Public funds are lower this year and the economy has caused many students who registered as individuals or families to curtail spending as well and our registration is down 30 % reducing our revenue significantly and we may be facing a loss for the first time in my tenure as Artistic Director.
As you may know this is the 18th Year of the Catskills Irish Arts Week and while I have been directly involved since 1995, it is my 9th year as the AD and we have done a tremendous job of preserving, promoting and advancing traditional Irish music education and performance and programming it to help an economically depressed area where the Irish have gone for decades.
I recommend three avenues for you to help out at this critical time:
1) Come up and take a class or attend the public concerts every night or Saturday, July 21, 2012 for the Andy McGann Festival from noon to 7 pm where all the artists perform on one day as a sampler of the week. Details at www.catskillsirishartsweek.org. Admissions help us immensely and to support the 50 artists teaching and performing that week.
2) If you can make a direct donation to the Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural and Sports Centre (www.mjqirishcentre.com) for our cause this year. We will put the money to good use and your generous donation would be tax-deductible to the non-profit organization. Checks made payable to MJQICSC please and forwarded as soon as possible to:
CIAW FUND
c/o MJ Quill Irish Centre
P.O. Box 320
East Durham , NY 12423
(it would be important to let me know if you can make a donation and amount so that I can see it is properly allocated).
3) To help deal with the crisis we launched an initiative last week at Kickstarter.com entitled “Rally Around the Catskills Irish Arts Week” http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1296594426/rally-around-the-catskills-irish-arts-week-in-east and in the first week we have tallied over $15,000 from supporters and well-wishers. We have to pay a 5% fee to Amazon.com to process these donations and also set aside funds to pay for some of the premium gifts outlined (like PBS pledges) on our site. We have just two more weeks to raise as much as we can with your help.
4) If you can take the Kickstarter link http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1296594426/rally-around-the-catskills-irish-arts-week-in-east and forward it to your own online networks via Facebook, twitter or even email it can alert other caring folks to make a donation. Thanks for whatever you can do now but don’t delay because the time is approaching quickly.
Thanks again for your attention
Paul
