In 2010, the chorus was once again honored by a major Boston cultural organization. The Museum of Fine Arts opened its first new wing in a century after a long construction project. The Art of the Americas contained four levels of American art from ancient to modern. And the museum wanted the BGMC to perform at the opening ceremonies to thank the major donors who had made that possible. The chorus performed John Bucchino’s Grateful to the crowded audience in the main atrium. Our holiday concert that year, Joy!, included a wide variety of music from traditional carols to Shalom Santa. Our guest artists were the Majestic Brass Quintet. The concert was taped live and released in 2011 as our eleventh, and final, CD.
The chorus was stable since Reuben joined us, but 2011 brought us another major change. After five years as a singer and sixteen years as executive director, Steve Smith departed for a position with a different kind of arts organization, the Revels. As our first executive director, Steve was responsible for much of the success the organization saw during his oversight. He worked with the board to solidify our financial footing, seeing us through some very dark and difficult times. The board itself had transitioned from being a working board to a managerial board, as more staff were brought in to handle the various functions of the organization. He managed our first international tour under incredibly difficult and unforeseen circumstances. Steve said it best in his final program letter for the Joy! concert:
I have been writing these welcome letters for sixteen years as the BGMC’s Executive Director (48 program books, 48 letters!). It is with bitter-sweet emotions that I announce that I will be leaving the Chorus in February to take up a new leadership position with a local arts organization. This is an exciting opportunity for my own professional development, but it is certainly hard to step away from the BGMC — a group that has been my passion, my pride, and my family for so many years.
It has been equal parts fun, honor, and challenge to lead the growth of the Chorus from that of a struggling grassroots experiment to an established community institution. When I began in 1995, the BGMC’s 60 singers were performing for 3,000 people a year. This year we’re on target to reach 12,000 fans, friends, and students. More than anything, i am proud of helping to build the vision, strategy, and resources that have allowed Reuben and the members to make the BGMC the best gay chorus in the world. . . From the bottom of my heart, thank you for supporting the BGMC and for your personal support and friendship over the years. I am truly grateful.
Steve left incredibly large shoes to fill, and the process would not be easy or short. Administrative Manager Brian Griffin and General Manager Jared West kept things running smoothly for the chorus while the search began. John Strumwasser stepped in as acting Executive Director as we moved through the process of finding a permanent replacement for Steve. Candidates were interviewed and offered the position, but ended up going elsewhere.
Concert periods came and went. Our True Colors in March 2011; All You Need is Love: The Music of the Beatles in June; This Shining Night in December; Love’s Voice in March 2012; and Get Ready for This: The Music of the 90s in June. Finally, in October 2012, our new executive director joined us.
Craig Coogan brought with him extensive experience in the gay choral movement. He was a founding board member and served for ten years as treasurer of Vox Femina in Los Angeles. He then served as executive director of One Voice Mixed Chorus in St. Paul, Minnesota.
He immediately started making changes, some easy and some challenging, to get us onto more stable footing after the difficult general economic times of the previous few years. He also worked to take advantage of new online media. CDs were expensive to produce, required carrying inventory, and were quickly being replaced by Apple’s iTunes and other streaming services.
From the very beginning we have created audio recordings of our concerts for our archives. Now, in addition to those audio recordings, we have video recordings. We created a chorus YouTube channel (BGMC1982). Initially we used our video to create promotional pieces for our concerts. Then, instead of licensing works occasionally for CDs, we started licensing a number of the pieces performed at every concert and uploading videos of those performances to YouTube.
This has dramatically increased our exposure. Since starting the channel, our videos have received more than 2 million views. Many of these are from countries in Africa and Asia where being openly gay can be life-threatening.