By GALA Expert
November 30, 2023
Posted on: July 19th, 2013 by Joel C. Davis
Obviously time went backwards between NOV, 1990 and FEB, 1992 because the former issue of the GALAgram is numbered VOL V, NUM 4 and this latter issue is numbered VOL V, NUM 1. I haven’t a clue as to the numbering scheme. I’m also not sure if indeed there were any issues of the GALAgram between those dates because I think I would have received them by mail just like I did the NOV, 1990 issue. It could very well be that there were none, despite GALA’s best intentions, and so perhaps that when more planning had occurred, GALA just started all over again with numbering…. on Volume V… which implies a fifth year of printing… and is explained a little in the pages of this GALAgram:
That stated, I can tell you now that future issues of the GALAgram suffered from VOL/NUM/DATE problems as well.
There are interesting tidbits contained in this GALAgram, including:
- GALA History
- GALAgram status and increase printing & distribution *
- GALA’s oldest member chorus: Anna Crusis
- GALA Board’s expansion and solicitation of interest **
- Festival IV Commissions Winners, announced by competition in the previous GALAgram
Also in this GALAgram, on page 2, is a story about the recent (JAN, 1992) meeting in Denver (host site of the upcoming Festival) of GALA Music Directors. This is the earliest known meeting of AD’s that GALA organized. Prior to this meeting, networking amongst AD’s was happening much more informally: AD’s and their choruses would serve as hosts for “exchange” meetings.
As noted, this first, GALA-sponsored meeting took place in Denver, the host site for the upcoming Festival. While the city-location for the annual AD’s meeting would move about the USA and Canada, GALA would continue to produce its AD’s meeting in a Festival year, or the year before, in that city which was then about to play host to Festival. One of the benefits of this was that AD’s would have proximal access to the Festival performance venues in a timely manner prior to Festival. This scheduling practice continues to this day.
As an aside…
On the GALA timeline, a simple listing of what happened when and where, there were always be two glaring, empty fields: the date and location of the 1995 Music Directors meeting. In composing this “chapter” and, in particular, the last paragraph, it was apparent, by deduction, that the 1995 AD’s meeting had to have occurred in Tampa, Florida since the 1996 meeting is clearly noted as San Diego, California. Year-of or year-before has always been the tradition and the likelihood of an AD’s meeting not taking place in a Festival city year-of or year-before seems highly unlikely. The timeline/chronology is now updated to indicate Tampa as the location for the 1995 AD meetings and that it occurred in either JAN or FEB of that year since that, too, has been and continues to be convention.
* Up until this time, the GALAgram had only been distributed to chorus leaders and those individuals who directly requested subscription to it. Beginning with this issue, enough copies of the GALAgram were printed and sent to member choruses for available distribution to its members. In later years, this would prove somewhat problematic in that some choruses would receive a plentiful supply of GALAgrams but not distribute them to their members, thus wasting a ton of money on printing costs.
** In later years, this process would eventually change so that the GALA Board would be entirely self-perpetuating.
See you in 2016!