Band and Orchestra Family Solo & Ensemble Encore Concert 2/16

Come listen to groups who performed at the solo and ensemble festival in early February.

The event is super laid back and will run from 6-9 pm at the Sheridan Market on Bothell way, about 20 minutes from the school: https://www.sheridanmkt.com/. They have food and beverages for sale and a small stage for the performers. We have about 27 groups performing and the venue isn’t huge, so don’t feel like you have to stay for the whole time. Totally casual for the students, no dress code.

Please see the Solo & Ensemble Encore Concert schedule.

Dine out at Duke’s! This Thursday, February 16

Another opportunity to eat for BPA! Dine in at Duke’s Chowder House at Greenlake, or order take out at any time on Thursday February 16th. A generous percentage of Duke’s (Greenlake) profits for the day will be donated to BPA. This offer does not apply to other Duke’s restaurants, so make sure you go to Greenlake. There’s no code to use, but please tell your server that you are there to support BPA. 

Duke's Greenlake

7850 Green Lake Dr N, Seattle, WA 98103

The 64th Annual Spaghetti Dinner Recap

We did it! Like a phoenix rising from ashes, this 64-year tradition survived the virtual COVID hiatus and the in person Spaghetti Dinner event came back better than ever! If you couldn't make it, and would like to make a donation to show your support, please text SPAGHETTIDINNER23 to 44321.

While we await the final fundraising numbers, we have a lot of people to thank, because it truly took a village! 

Event Co-Chairs, Kelsey Fatland & Kris Bulson, would especially like to thank:

• Jill & Mike Hansen for set up, behind the scenes administrative support, bake sale organization, institutional wisdom & so much more! 
• Emcee: Coach Malik Prince
• Kitchen Crew (who worked tirelessly in a hot kitchen from 12-9 pm):
• Kitchen Manager (SPS): Lan Dang 
• Kitchen Manager (BPA): Barb Burroughs
• Lead Cooks: Gary Thomas, Anson Fatland, Jenny Iacobucci, Terri Parsons
• Food Procurement Team: Karen Morse, Cynthia Kemp, Sally Rampersad, Kris Bulson, Linda Tinker, Chris Middleton
• Head Custodian: Young Wong 
• Sound: Elijah Lancey
• Raffle Coordinator: Kris Bulson
• Website & Online Ticket Sales: Stephanie Skinner
• Social Media Promotion: Jeannette Chen & Natalie Palmer
• Newsletter & Publicity Promotion: Rachel Hart Rios, Laura Graham, Karen Clark
• Decorations: Jaimee Papineau & Molly Brown
• Graphic Design: Steph Layton
• Volunteer Manager: Beth Loots (Students, if you still need service hour forms signed, email [email protected].)
• Last, but certainly not least, our amazing Directors: Courtney Rowley, Jay Gillespie, Dan Valdez, Kat Bula, Trevor Parrish, Eia Waltzer, and Accompanist: Serena Chin.

With over 115 volunteers, we can’t possibly thank everyone in this newsletter, but please click this link to see the names of every volunteer. (Please email [email protected] if you notice someone has been missed or for corrections.)

We want to give a huge thank you to our food donors who gave hundreds of dollars worth of food for the dinner so that we can minimize our expenses and raise funds for the program. Thank you!!

• Garlic Butter Spread, Spices & Various Items provided by Ballard Market 
• Veggies provided by Top Banana
• Ground Beef provided by Better Meats
• Sausage provided by Cascioppo Brothers
• Pasta provided by Ken’s Market Greenwood
• Gluten Free Pasta, Olive Oil & Parmesan Cheese provided by Trader Joe’s Ballard
• Bread provided by Macrina and Sea Wolf Bakeries
• Ice Cream provided by Full Tilt

Spring Trips Chaperone Meetings and Required Forms

If you are chaperoning for the spring trips for band, orchestra, or choir and have not already done so, make sure you complete the SPS online volunteer application by early March at the latest. Be sure you sign up as a 'Category B' chaperone. Also, note that there is an additional required form for your emergency contact information. 

Orchestra and Band Disney Chaperones

Mr. Gillespie and Mr. Valdez have scheduled a mandatory chaperone meeting for Saturday March 18th in the band room at 5 pm. They will go over chaperone expectations and SPS trip policy rules. Chaperones will be assigned students at this time, so at the trips meeting on Monday 3/20, families will know who is in charge of their student(s).

NYC Choir Trip Chaperones

Ms. Rowley will set a date for the chaperone meeting for the choir trip soon. 

Trips Meeting for Parents and BPA Boosters Meeting March 20

The March in-person booster meeting, originally scheduled for Tuesday March 7th, will now take place on Monday March 20, in the library. Booster board business will begin at 6 pm. At 7 pm, the Disney travel agent will be in the PAC for orchestra and band parents, students, and chaperones to go over the details of the trip. The choir trip information meeting will continue in the library. It's very important for all students who are attending these trips and their parents to attend this meeting.

Band

Marching Band Photo & 8th Grade Choices Night Performance - Feb 15

Marching Band will be taking a full band picture for the yearbook. Students are to arrive for call time for uniform checkout at 4:40 pm with their band t-shirt and long black socks. Rowland Studios will take the yearbook photo in the gym at 5 pm, and perform for 8th Grade Choice's night from 5:30 to 6 PM.

Brass Band Performance Feb 21

Brass band will perform at the Ballard senior center at 1 pm on Tuesday, Feb. 21 - stay tuned for details.

Be the Ultimate Band Booster – Become a Band Rep!

Our band rep and jazz band reps both have seniors this year and we need to find new parent band representative liaisons to help Mr. Gillespie communicate with families, help organize field trips, and support marching band. Sharing this role with another parent is a great way to go and it’s a super fun volunteer position. We’re hoping to find volunteers for next year now to shadow our reps the last part of the year to learn the ropes. Contact Carol at [email protected].

Choir

Permission slips for Concert Choir PLU Trip on 3/3 are DUE TODAY!

Make sure they get put in the secure mailbox in the band room.

Upcoming Dates

Vocal Jazz, Chamber Choir, and Tenor Bass Ensemble performance at 8th Grade Choices Night (wear choir t-shirts)

Wednesday, February 15

6:00-8:00 pm

Concert Choir to PLU Invitational

Friday, March 3

6:30 AM – 3:30 pm

Concert Choir rehearsal with Choral Arts Northwest

Sunday, March 12

7:00 PM – 8:00 pm

Sammamish High School

Concert Choir performance with Choral Arts Northwest

Sunday, March 19

1:30 pm Call time

4:00 pm Concert

Edmonds Center for the Arts

Concert Choir will be collaborating with Choral Arts Northwest for this amazing performance! Families are encouraged to attend the March19th performance in Edmonds. Entry fee is “pay as you’re able.” For more information, see: https://www.choralartsnw.org/season/#march

Chaperones needed!

We're in need of 2 chaperones and 1 backup chaperone for Concert Choir’s trip to the PLU Choral Invitational on Friday, March 3. Please contact Jaimee at [email protected] if you're able to help out!

Orchestra

Permission Slips for the 3/11 Chamber Orchestra Trip to CWU on 3/22 DUE TODAY!

Drop them off in the secure mailbox in the band room.

Symphonic Orchestra at Wintergrass February 25-26th – Chaperones Needed!

Chaperones are needed for the Symphonic Orchestra rehearsals on Saturday, February 25th at the Wintergrass festival (times below). Chaperones must complete the SPS volunteer forms and will receive free entry to the performance on Sunday. If you are interested in chaperoning, please contact [email protected].

Wintergrass schedule:

Saturday, 2/25 - Arrive/check in at Lake Washington Room at Bellevue Westin by 9:45 am, End of day at 4:00 pm (bring a lunch).

Sunday, 2/26 – Arrive at Grand Ballroom by 8:00 am, concert at 10:45 am, end of concert ~12:15 pm.

Students/families will need to provide their own travel. Mr. Valdez can help facilitate carpools if necessary.

Chamber Orchestra Trip to Central Washington University Orchestra Festival March 11th

Chamber Orchestra has been accepted to the Central Washington University Orchestra Festival! The orchestra will perform, work with a clinician, listen to other high school orchestras, and listen to the CWU Orchestra perform.

Schedule:

• Meet at Ballard HS –10:00 am. Bring a lunch to eat on the bus or when we arrive at CWU (Ellensburg). We’ll have some time to get situated and find our warm up space when we arrive.
• Performance time – 1:40 pm.
• CWU Orchestra Concert – 3:30 pm.
• We will depart after the concert at about 4:30 pm.

Chamber Orchestra SPS Northwest Region Pathways Concert March 21st

Chamber Orchestra has been invited to take part in the SPS Northwest Region Pathways Concert. On Tuesday, March 21 at 7:00 pm, we will join other area elementary, middle, and high schools in a combined concert that serves to encourage young students in orchestra to continue through high school! More details to come soon.

Ballard Civic Orchestra

Free orchestral opportunity for musicians:

Ballard Civic Orchestra (a program of Orquesta Northwest) is looking for musicians to play unique and diverse repertoire from Latin America, as well as traditional classical repertoire. Participate in our annual events such as the Latino Chamber Music Festival, "El Grito" Concert, Dia de Muertos Concert, Las Posadas Concert, and more! Rehearsal on Thursday evenings in Ballard. Check out this flier with more information about Ballard Civic Orchestra.

Internship Opportunity

Arts Corps is pleased to offer youth in 9th-12th grades this paid arts internship opportunity. Earn $300 for the engaging work of expressing your passion through art. Explore imagery as it meets performance in an exciting multimedia space located at the Seattle Symphony in downtown Seattle with a focus on environmental justice.

https://www.seattlesymphony.org/octave-9

The Art 4 Life @ Octave 9 offers skill building in film, photography, and performance. The final sharing for this program will be the kickoff for a week of Earth Day events.

• Professional experiences and career paths in creative and technology spaces
• Performance/presentation opportunities
• $300 stipend upon completion of internship

See Mr. Valdez for more info!

Theatre

For questions about Theatre Arts classes that meet during the school day, email Mr. Riley’s theater substitute, Ms. Indira Rampersad at [email protected].

The Secret Garden Musical Production Update

Students and the crew are staying in touch via GroupMe and the cast calendar. 

For questions contact director Eia Waltzer at [email protected].

How Theatre Families Can Help Support the Musical

Sell ads and sponsorships for the program and musical! 

The director and production team for the musical will reach out soon to families of theater students with a list of ways that the BPA Boosters can support the musical - ushers, running concessions, making bake sale items, etc. Stay tuned for a sign up genius coming soon. The sign up genius will include the offers of help that were written on the T-shirt forms that cast and crew handed in long ago. If what you promised then no longer works, please change your sign up, or sign up for more if you can!

Please sell advertisements and sponsorships for the program. Payments for advertisements and sponsorships should be in the form of a check to Ballard Performing Arts and handed in to the payment box at school for BPAB treasurer, Jill Hansen. 

Download the sponsorship form.

Download the advertising form.

Completed forms can to handed to stage manager, Max, or emailed to [email protected].

Buy your tickets and save your seats – tickets are on sale now!

The district only pays for teachers’ salaries; everything else we have to raise or donate.

Mattress Sale Recap

Thanks to everyone who supported our 4th Annual Mattress Fundraiser! 21 mattresses were sold, which earned us $1800! In addition, we earned $450 from the sale of pillows and sheets, $500 from the attendance at our parent meeting, and another $450 for our promotion efforts. That’s a grand total of $3,200. Thanks for all your help!

Spaghetti Dinner Donations

We did it! Like a phoenix rising from ashes, this 64-year tradition survived the virtual COVID hiatus and the in person Spaghetti Dinner event came back better than ever! If you were moved by the amazing music, or were not able to make it, and want to make a donation to show your support, please text SPAGHETTIDINNER23 to 44321. Thanks!

Social Media Help Wanted

Social media has become integral to all aspects of the BPA. Our students are ramping up with performances, trips, and visiting specialists.You can help highlight programs, get the word out about dine-outs, concerts, events, and fundraising, and use social media tools to tell the story of our fundraising efforts through reels, stories, and posts. The social media team needs you! This is easy-to-post content lifted from our weekly newsletter. Learn how to use the pro-version of the popular software Canva and get the inside scoop on everything that is coming down the pike with our programs. Please reach out to Jeannette Chen at [email protected] - she has a graduating senior and would love to train an enthusiastic parent who wants to keep the momentum going!

Band Rep Needed

Our band rep has a senior this year and we need to find a new liaison to help Mr. Gillespie communicate with families, organize field trips, and support marching band. We’re hoping to find a volunteer for next year now to shadow our current rep the last part of the year to learn the ropes. Contact Carol at [email protected].

Communications Chair Wanted

We’re looking for a parent to corral our communications that feed our newsletter, website, social media and other communications channels. You’ll work with BPA president and board members and directors to make sure parents are informed through the newsletter. Work with parent volunteer newsletter editor, social media team, website coordinator, and publicity volunteers. It’s a great way to stay on top of all the goings on! Contact Rachel Hart Rios at [email protected].

Congrats to Q Adamson!

Percussionist Q Adamson was just accepted into the prestigious Berklee college of music in Boston. It's always great to see our wonderful musicians and thespians moving on to exciting new places! Bravo Q!

The Spaghetti Dinner was a hit! Check out some of the videos of the performances on our YouTube Channel!



Chamber Orchestra and Wind Ensemble’s "Little Talks"

To see more videos, watch this playlist.

If you have a good video from Spaghetti Dinner, please send link to [email protected] and we'll link to it on our playlist.

Check out past performances any time on our YouTube and Vimeo channels.