The letter from sponsor and organizer of the concert

The letter from sponsor and organizer of the concert: The first time I met the conductor of PennJazz, Skyler Hagner, we had some nice conversations and I asked him if he would consider doing a concert with his Penn Jazz Band at St. Mary’s, which is right on the Penn Campus—for the benefit of a Ukrainian charitable foundation started by a generous Ukrainian woman

Elena Glickman, who happens to be married to my longtime friend Steve Glickman.

Skyler said he would talk to the students and get back to me. He got back to me a month later and said they were interested.

At that point I contacted Elena and she was all for it. Then I had lunch with the St. Mary’s Pastor Emily and discussed the idea.

She liked the idea and said she would check with the Vestry and get back to me. She replied a week later that it was approved, and the Church would be provided free of charge and St. Mary’s would act as

Host for the Concert.

Then Emily set up an organizational meeting wherein Skyler, Elena, Pastor Emily,

Brittany the Parish administrator, and I met and we picked a date.

Brittany offered to create a poster or flyer for the Concert. On that day we looked at the church and how the stage would be set up; and we discussed the format with Part I of Concert, then an interlude for a brief talk by Elena and a Prayer by Pastor Emily, and then part II of the Concert.

A few days later we saw the first draft of the poster by Brittany and it was a good effort but was not there yet. Then Brittany did a second draft that to took it to another level — coming up with a super-creative and beautiful poster which we all loved. Then our team went back and forth to refine the exact wording with Brittany and to make final edits for the poster.

At that point we began the promotion phase, with the Church promoting the concert in the Sunday bulletin, and posting it to the diocese newsletter and other places; with Elena promoting it at UUHchildren.com and Elena’s foundation printed up 300 flyers—and we distributed them at many stores, cafes and restaurants and put them through the mail slots of 200 neighbors in University City. Emily, Brittany, Elena and I also sent out the flyer by email to many friends and family who live in or near Philadelphia.

On the day of the concert, we were there from 10:30am for Mass and then after Mass we set up for the Concert; got the band in place and did a sound check; had the Concert at 3pm to 5 pm and the Social hour from 5pm to 6pm; and did the cleanup from 6pm to 7pm.

Brittany asked me to handle the Box Office…and so I collected funds and gave out the beautiful eight page program (that Emily and Brittany created) as people entered for the Church for the Concert.

We collected about $950 in online sales via Eventbrite and $750 in donations at the door for the benefit of Umbrella of Ukrainian Hope.

Elena got donations of food and brought in three volunteers to prepare and present it. The set up and clean up was facilitated by the Church Sexton Patrick and his assistant.

We ordered 30 Lentil Sambusas from an Ethiopian restaurant in the neighborhood to supplement the other food and they were all gone quickly.

In addition to those who came to the Concert as paid guests, we had 12 people who heard the music and asked to poke their head in to see what was going on, which we allowed.

While I played a minor role in initiating the idea for the concert and helping with the promotion, the three PRINCIPAL COLLABORATORS who brought it to fruition were the Penn Jazz Band and the Conductor; the Pastor Emily, the Vestry (especially Vanessa, Scott and Deacon Barbara) and the Parish Administrator Brittany; and Elena Glickman and all of her helpers. But above all credit is due to the Pastor Emily and

Parish administrator Brittany who poured their heart into this and made it happen.

All in all it was a great event and I think an essential one if the church is to draw in some new energy while supporting worthy causes such as Ukrainian orphans. This concert was a “communion” in a sense and the “bread that was distributed” was the music and the love that went into it, the talk by Elena and the Prayer by Pastor Emily. It was described by one attendee from Cameroon as an

uplifting, exotic and joyful concert and event. Below is the Livestream link.