Thoughts from the Executive Director: The Value of the Rush Hour Experience

We believe that classical music events should:

• be accessible to all audiences
• be relevant to contemporary lifestyles
• provide regular access to aesthetic nourishment
• foster a sense of community

The Rush Hour staff, board, advisors, and artists hold the above mentioned truths to be self-evident.  Within Rush Hour’s mission statement and philosophy lay the best arguments for supporting the series.

Rather than charge for tickets and a reception, Rush Hour provides 13 free, unique concert events every summer. The Rush Hour community has undoubtedly noticed two striking differences this year: before a single note is played in August, we have already hosted more audience members and artists than any of our previous seasons.

The increase in audience and artists costs money, and we have one final challenge to surmount—to earn our full operating budget before the doors close on the 2009 season. We have about $20,000 left, plus $2,500 of our “under 40” challenge grant. If you have made a pledge already, please fulfill it today.

Each $25 gift represents the equivalent of one ticket to a similar concert event. (In fact, I think you would be hard pressed to find a $25 concert experience that includes wine and snacks, let alone the indefinable aesthetic nourishment Rush Hour provides!) A Rush Hour Circle gift of $1,000 pays for 40 guests to fully enjoy a concert event. In fact, when considering my own gift to Rush Hour, I enjoy thinking about the number of people I’ve virtually “hosted” in this way. My gift also helps ensure that Rush Hour will perpetuate the customs and spirit of listening to classical music in beautiful public spaces.

As we embark upon the last month of Rush Hour’s 10^th anniversary season, I urge you who enjoy these events so much—our audience—to make a gift now to help us end our season in the black, ready to plan for and execute the 2010 season of free classical music events—and beyond.

Please think about the value of your experience, and make a gift of $25, $50, or $100 today. We thank you for making Rush Hour Concerts at St. James Cathedral part of your life.

- Megan Balderston
Executive Director

Thoughts from the Executive Director: Why 30 Minutes?

Here we are at the middle of the 2009 season. This season marks 10 years of Rush Hour Concerts at St. James Cathedral in our lives and yours, and that is something to celebrate! So while you’re settling in and savoring your last bite of birthday cake, I’d like to address a question I have been surprised with several times this year: “WHY are the concerts only 30 minutes long?” It’s a simple question with many answers.

My answer is that I like to think I’m a rebel. After all, I don’t always remember to floss and occasionally leave a dish in the sink overnight. The thought of doing things that bend the rules a bit leaves me breathless. Rush Hour is “bendy!” Sneak out of work “early” at 5:15: check! Sip a free glass of wine and delicious snacks: check! Hear a free, world-class concert: check again! Why, if you’re careful, you can be on a train and get home right around the regular time with a secret smile on your face, and no one the wiser.

Here are some of the other answers, culled from observations and conversations with patrons, artists, and staff.

It’s by design:
Rush Hour is “Great Music for Busy Lives.” Rush Hour was designed specifically to meet the needs of people who cannot afford to take the time or expense to participate in classical chamber music—and by that I mean taking two to four hours over a leisurely evening, going to dinner, paying for parking and a babysitter—whatever it is. In as much time as you might slip into a coffee shop, read a section of the paper and sip your favorite brew, you can come to Rush Hour and incorporate great music into your life.

It’s spontaneous:
Rush Hour is an entry point to classical music, in a traditional setting. It’s a minimal investment of time, but it’s meaningful: so much so that I often meet someone who stumbled across it the first time and then keeps coming back. Occasionally these are people who were avid musicians in high school or college and are coming back to the fold, so to speak. But sometimes they’re people who enjoy the peace and the love of that solitary hour each week. Would that person walk in the door for a longer concert? Hard to know, but I believe that “I’ll just drop by” has hooked many people into returning again and again.

It’s logistics:
But wait, there’s more. It’s not enough for us to present the opportunity. We also go to great and sometimes ridiculous lengths to secure musicians you will see performing in exalted venues throughout the world. For example, whenever we bring together our large “cello celebration,” it’s a foregone conclusion that most of that group will be racing off to perform elsewhere as soon as the concert is over. What I see is that the mission of Rush Hour—to provide free access to great music and artists—is so important to these wonderful artists that they work it into their schedules, and help us in every way to honor our tight budget and shorter performance times. (All while connecting with you on a personal level!) Everyone wins.

It’s the best kind of appetizer:
Some have said, hold on now! I love classical music, I’m a connoisseur of it, I come to Rush Hour because I know that I will hear things like the Gran Partita performed by great artists, and it’s not fair that you will give me a taste of this and then send me on my way.

A perfectly done appetizer can take the edge of your hunger, activate your taste buds, and get you ready for dinner. But sometimes, an appetizer is all you need. When you’re hungry, the first bite is far better than any subsequent one.

I have both the attention span of a cocker spaniel and a deep love for beautiful music, so that 30 minutes of great music often satisfies me perfectly. I get excited when I know that I would gladly sit still for another hour or so to listen. So, I go to dinner with a friend. I put the CD on in my car. I start a conversation. I recognize that we have to grab the perfect moments as they come. It’s no coincidence that a show business adage is “Leave them wanting more.” (I’m delighted that you do.)

It’s “turning off” for 30 minutes:
Most of us feel we must respond to every message and phone call immediately. Though none of my “time-saving” technology connects me to a button that will detonate a nuclear device or change the course of humankind, it seems that letting my battery run out on the Blackberry—being unreachable—is quite possibly a criminal act.

But I gleefully turn that darned thing off so that I can relax into a concert and what’s more, I take a strange delight in admonishing all the rest of you to do so. As the mother of two and a busy professional, it is unrealistic for me to think I can unplug completely. But I can afford a 30 minute rebellion, and I know that you can as well.

Some of the best moments in my life have been fleeting, but seem suspended in time and space while they are happening. Rush Hour has created this feeling in me many times—and those moments that touch my soul have done as much for me as 3 hours of something else. All too often, we tell ourselves that we are too busy to eat right, to exercise, to take a 10 minute break, or to simply take a deep breath and enjoy those around us. Taking the extra few minutes to make a meal from start to finish, or walk the dog, or have coffee with an old friend are the kinds of simple joy that life is ultimately all about.

We know you’re busy because we are too. And like us, you may hunger for more beauty in your lives. But I also know that every summer Tuesday evening between 5:15 and 6:15 p.m., I have a respite that is just right; a guilty pleasure that even I can’t really feel guilty about.

Thank you for celebrating this wonderful 10th anniversary with us, 30 minutes at a time.

- Megan Balderston
Executive Director

Thoughts from the Executive Director: Celebrating Culture & Collaboration

Collaboration makes me happy. If something is going well, I like to see how others’ ideas might make it better. So it is with our ongoing collaborations with the consulates in Chicago and with musicians of diverse backgrounds.

There is nothing more precious to a country’s cultural legacy than its artistic traditions. It means a great deal to Rush Hour to preserve the legacy of chamber music performed as it was meant to be: for a smaller audience, in innovative ways, in a shared “neighborhood of minds,” as one of Rush Hour’s dear poetic friends calls it. That’s why our “Swiss Originals” program fits the chamber music mold beautifully. This program successfully juxtaposes the old with the new (organ and saxophone, classical and blues) in form and format.

Our Swiss artists Stephan Grieder and Sam Burckhardt bridge the artistic and cultural traditions of Switzerland with those in the United States. It gives our audiences the opportunity to hear something new: a combination of instruments, composition, and a shared sense of the commonality that ties us all together in our global neighborhood. Swiss cultural life is likewise a fascinating combination of longstanding cultural traditions and global progressiveness. Switzerland’s four national languages remind me of the many “dialects” of music—and you will hear several of the artists’ native musical languages in the concert.

During this Rush Hour concert we celebrate the culture of Switzerland, the spirit of collaboration, and our new and continuing friendships with our audiences and sponsors. Partnerships of this sort remind me of the beauty of Rush Hour. We are working behind the scenes all year to make sure that our audiences have a rich cultural tradition to enjoy—and your ideas, your enthusiasm, and your joy give our neighborhood of minds a beautiful home.

- Megan Balderston
Executive Director

Support the Vision of Rush Hour

Carl Sandburg said, “Nothing happens unless first we dream.”

In 2000, Artistic Director and Founder Deborah Sobol imagined a series that would meet your needs and wishes as a cultural community–a place to enjoy great music that is free and welcoming to everyone. Many of you have embraced that vision, and thanks to your past gifts and support, Rush Hour has now reached this milestone season.

During the 2008 season, Rush Hour was touted to a nationwide audience of 9.2 million viewers on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams in its feature series, “What Works.” For ten years now, Rush Hour’s musical and aesthetic nourishment every Tuesday has worked beautifully for Chicago. We expect thousands of audience members to join us again this year.

Now, more than ever, our community needs the calm, inspiration and refreshment that is Rush Hour’s trademark. Our Board of Directors is ardently committed to Rush Hour’s mission of keeping the series free and accessible to all. It has issued a significant challenge grant opportunity in honor of the 10th anniversary–to raise the series’ full budget by June 30. The board has pledged to match $20,000 toward all new and increased gifts that help accomplish this goal–double its challenge match of 2008.

And, if you’re under 40 years of age, our groundbreaking donor challenge has returned again this year, with the Irving Harris Foundation matching $5,000 toward all gifts from donors under 40.

Acting now in either challenge grant opportunity will give your gift twice the impact.

I’m proud of Rush Hour’s unique place on Chicago’s cultural landscape. I hope that you, like me, will make a personal gift to help ensure that thousands of concertgoers can enjoy the Rush Hour experience this summer.

- Megan Balderston
Executive Director

To make a tax-deductible contribution to Rush Hour, please click here to visit rushhour.org/giving

For the Love of RH: The Journey of the Under-40 Challenge

In January of last year, I had a pivotal phone conversation with Margaret Bergan Davis, long-time friend of RH and member of the Advisory Committee. I can trace two successful ideas to this conversation: the formation of the RH Circle, and the creation of a challenge grant for the under-40 demographic that makes up a large percentage of our audience. If you have ever had a good idea that you’re not quite sure you can pull off, you may understand the physical response I had: elevated heart rate, huge butterflies (bats?) in my stomach, and that conviction: “I’m not sure we can do this, but BOY, if it works, it will be so cool!”

Thank goodness the 2008 Rush Hour Under-40 challenge match was an outstanding success!

So, because many of you have asked: here are the statistics! Overall, we had 41 donors in the age group. Approximately 78 percent of these were new donors to RH.

RH also had an increase in the number of overall donors: a 26% increase in the number of donors (186 to 234). It is safe to say that the 32 new under-40 donors account for the bulk of this increase.

These numbers excite me for two very important reasons: we know that this year, 17.5% of our donors were under 40, which correlates nicely with the fact that 20% of our audience (on average) was this age. We accomplished the most important part of the goal, which was stimulating ownership of the series from a significant and previously non-sustaining group.

But there’s more wonderful news: I’ve already received RH Circle pledges for this year from 2 of the under-40 group (that’s 5%). Those pledges constitute 100% increases from their 2008 gifts. Others have pledged their support of RH again in a variety of different ways.

Thomas Merton said, “If you have love, you will do all things well.” And that, my friends, is my final point about this challenge grant. In the world of fundraising, challenge grants are a marvelous tool: they create an impetus and extra motivation to action for a group that has good intentions and the desire to give but need that extra push, whatever it is. But this challenge also tapped into the love of RH that so many have and created an esprit de corps that I did not expect.

I decided back in October or November when we were hovering around the $3,700 mark that the under-40 challenge would succeed even if I personally shook the tin cup under the noses of my friends and family members or wrote the final check myself. I was blown away by the number of similar-thinking individuals, some of whom wrote a final check during December, and some of whom came to me and said, “If there is less than $5,000 when the money’s counted, I will make up the difference.”

This challenge turned into a personal journey for many of us, and I sincerely thank all of you who shared your love and resources to help raise $5,163 for this challenge. We hope we can count on your support again in 2009.

- Megan Balderston
Executive Director

Slow Down

Slow down! No, stop.

Flying from task to task at the speed of light, more powerful than a triple latte, able to leap a stack of emails in a single bound? Hmmm. I don’t have superpowers, but I recently encountered some serious Kryptonite.

I believe in taking breaks, being on vacation when you’re on vacation, and setting aside time for reflection. But I waffle on actually doing these things, and I just paid a steep price for that. My body enforced a leave of absence a couple of weeks ago in the form of unexpected surgery. Though I had hoped to make it to my 40th birthday* with all of the original parts, fortunately I have no long-term health issues to deal with. I can now assure you all unequivocally that what we learned in physics class is true: being forced to stop when you’re traveling at high speed is apparently a lot more painful than mindfully slowing down first.

Once I got home from the hospital, the immediate crisis was over, and my family went back to work and school. Then an amazing thing happened: I found myself with several days of absolute silence. The doctors had differing opinions on recovery time, from the cautious, “You will be able to go back to work after two or three weeks,” to the brusque, “You can go rake leaves tomorrow, if you’d like.” (Yeah, right.) I split the difference and spent about a week in bed. My husband, co-workers, and friends immediately and completely stepped into the fray to protect my recovery process, and I love them for it.

It was a still, small place of napping, painkillers and reflection. In fact, I think I spent a good 15 minutes one day wondering about the last time I saw a car painted in my favorite color, British racing green. But I also thought about what is important to me, and how I have been spending my time, and enjoyed the ability to assess and synthesize all that’s happened recently both professionally and personally.

If you are scratching your head and wondering what this has to do with Rush Hour since we are officially “off-season,” the truth is that RH staff works year-round. As executive director, this is a crucial time for planning and writing, though somehow I believe everyone survived my brief absence. There’s a certain symmetry in the fact that I had to stop my mind to help my body heal, since usually I’m talking about the importance of slowing down physically to experience aesthetic nourishment.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What lies before us and what lies behind us are small matters compared to what lies within us. When we bring what is within us out into the world, miracles happen.” Rush Hour expands the space between what we just did and what we’re going to do, giving us a gift in real time. My recent “retreat” was a gift of real time- and a strong reminder that mental and physical breaks are not just a pleasant idea, they are requirements.

Slow down. Your body may thank you, too.

- Megan Balderston
Executive Director

* If, like me, you’ve not yet celebrated your 40th birthday, read here for important information on how to participate in the under-40 matching grant challenge.

The Magic of Rush Hour

It is difficult to believe that it’s already October, when Rush Hour seems so fresh in my mind. I hope that you enjoyed the summer as much as I did- and that the music and RH community lifted your spirits, complemented the beautiful weather, and gave you a place to pause and reflect.

I love being on the RH production team, except for one thing: I don’t always get to be an audience member. This summer, although I attended every concert, I remember one specifically in which I had the opportunity to sit and listen in a different way- and no, I won’t say which one! Suffice to say that it had been a long day for me. It was one of those days- and we all have them- that I felt that I was starring in my own version of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

The magic of the series set me straight, though. After 30 minutes of beautiful music, I somehow knew that all of the many seemingly insurmountable problems I walked in with were diffused, placed in perspective, and not nearly as bad as I had thought. “Wow!” I thought. “We do exactly what we say we do!”

The summer was also successful beyond my wildest dreams. I was uplifted and delighted by meeting all of you, and by seeing firsthand the support and love you all have for Rush Hour. How fortunate we are to have this kind of audience community with whom to share these outstanding concerts! NBC Nightly News thinks so too: they featured Rush Hour in their series “What Works” in August. (If you did not yet have a chance to see this clip, please click here to watch.)

With successes like this behind me, I feel confident about reaching the major goal left to accomplish before the end of the year: meeting our “Under 40″ challenge grant from the Harris Foundation. For each gift from those under the age of 40, the foundation will match contributions dollar-for-dollar up to $5,000. Since I am 39 until the end of November, I jumped on this challenge. Please join me in showing support for RH’s free concert events by helping us raise our final $1,500 of this challenge.

- Megan Balderston

Thoughts from the Executive Director: 10th Anniversary Season

You may find it hard to believe that Rush Hour is celebrating its ninth season this year. There is a sense of innovation and freshness around the audience, the programming, and the spirit of each concert event. I hear at some point each Tuesday evening, “I didn’t know about this!” and “I’m here for the first time…” This juxtaposition of new faces with familiar is mirrored in RH’s mission to bring the traditional chamber music format to new listeners while introducing all of our listeners to new kinds of chamber music.

For those of you who have been around for awhile—and those who are reading our blog for the first time—we have an invitation. In honor of our 10th anniversary season in 2009, we would like to revisit one of your favorite programs.

Artistic Director Deborah Sobol has compiled a list of five of the most popular programs from Rush Hour’s first nine seasons. Vote below or cast a ballot at the August 12 or 19 concerts. We will announce the audience favorite to be programmed in 2009 at this season’s final concert on August 26.

We look forward to hearing from you!

- Megan Balderston

Thoughts from the Executive Director: Putting It Together

Rush Hour prides itself on presenting the traditional art form of chamber music in innovative ways. One thing all performances have in common is the level of detail that goes into producing them. Stephen Sondheim’s song, “Putting It Together,” explains this more eloquently than I could. Each concert event is actually a series of decisions, a dance of organization, and coordination of elements familiar and unfamiliar. When are the artists arriving? Is the wine chilled? Where is my “executive director” nametag? Are the programs ready to go? Are there enough chairs? The questions are the same, and different every week depending on the needs of that particular concert.

Bit by bit, putting it together
Piece by piece, only way to make a work of art

Executing the details that must happen each week works largely because of our wonderful volunteers. The smiling people you see at the reception, distributing programs, plating food, and answering questions are vital members of the Rush Hour team.

Every moment makes a contribution,
Every little detail plays a part.

This week I am asking you to consider all of the “moving” parts that make up the Rush Hour whole. You are reading your program, sipping your wine, and chatting with artists and audience members because the detail work is done. If you’d like to help put it together by volunteering your time and talents, please speak to an usher or RH staff member at Tuesday’s concert, email us at info@rushhour.org, or call us at 773-338-9480.

Having just a vision’s no solution,
Everything depends on execution
Putting it together, that’s what counts!

Many thanks to the wonderful volunteers who help Rush Hour “put it together” every week!

The art of making art
Is putting it together, bit by bit.

- Megan Balderston