Hey there all -- I am the current President of NY Pinewoods and would like to clarify a few things.

Prior to my presidency (now in the 5th month) I served for many years on the Program Committee and I can share with you that the goal of the committee was to recommend a variety of performers (here meaning single, duo, group, etc.) of varying levels, and those well-known as well as relatively unknown.

Often the committee recommends a performer one of us heard at a festival or concert somewhere - relatively unknown, but good. Other sources of suggestions for performers come from the members themselves through letters, through promotional material sent to us (through out Program Chair or President or other board or Club member.) New member packages include requests for suggestions for performers. We are constantly looking for performers that may be little known but who we believe our members would enjoy AND turn out to hear. It is though, a somewhat bureaucratic process - sometimes out of necessity. But that is to ensure we DO bring our members a varied program with opportunities to hear new people, as well as some of their favorites. We do have a budget to consider though and sometimes we cannot afford some performers.

There are many non Pinewoods members out there who say they would be members if...

I would suggest becoming a member and becoming a voice in the organization -- we DO listen to what our members say and want them to be involved. We also listen to non-members and take into consideration what they say.

The Pinewoods Board is an all-volunteer group, working very hard for its membership. The people who make up the Board have very diverse backgrounds and each has his/her own musical tastes, but each endeavors to help the club bring quality performers for club events, whether it be through the Music at Polytech series in Brooklyn, the Series Concerts, other small venue concerts (house concerts, etc.), or weekend getaways where you have an opportunity to be up close and personal with performers at workshops and other settings. (all of these are open to non-members as well at a higher fee.) We also endeavor to provide community singing/playing opportunities to members through the open sings in Brooklyn and now Queens, sacred harp sings, and others that right now I cannot bring to the front of my mind.

The main agenda of the club is to provide opportunities for our membership to listen to good/great performers, meet and hear new performers, learn some new musical skill, join in community sings, round robins, etc,; have a place to perform (the camper's concerts on our weekends, the traditional open mike, the Brooklyn sings, and other events), make new musical friends, and have some fun.

We do have some opportunities for no pay/little pay gigs such as our edfest (presented in conjunction with Country Dance New York) which is a mini-NOMAD type event held on one day, as well as some other benefit events during the year. And new ideas pop up all the time. We welcome yours. And we fervently welcome new members of all ages.

thanks

Joy