Community Outreach

The WHWC enriches the community beyond the music we perform. The following are a few examples of the Chorale’s recent activities to support this goal.


FESTIVAL OF WOMEN'S VOICES 

The WHWC has established a Festival of Women’s Voices that brings together female singers from adult choirs, and select high school choirs, for a daylong event and collaborative concert with a guest female composer. Our guest composers have been Gwyneth Walker (2016), Andrea Ramsey (2017), Joan Szymko (2018) and Kathleen Allan (2019). Together, the groups learn vocal technique and performance strategies with the composer. The day culminates in a combined concert featuring the music of the guest composer. A percentage of the proceeds from the Festival of Women's Voices are donated to a designated local charity.

Concert proceeds from past Festivals have benefitted: 

  • The Bridge Family Center, West Hartford, CT

  • The Prudence Crandall Center, New Britain, CT

  • Aurora Foundation for Women and Girls

  • My Sisters’ Place, Inc.

  • Catherine's Place, Hartford, CT


The West Hartford Arts & Culture Collaborative

Since the Fall of 2020, the WHWC has been collaborating with other nonprofit arts and culture organizations in West Hartford to determine how best to support each other. With a shared purpose to support, promote and showcase the arts and cultural nonprofits in our community, the West Hartford Arts & Culture Collaborative has been created. To learn more about the member organizations and their wide array of cultural programs and offerings, please go to our brand new shared website.


School Collaborations 

WHWC seeks collaborations with student musicians and provides them with opportunities to perform at Chorale concerts. Performers have included students from Hall, Conard and Glastonbury High Schools.

The chorale makes a yearly donation to Gifts of Music, a program providing instruments and lessons to promising student musicians in the West Hartford Public School system. In addition, he WHWC annual scholarship supports the development of emerging musicians, who will be pursuing further music education. 


Community Collaborations

The WHWC collaborates with other nonprofit organizations including the Wadsworth Atheneum Festival of Trees, and the West Hartford Symphony Orchestra. 

Each June, The WHWC sponsors a booth at Celebrate! West Hartford, an annual June town event.

WHWC Chorale concert proceeds help support WHWC donations to the West Hartford Gifts of Music program. The Chorale holds a Fall fundraiser to support the annual WHWC scholarship.

Each semester, Chorale members have contributed to community projects sponsored by the WHWC. In 2020-21 members organized food drives, a card making project for community senior residences and a summer reading book drive for HANOC, a community center for town children and families.