the ridge volunteer newsletter - arsht center
TRANSCRIPT
September 2020
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Stay Connected ................... 2 Stay Connected…... ………….3 Ticket Updates ................... 4 20-21 Volunteer Advisory Team Nominations ............ 5 #VF30in30 .......................... 5 WLRN Music Hosts .……….6 WLRN Music Hosts ...........7 Thriving Thursdays ………..8 Just for Laughs..……………..8
SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST
• Volunteer Pins
• Volunteer Training
• Presidential Debates
• Arsht@Work
The Bridge
Volunteer Newsletter
Who would have thought in March, that zoom would become our new normal. The only thing constant in life is change. During these uncertain times, I encourage you to go with the flow and see where the river takes you. Read more, clean out the closet, connect with family or simply rest.
This is temporary and we will bounce back. Who knows what our new normal will be, but do know that the Arsht is doing everything it can to be ready to welcome our guests back with open arms when the doors finally do reopen.
Missing you all and hoping to see you soon in zoom and or in person. Continue to stay safe.
Sincerely,
Nicole
Kindness And Respect Manifests Achievement
2
WHAT’S NEW WHAT’S COMING
STAYING CONNECTED
As we anxiously await the permission to reopen our doors, it is more important than ever
to stay connected. Michael and Rodolfo, although furloughed, have been making valiant
efforts to keep the Arsht Family connected. Even if you aren’t a big zoom fan, maybe
consider attending one of the following upcoming events. I know they miss the Arsht
tremendously and it will really put a smile on their face to know that they have put a smile
on yours! Send Michael an e-mail at [email protected] to get all the zoom links
Tuesdays - 4PM <insert something funny here> Join Chris Wood and Kristen Pieski for an hour of strange foods, witty banter, special guest interviews, and totally unplanned games.
Wednesdays - Noon Bach's Lunch Classical music selections of all genres and time
periods. Come, bring your lunch, and listen in!
Wednesdays - 4PM -Bridge Builders— Weekly discussions about racism in America and what we can do to build burned bridges. Michael hosts a special guest each week to continue the conversations about anti-racism. Johann Zietsman, Mariah Forde and Mo Beasley have been special guests so far.
Thursdays - Noon—Broadway Bound
Hosted by our resident Broadway star: Jeff Gardner. An hour of Broadway video clips
songs, and stories. Tune in and tap dance your way through lunch!
Thursdays - 4PM - The Book Club Contact Casey to receive the PDF copy of the book for September 10, as well as to join her email list for additional information and options each week.
Fridays - 6:30PM— Friday Fun Night
Sundays - 11:30AM Jazz Brunch You choose the music! Come share your favorite mu-sicians with your friends. Hosted by Rodolfo with Matt Ashley 'spinning' vids as VJ.
HOPE
IN THE
FUTURE
GIVES
YOU
POWER
IN THE
PRESENT
3
STAY CONNECTED When you think of it, please drop a line or send a quick e-mail just to say hello to our furloughed family. Alice is retired, but would love to hear from you too. In this time we need to continue to reach out to each other to check on each other to make sure we are all ok. We are a family and we need to continue to look out for each other especially in times like these. “I AM BECAUSE WE ARE”
Rodolfo Mendible
Cell 786-247-1962
Michael McCabe
305-849-1500
Casey Craig
Cell 305-495-4317
Alice Fifelski
Cell 305-785-3899
In Africa there is
a concept
known as
‘Ubuntu’ – the
profound sense
that we are
human only
through the
humanity of oth-
ers; that if we are
to accomplish
anything in this
world it will in
equal measure
be due to the
work and
achievement of
others.”
4
At the completion of each
season, volunteer pins are
awarded based on your actual
hours volunteered as well as
the numbers of seasons you
have volunteered at the Center.
You can see how close you are
to earning either your first pin
or your next pin at the bottom
of the “Review Tickets/Hours”
tab in the online volunteer
room. Look at the line that
says “Actual Hours Earned.”
Keep in mind that if you have
been here for several seasons,
this only displays actual hours
earned for the current
season. These hours are
added on to hours earned in
previous years to determine the
pin that you receive.
The first pin is earned at 500
hours and then in increments
of 1000 there after.
Example:
1st Pin received at 500 hours
2nd Pin received at 1000 hours
3rd pin received at 2000 hours
These pins can be proudly
displayed are on your shirt
collars (1 per collar).
Good luck and thank you for
you for all the time that you
have spent with us!
TICKET UPDATES Due to the number of show cancellations because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of you
will have more expiring tickets than normal. The organization has had to take unprece-
dented measures to do what it can to sustain until it can reopen. Arsht has had to make
deep budget reductions that touch every part of the Arsht family to include layoffs,
furloughs, reduced employee hours, salary cuts and a reduced budget for the volunteer
ticket benefits 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons.
With that being said, I regret to inform you that any unused tickets earned in the 2018-
2019 season that will be expiring on 9/30/2020, even for shows that were cancelled, will
not be rolled over. For any show that was cancelled in the 2019-2020 season that was
rescheduled for the 2020-2021 season, once confirmation that the show will take place, we
will do our best to work with box office to honor those tickets.
Please know that this was an extremely difficult decision. The Center recognizes that there
were many hours served to accumulate those tickets; hours that we do not take for granted
and are extremely grateful for as they help the organization achieve its overall mission. We
do not take this lightly, but it is a necessary step to help sustain the organization until our
doors reopen.
You can find out information regarding your expiring tickets (if any) in the online
volunteer room by clicking on the following links in this order after logging in:
Number of hours earned for current season Total tickets earned for this current season
Total tickets available from last and current season
Total tickets earned last season that expire on 9/30
Total tickets redeemed this season
# in which your next set of 4 tickets are issued
# of hours this season without incentive hours
# of hours this season with incentive hours
VOLUNTEER
PINS
Now for some good news. As of October 1st, if you have tickets in your account,
you can request tickets for any show that we have on sale. The tickets will be placed
on hold. As soon as we receive 100% confirmation that the performance will be taking
place, we will work with box office to get them processed for you.
For those of you who have not reached a 72 hour increment by the end of the current
season, on September 30, 2020 you will still receive credit as follows:
18 hours = 1 ticket 36 hours = 2 tickets 54 hours = 3 tickets 72 hours = 4 tickets
Please feel free to e-mail or call me if you have any questions.
5
Nominations are now open for the 2020-2021 Volunteer Advisory Team. The
Volunteer Advisory Team is composed of a group of volunteers who offer sugges-
tions and ideas to the Volunteer Services Manager (VSM). The VSM then uses
that information to make decisions that will positively impact the Volunteer Team
which in turn helps the Arsht Center achieve its mission. If you are interested in
joining the team, or feel that a particular fellow volunteer would be great for the
team, please send your nomination to [email protected] by September 9,
2020. The new advisory team will be announced at this year’s recognition event.
Over the past 6 months
we have been able to
engage in over 30 differ-
ent trainings from Work-
ing with Service Animals
and Blind Guests, to
health, nutrition, ticket
scanning and Theater
Spanish for English
speakers, Public Rela-
tions 101, and Basic
Theater ASL.
If you have missed them,
do not dismay! They are
all available to you in the
online volunteer room for
you to enjoy over and
over again!
ONLINE TRAININGS
2020-2021
VOLUNTEER
ADVISORY
VOLUNTEER FLORIDA RECOGNIZES
ONE OF OUR OWN
#VF30in30 Earlier this year, Volunteer Florida announced the names of the #VF30in30 honorees. These volunteers were nominated by their peers because of their commitment and service to others. To learn more about these 30 outstanding
volunteers, click here. Congratulations Judith!
PRESIDENTIAL
DEBATE
Thursday, October 15, 2020
Although the event is not open
to the public, we are stil learn-
ing on a daily basis how the
event will pan out. At this time,
it doesn’t look like any Front of
Hou staff outside of Jeff and
Matt will be needed.
I will keep you posted as I find
out more. In the meantime, this
is the information that is posted
on our website about the event.
We understand that there is a
great deal of excitement about
this historic and high-profile
event happening in Miami and
at the Arsht Center.
Due to health and safety proto-
cols, tickets will not be available
to the public. The Commission
on Presidential Debates (CPD)
is managing all requests for ac-
cess.
The Second Presidential De-
bate will air live on ABC, CBS,
CNN, C-SPAN, FOX, and
NBC and live-streamed on CBS 6
WLRN MUSIC SHOW HOSTS
Music Impresarios ART MATTERS
WLRN, 91.3 FM, National Public Radio’s member station since 19__, presents several music programs hosted by South Florida personalities. These gregarious hosts each spend countless hours preparing their programming, with a theme, many ‘in real time’ responding to an event, a date, seasonal holiday, or a tribute to an important personage’s passing. A bit prosaic, but nonetheless, ladies first:
Tracy Fields, that is ‘the real Tracy Fields’ hosts Evenin Jazz five nights, Mon – Fri,
9:30PM-1AM. The best of jazz and blues, Evenin Jazz explores and embraces America's
indigenous art form in all its colors. From cutting-edge young lions to venerable origina-
tors, electric to acoustic, high-voltage to easy-going, “her Realness” Tracy, brings the en-
tertainment we didn’t know we wanted to us, in our home, car or anywhere our electron-
ics go-with-us. Tracy received an outstanding compliment from the station’s Operations
Manager, Peter J. Maerz, who described her show as a ‘conversation with a friend’. Her
audience agrees. Tracy’s chatty, informal patter can be occasionally laced with a few ex-
pletives, but made all the more real by them! As long as you’re not driving, sip a glass of
wine or slug a beer as you experience her Evening-Club. Mondays programming usually
focuses on South Florida musicians and sometimes farther north Florida. She selects
other days’ themes according to the news of the day, birthdays, upcoming concerts and
listener requests. How about Duke Ellington’s SATIN DOLL please? Tracy adopted “The
Real” after trying to revive a lapsed web address and finding her name is not unique to
her. She’s extended her on-air family to include ‘Uncle Ted’, Ted Grossman, host of
WLRN’s Night Train. A music historian, Uncle Ted enjoys most music and sits in with
Tracy on special nights to show off his extraneous jazz-chops.
Ted Grossman hosts the Sunday evening, Night Train, from 8PM to Midnight. Since
1977, Ted has been collecting and popularizing the jazz and big band music of the '30's
and 40's. As of January, ’19 he celebrated 42 years at LRN and has accumulated an envia-
ble collection of vintage performances including WWII recordings, Glen Miller concerts
and Armed Forces Radio Services broadcasts. Listeners can tune in to Night Train each
week to hear recorded performances by the artists and ensembles that shaped jazz along
with Ted's anecdotes and knowledgeable commentary. An example of that anecdotal rep-
artee is a Duke Ellington quote: “There are two types of music, good and bad.” Ted de-
scribes radio as ‘theater of the mind’, a rather simple, yet poignant explanation. Ted
deems his programming is ‘good music’ as he sees it. He himself has never liked nor ap-
preciated popular music of the times. As an educated fan and aficionado Ted prides him-
self on his private, historic vinyl and contemporary CD collections. His is the longest
running show in WLRN. It all started when he called requesting a ‘big band’ show on the
nascent NPR Miami station be added to their programming. When
audiences listen to Night Train, older fans recall the music of their
youth, and younger listeners are surprised the past can be so tonally
enjoyable.
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WLRN MUSIC SHOW HOSTS
Music Impresarios ART MATTERS continued.
Michael Stock is host of Folk and Acoustic Music, Sunday’s 2-5PM. A 60-something, age-less hippy from the 60’s generation, he brings beloved, original song writers to his audience through an extensive record collection and on-air interviews with both local and visiting musicians. Michael’s easy conversation with his guests brings out their inspi-rations and motivations, along with their silly little-known quirks and foibles. He ex-plains the show is not about him, but rather promoting the guests’ talents. He shares these interviews on YouTube and Facebook increasing the guest artists’ exposure to new audiences.
Michael’s musical introduction was at Beach High in Miami Beach. The class was a POP Culture of the 60s programming and Bob Dylan’s music enthralled. Today Michael still lectures on the history and evolution of folk music and will feature Dylan’s insightful ‘the Times they are a’ Changin’. From there he went to University of South Florida in Tampa. Desiring to be a Park Ranger (really?), at the time there were no Ranger jobs available, so he creatively volunteered his time and passion as a DJ, for a folk only program featuring both Dylan and Guthrie. He considered popular Seeger a sellout, sshhh, don’t tell Pete.
Returning to Miami, he continued onto a successful volunteering gig, at WMNF/Community Station. Since this was an ACORN grant funded station, it programmed un-derserved communities with alternating news, jazz and Michael’s folk shows.
In 1982 he began producing music concerts, not only folk genre, and had many elite ven-ues including the Shelborne Hotel, Victor Hotel, Miami Way Theater and Miami Shores Theater. He’s proud to say he booked Michael Hedges first tour as he began his career for just $100. At his career’s height, Hedges claimed $5K for similar bookings.
Michael’s preferences for original, rural, handed-down through generations, folk music is story-telling and dance arts.
It was popularized with the invention of records and radio in the early 20th century. His proclivity for protest music, also rooting for the underdogs of society. He differentiates his programming from others by excluding any ‘Oh Baby’ pop music.
As a recognized leader in the Florida folk music industry, Michael receives on average 10 new albums each week which he reviews and rates. He defines folk as Mountain Blue Grass, Blues, Cajun, Protest, Gospel and acoustic World music.
A special feature of his show is the Public Storyteller, harkening back to the roots of folk music’s origins.
Dr. Karen Neil, PhD., a professor brings her favorite new story each week at 4PM.
All three hosts welcome audience feed-back, it’s how they know you’re enjoying the en-tertainment!
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; 305-995-1717.
WLRN 91.3 FM is licensed to the School Board of Miami-Dade County, Florida and serves a weekly audience of more than 500,000 from Palm Beach to Key West. It is ranked number one in the state of Florida among NPR stations. (997 words)
Are you an artist or job
seeker, or know of one
in need? The Arsht
Center is here to help.
Follow the links below
to find information on
emergency resources
for artists and how to
sign up for free,
one-on-one interview
coaching and résumé
reviews with
our HR professionals.
To sign up for a 30-
minute résumé review
or job-interview
coaching session,
please click here.
8
THRIVING THURSDAYS AT 3PM
Our partners at Alliance for Aging have adopted our Thriving Thursdays at 3pm
program and are offering special workshops throughout the rest of the year. Find
the topics of the webinars and the link below. I hope you are able to join in and can
take advantage of these fabulous offerings. Attend one or attend all, they will be
happy to have you there!
Remember when we thought the pandemic was going to last a cou-
ple of weeks? - Courtesy of The New Yorker
JUST FOR LAUGHS