. This coming year, we will be booking fewer groups and trying to convince them to take less money. We want to continue to bring great Irish music to this area and to our members but it is becoming increasingly difficult.
The festival is another story entirely. We used to make enough money at the festival to support all our concerts during the year and still have enough for the next festival. The last year that we were at Memorial Hall and the 2 years that we were at Monsignor Bonner, we had bad weather. I think monsoons might describe it better. We were nearly wiped out financially. It was decided to move the festival to the Irish Center and scale back a bit to try and build our foundation back up. This plan is not working, we are still losing money. At this past year’s festival the talent was outstanding but the attendance did not reflect the caliber of the music. For 2010 we are applying for several grants and increasing our fundraising so that we can continue to bring some of the best Irish traditional music in the world to Philadelphia.
So now we are turning to our members to ask for help. Please support us. If you can make a donation, that would be great. We are a non-profit organization so it is tax deductable. If we have a concert, try and do your best to attend. Even if you can’t attend, you can still buy a ticket on line to support us. We’ve kept our prices low. Renew your membership. It’s these little things that will help us along. We have our annual membership meeting on January 10, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. Please come to this meeting at the Irish Center and share any of your ideas with us. We have our board meeting on the third Sunday of the month at 2:00pm. They are open to everyone and not as painful as you may think. Please get involved and support us. It’s the only way that we can continue to move into the future.
Here are some ways that you can lend your support in the upcoming year:
Monthly:
- First Wednesday: a Singers Session at 7:30pm
- First Friday: A Slow Session for beginners from 8:00pm to 9:00pm
followed by a Regular Session from 9:00pm to the end
- Fourth Friday: Ceili and Set Dancing starting at 8:00pm
January 10th: Our Annual meeting: find out what is going on, talk to board members, vote for a board member
March 6th: Join us for the return of Bua! They wowed everyone at the festival and now you get a second chance to see them in concert. We will also be having workshops in the afternoon.
March 12: St Patrick’s Ceili!!!!!-need I say more
May 22: Fundraiser Time: please join us for a fundraiser concert. As the date gets closer, we will announce the participants. All performers are donating their talents to the Ceili Group and all the funds will be used for the Festival. There will also be workshops in the afternoon.
All the events listed above are great opportunities for you to support the Philadelphia Ceili Group. We have chosen not to raise our admission prices for our events for the coming year. We do this out of consideration of our audience. Please try and come out and support us.
Again, on behalf of the PCG Board of Directors, we wish you all the best in 2010. Slainte!
