Great concert; small audience mark Thursday’s Choral Collage on Verde campus

Two of the six Yavapai Community College choral groups performed Thursday evening, October 30 at M-137 on the Verde campus. The Camerata Singers, directed by Dennis L. Houser, were followed by the YC Gospel choir, directed by Christoper Eubank, in the 80 minute program. It was an enjoyable evening with the singers and songs enthusiastically and appreciatively received by the audience. (The lighting should have followed the same scheme used at the Performing Arts Center for similar concerts; it did not.)

Unfortunately, the audience numbered only about two dozen, which didn’t quite equal the sum of the membership of the two choral groups. The reasons for the disappointing turn-out are fairly obvious. First, the concert was not widely advertised—few who did not pick up a flyer on the Verde campus were aware of it. Second, the concert was not a part of an announced fall program, which would have allowed persons to plan their schedules in advance so they could attend the event. The concert announcement also sort of “just appeared” only a week or ten days before it was to be held.

Third, most, if not all members of the groups, are from the Prescott area. That meant that local word of mouth from friends and families in the Verde Valley about the event was absent, which made it even harder to draw a first-time audience to a first-time event. Finally, it drew no one outside the Verde Valley such as from Prescott. It’s too far to drive at night.

The College is to be commended for trying to revive the Verde campus and open itself to the community with concerts and small shows after a decade of doing little. However, that revival will not come overnight. It will take time to get the word out to the community about the outstanding programs and renewed interest of the college in the communities it serves in the Verde Valley. To be successful, these events will require much better planning and far better advertising.