The Phoenix Conservatory of Music became a 501(3) organization on May 29, 1998. PCM was started in 1998 by Bonnie Lou (Toigo) Coleman. Bonnie Lou was the head of Guitar Studies at Glendale Community College, and she was seeing a gradual decrease in the readiness of college level students preparing for a professional career in music education or performance.
Being a person who had the benefit of community school of music experiences in Texas and Toronto, she saw the need for a community school of music in the Phoenix Area. The school began with the original design of providing high quality music programs and experiences. However, back then, the experiences had a different look. In 1998, PCM was operating out of the back of Music and Record Surplus by Metro Center, running private lessons in a few private lesson rooms, and was facilitating a small amount of community programming.
As PCM grew and developed, Bonnie Lou Coleman and Regina Nixon (then Outreach Coordinator, and soon to be Co-Executive Director) started researching music education programs. They saw a huge need not only for quality music education for students preparing for a career in music, but in music participation, literacy, and beginning level skills in community settings, families with young children, and groups of underserved people. PCM realized its potential as an outreach organization with a mission of still providing those same quality experiences and education, but to the community at large.
In December of 2004, PCM Founder, President, and Co-Executive Director Bonnie Lou Coleman retired. At this time, the remaining PCM board of Directors rallied around the organization, appointing Regina Nixon as full time Executive Director.
From that point on, PCM began to grow, at a rate of 25% annually both in our annual income/budget and in the numbers of people that we serve; providing programming for numerous families. We have been able to diversify our revenue stream between contributed income and earned income, making us more sustainable to meet the demands and needs of our ever growing community. As our community continues to grow, we will need to increase the infrastructure to accommodate the needs of our community to continue to unleash the power of music is so many lives.
PCM serves a multitude of community: from early childhood program participants starting at 6 months old and their families, through senior citizens. PCM believes that every person has the potential to enjoy and create music! Many of our communities are largely diverse, and some from lower socio-economic communities, where opportunities to enjoy programming that enrich the lives, minds, and hearts of people are few and far between.
We have been able to offer our programs through program fees and support in part by the Arizona Commission on the Arts with funding from the State of Arizona, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, The National Guild Community Schools for the Arts and MetLife Foundation for Arts Education Partnerships, the Glendale Arts Commission, The Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture, The Phoenix Office of Arts And Culture in conjunction with the Phoenix Arts Collaborative and The YES to Success 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant and The Arizona State Department of Education with support from the Federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, City of Tempe Cultural Commission, Thunderbirds Charities, The Bess Spiva Timmons Foundation, M&I Bank, APS, SRP, Honeywell, The A. Wallace Denny Music Education Foundation, Maricopa Partnerships for Arts and Culture, AG Communications, and dedicated volunteers of the Business Volunteers for the Arts/The Arts and Business Council of Greater Phoenix and Business on Board.
The Phoenix Conservatory of Music (PCM) is thrilled to announce that we have been awarded a grant in the amount of $55,000.00 from the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust to fund a positioning and donor development project over the course of three years. PCM has embarked on this project under the premise that a stronger infrastructure and a strong presence/brand will create community awareness and advocacy, drive programming, develop the board, and assist in fundraising. This will set PCM in a strategic position to encourage sustainability and success, giving a huge benefit to the children and families we serve.
The PCM community is the direct beneficiary of this project. PCM will create a growing awareness of services offered, encourage increased donations, and diversify revenue streams, all of which will stabilize our infrastructure, resulting in better assistance to the community. Programs to the community will continue to develop and expand through creating more collaborations and community partnerships, employing and training more teaching artists, helping to revitalize the geographical communities served, and improving delivery systems. This will create a better and more fulfilling experience for those involved on all levels.
"Working with the Virginia Piper Charitable Trust has been an amazing experience. Their staff has really taken the time and energy to help us create a viable proposal and provide professional development for our staff and board. They support the organizations they fund in more ways than just writing a check. We feel we have been welcomed into their family with open arms...and it's a great place to be!" -Regina Nixon, Executive Director, PCM.
As part of this initiative, we have begun to get tools in place to help us with our strategic marketing including design of a new logo, website, and video that captures the spirit of the work and the community we serve. We have had great success in making headway with super assists with Iveck Design who is redoing our website at a portion of the regular cost, our logo work was donated by Graphic Artist Carmillo Anaguano, and our video documentary is being undertaken by fellow teaching artist, Gene Ganssle.
Another byproduct of this initiative is intensive professional development on the part of our board of directors on how to increase our individual fund development, and utilize the tools of Web 2.0 to make our organization more nimble and able to meet demands of our ever-changing marketplace.
This year, PCM will celebrate its 10 Year Super Celebration on Thursday, January 29, 2009. The event will include student and faculty performances, silent auction, dinner, dancing, and the grand unveiling of our video and new website. The event will be held in the ball room at Tradiciones, 16th Street and I-10 and will provide a way us to thank our donors, honor our community, and build relationships in the community!
Because of the commitment and support of the community, in the last year 2,300 students had anywhere between 10-110 hours of direct instruction with amazing musicians, with over 32 different community partners. Babies and their families have been able to sing together, dance together, and play instruments together. They have developed ways to utilize tools to learn, communicate, and bond through music. Classrooms of young children were inspired by learning and made connections between patterning and sequencing in math and the song they know. They sing at the top of their voices on the way to the bus. People of all ages have picked up that dusty instrument and fulfilled a life long dream of learning how to play. Children are able to be engaged by phenomenal artists who share their craft while having a safe place to be after school. Those in the twilight of their life are still learning, singing, moving, and playing through the power of music.
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