StageLife Theater:
A. StageLife Theater 2023 in Review
2023 saw our company launch into rehearsals and performance of “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” at Blaise Pascal College in Zaandam. The show was a roaring success with 25 cast members including some of our StageLife team members joining the merry band of players. We made the papers, parents and students alike were thrilled with the work and performances. We held auditions for our yearly Christmas offering of “A Christmas Carol” in June. Adding 5 new performers to our cast from the Midsummer company! The company continues to grow and thrive. It was exciting to have them join the work. We went on a 3-city tour in the month of December with A Christmas Carol. On to 2024.

B. The Bridge Artistic Network:
The Bridge Artistic Network 2023 in Review:
In January planning began in earnest for Summer drama and art camps in Romania. We put together a team of 3 leaders to fly to Romania in July for 2 weeks. We put together the entire camp, basing our art projects and performances around the story of JONAH. The team came together in May and June to rehearse and create the programs together. Camp #1 was a week with Romanie children ages 8-12. Camp #2 was for Ukranian refugee teens. Both camps were a great success. Using art and drama to help these kids to dream dreams, imagine a better life for themselves. At the same time it gave them time to unplug from the real world for a little bit and breathe.
We had an intern in from Texas. Her name was Richelle, and she helped with FireChoir tech for performances as well as Auditions for StageLife, and was one of the leaders at the camp in Romania. She was a wonderful addition to the team.
As for the Gatherings, it became apparent that the workloads of our members and the busy lives we all had was putting undue stress on the group trying to meet monthly. We have hit the pause button on those for now. Some of the members have begin going to church again…and have even started hosting small groups of their own!

 

Amsterdam FireChoir:
FireChoir 2022 in Review.
In the spring season of 2022 we started with 63 members and ended with 50 for the concerts. It was the first season under new management, that ended with two concerts. We performed in Amsterdam and Alkmaar, both successful. The fall season was set to be a copy of the fall of 2021, with minor changes and one new song, A Christmas Wish, also the theme song. We started with a workshop (3 evenings) before the season started to learn something about directing and had several interested members show
up (total 6). One of them would participate as an extra assistant director during the season and one, already an assistant director, got tips and tricks. At the start of the fall season we had 79 members and we were heading for the concerts with 62 members. Sadly we had to cancel the two concerts in Amsterdam, because the director and his wife were tested positive on Covid at the start of the concertweek. However we were able to have a mini performance at our end of season party with 40 members
and around 30 guests. Although we couldn’t crown the season with concerts, we look back with satisfaction, because we had a great journey, had new people to participate in choreo and with the auditions and also a new talented assistant director.

Details are available upon request to info@allegroartsnetwork.com.

 

StageLife Theater:
A. StageLife Theater 2023 in Review
2023 saw our company launch into rehearsals and performance of “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” at Blaise Pascal College in Zaandam. The show was a roaring success with 25 cast members including some of our StageLife team members joining the merry band of players. We made the papers, parents and students alike were thrilled with the work and performances. We held auditions for our yearly Christmas offering of “A Christmas Carol” in June. Adding 5 new performers to our cast from the Midsummer company! The company continues to grow and thrive. It was exciting to have them join the work. We went on a 3-city tour in the month of December with A Christmas Carol. On to 2024.

B. The Bridge Artistic Network:
The Bridge Artistic Network 2023 in Review:
In January planning began in earnest for Summer drama and art camps in Romania. We put together a team of 3 leaders to fly to Romania in July for 2 weeks. We put together the entire camp, basing our art projects and performances around the story of JONAH. The team came together in May and June to rehearse and create the programs together. Camp #1 was a week with Romanie children ages 8-12. Camp #2 was for Ukranian refugee teens. Both camps were a great success. Using art and drama to help these kids to dream dreams, imagine a better life for themselves. At the same time it gave them time to unplug from the real world for a little bit and breathe.
We had an intern in from Texas. Her name was Richelle, and she helped with FireChoir tech for performances as well as Auditions for StageLife, and was one of the leaders at the camp in Romania. She was a wonderful addition to the team.
As for the Gatherings, it became apparent that the workloads of our members and the busy lives we all had was putting undue stress on the group trying to meet monthly. We have hit the pause button on those for now. Some of the members have begin going to church again…and have even started hosting small groups of their own!

 

Amsterdam FireChoir:
FireChoir 2022 in Review.
In the spring season of 2022 we started with 63 members and ended with 50 for the concerts. It was the first season under new management, that ended with two concerts. We performed in Amsterdam and Alkmaar, both successful. The fall season was set to be a copy of the fall of 2021, with minor changes and one new song, A Christmas Wish, also the theme song. We started with a workshop (3 evenings) before the season started to learn something about directing and had several interested members show
up (total 6). One of them would participate as an extra assistant director during the season and one, already an assistant director, got tips and tricks. At the start of the fall season we had 79 members and we were heading for the concerts with 62 members. Sadly we had to cancel the two concerts in Amsterdam, because the director and his wife were tested positive on Covid at the start of the concertweek. However we were able to have a mini performance at our end of season party with 40 members
and around 30 guests. Although we couldn’t crown the season with concerts, we look back with satisfaction, because we had a great journey, had new people to participate in choreo and with the auditions and also a new talented assistant director.

Details are available upon request to info@allegroartsnetwork.com.

 

4 April 2022
Sundsvalstraat 3 1506NN Zaandam
Meeting began: 7:38pm Meeting concluded: 8:44pm
In Attendance: Brenda J. Lillie/Mirjam Jackson/Bob Brussel

Agenda: Minutes 2021:
Minutes from our last meeting were read by Brenda J. Lillie
No questions were asked. The Minutes were approved by the Board.

Financial report 2021:
Mirjam read the financial report from 2021.
As of 1 January Allegro Arts had a balance of €6,347,76.
No questions were asked. The Financial report was approved by the Board.

Year End Reports 2021:
StageLife Year End report was read out by Mirjam Jackson.
The Bridge Year End report was read out by Brenda Lillie and 1 amendment was made in The Bridge report. The workshop with Elevate Europe was unfortunately postponed. The report will reflect this
amendment.

FireChoir Year End report was read out by Bob Brussel. There were no questions asked, and the reports were approved by the Board.

Discussion points:
ABN Amro: Bob’s card is still not able to be activated. Mirjam and Bob have been working for 7 months. Several calls to ABN Amro have transpired each time resulting in a form requested which was sent, Bob going to the bank and still he was not able to activate the card. What this means is that he has paid all expenses for the choir out of pocket and had to be reimbursed.

It was decided that to get this card activated would require the
presence of all 3 of us in the bank. Mirjam will be making the appt.

Liability Insurance:
We have set it up for the next 3 years. The KCZB choir licensing also has liability insurance that is a part of the package that covers the choir only. Having them take the insurance out of the package or asking for a price reduction for not having them cover us is not possible, as it is THE PACKAGE. Both Insurances were deemed useful and necessary as our liability also covers our equipment, storage, and personal
injury.

Website:
Mirjam will work on the Dutch Translation during the mei vakantie. Brenda will give her gentle reminders so the job will be accomplished before the summer holiday. It was decided that Brenda will
email Doug regarding reports, adding logos to simplify pages. She will let him know that Mirjam will be sending a Dutch translation of the pages for him to format. We are all aware that Doug and Jackee are moving to Spain prayerfully in the next couple of weeks. So we understand, all of this may take a little more time than usual.

New Business:
• FireChoir Concerts: Equipment will be needed for concerts. Bob will be renting a van and have a few people come to storage on Wednesday 8 June to pick up the equipment.
• The Equipment will be returned after the concert in Alkmaar. On or around the 19th or 20th of June.
• StageLife has been given permission to use some of the equipment for Verloren. The show dates we have are 6th May and 25 June so far. There is a potential for another performance on 25 May.
• Year End reports for 2022 will be due by 1 February 2023.
• Our next board meeting will be March-April 2023.

The meeting concluded with a time of fellowship.
Brenda J. Lillie Mirjam Jackson
President Allegro Arts Network. Secretary/treasurer Allegro Arts Network

Details are available upon request to info@allegroartsnetwork.com.

 

Stichting Allegro Arts Network 2020 Annual Report

The annual board meeting was held over Zoom on 4 February 2021 with Brenda Lillie and Jackee Raught (in the US) and Mirjam Jackson and Bob Brussel (in the Netherlands).

1. Review of special board meeting minutes from 28 October 2020 (see below). All projected actions have been completed.

2. 2020 activity reports and 2021 projections:

1. FireChoir: More than 100 people signed up for the 2020 spring season, but in-person rehearsals had to stop after the first month due to the pandemic. Weekly meetings continued on Zoom and a virtual video of one song with around 60 people participating was produced. For the fall season around 80 people signed up. After two weeks of in-person rehearsals with 20 or fewer in attendance that were also live streamed, the season was cancelled due to increasing restrictions. Also at that time, directors Doug and Jackee Raught resigned and returned to the US. All equipment that was in their house or in FireChoir storage was moved to StageLife’s storage space in Zaandam. Rehearsal equipment remains at Keerpunt.  Bob and Anita Brussel, with Bas and Anneke Perelaer, have taken over the leadership of the choir. They are keeping all former members informed with periodic email updates. They are planning to have a fall season if it is possible by then. Vocal coaches and audio technicians are committed to continuing with the choir. Venues have been contacted about potential concerts.
2. StageLife: In 2020, Brenda performed her one-woman show portraying Corrie ten Boom 15 times in the US before the pandemic. She had 21 shows cancelled but was able to perform once in December. All StageLife performances scheduled in the Netherlands were cancelled. In June new storage space was rented in Zaandam with twice the space for half the cost.  If possible in 2021, StageLife hopes to perform The Christmas Carol and Verloren.
3. The Bridge Artistic Network: Brenda hopes to return to the Netherlands in April 2021 and will begin plans for in-person activities such as creative weekend workshops in the fall.

3. Action Items

1. Mirjam will add FireChoir financial representative Anita Brussel to the stichting’s ABN bank account. She will handle all FireChoir finances and will communicate directly with Mirjam.
2. Liability insurance with Klap may have lapsed. Bob will check with insurance agent. The policy needs to cover all members of the stichting.
3. The website will be updated with Dutch translations provided by Mirjam. Email to info@allegroartsnetwork.com is being forwarded to Mirjam.
4. Mirjam will remove Jackee from the KvK listing.

Details are available upon request to info@allegroartsnetwork.com.

A board meeting was held over Skype on January 16, 2020 with Judy Mensch (in the US) and Jackee Raught (in the Netherlands). Activity and financial reports for 2019 were given for FireChoir and Kidzark.

FireChoir had a spring and a fall season with approximately 110 singers participating each season. Seven concerts were presented during the year. Two concerts were held in the Amstelveen Schouwburg Theater, rented in partnership with Stadshart Amstelveen. One of those concerts was a special invitation-only event for senior citizens in Amstelveen. Total audience attendance for the seven concerts was estimated to be around 2000.

Kidzark continued work in the United States while Judy Mensch is in residence there. Judy trained children’s workers and did shows in the Northeast region.

A board meeting was held over Skype on January 12, 2019 with Judy Mensch (in the US) and Jackee Raught (in the Netherlands). Activity and financial reports for 2017 were given for FireChoir and Kidzark.

FireChoir had a spring and a fall season with approximately 100 singers participating each season. Seven concerts were presented during the year. The highlight was our 10^th Anniversary Celebration Concert at the Zaantheater in Zaandam with special guest soloist Dwight Dissels and almost 700 people in attendance (as reported by Jackee Raught). Total audience attendance for the seven concerts was estimated to be around 2500.

KIDZARK had a busy first 6 months of 2018. In February of 2018, we began a new KIDZARK program at New City Church in Ijmuiden.  I worked with them for 4 months until they were self-sufficient and now they continue doing the program effectively. In March 2018, KIDZARK participated in a large Children’s Workers conference in Budapest Hungary. After a week of rehearsals, we debuted the play “Red” at the conference.  It was very well received and has already been translated into 3 languages for use in western and eastern Europe. In July 2018, KIDZARK made its way to The United States.  In July, we did shows in Maine and began training workers. From September until the end of the year, we trained Children’s Workers and did several shows in the New England region (as reported by Judy Mensch).

A board meeting was held in Zaandam on January 26, 2018 with Judy Mensch, Jackee Raught and Jan Barendse, Jr. in attendance. Activity and financial reports for 2017 and projections for 2018 were given or FireChoir and Kidzark.

FireChoir had a spring and fall season with approximately 100 singers participating each season. Three concerts were held at the end of each season. FireChoir joined the Music Guild Association in December which has an annual subscription of 10 euro per choir participant.

KIDZARK traveled through a number of countries in addition to the Netherlands including Croatia, Romania, Austria, Hungary and the United States, putting on variety shows for children with moral messages. Two weeks of a Drama Camp in Romania was a highlight of the summer. There were also several Teacher Trainings given, both in Eastern and Western Europe and a Conference in Austria. KIDZARK also began two KID's Clubs in two separate locations in Zaandam. Both continue having monthly meetings.

A board meeting was held in Zaandam on January 27, 2017 with Judy Mensch, Jackee Raught and Jan Barendse, Jr. in attendance. Activity and financial reports for 2016 and projections for 2017 were given for FireChoir and Kidzark.

 

FireChoir had a spring and a fall season with approximately 100 singers participating each season. Three concerts were held at the end of each season.

KIDZARK traveled through a number of countries in addition to the Netherlands including Italy, Romania, Czech Republic, Belgium, Poland and Croatia, putting on variety shows for children with moral messages. There were also several Teacher Trainings given, both in Eastern and Western Europe.

A board meeting was held in Zaandam on January 13, 2016 with Judy Mensch, Jackee Raught and Jan Barendse, Jr. in attendance. Activity and financial reports for 2015 and projections for 2016 were given for FireChoir and Kidzark. In summary:

FireChoir had a spring and a fall season with approximately 100 singers participating each season. Three concerts were held at the end of each season.

Kidzark gave seven performances. A new play was written and rehearsals started. Another play was commissioned. Several teacher training sessions were held.