Summer Festival Fundraiser

I hope you all are well! Can you believe I’m about to graduate from New York University with my Masters Degree? I’m beyond appreciative of the support you all have always shown me and my mom. Selfishly, I am writing to you all to ask for your financial support again as I end my time in school and move on into the world of Freelancing. Your help, towards my goal of $6,000 to attend summer festivals across the country, will mean that I can continue my pursuit to become a female percussionist rewriting the new music scene around the world.

There are two festivals that I have applied for and been accepted into: Nief Norf (with the statement ‘You stood out among the outstanding applications we've received thus far, and we believe you will make a valuable addition to the upcoming festival and our larger community of artists!’), Sō Percussion’s Summer Institute (SōSI), as well as one that I have applied for but have not heard whether I’ve been accepted or not (Silkroad Ensemble's Global Musician Workshop). All three of these festivals focus on different aspects of new music. Nief Norf explores new music and collaboration between different art disciplines, SōSI explores percussion chamber music, while Silkroad’s GMW explores international and world music.

My dream is to become a leading femme percussionist that inspires the next generation of female-identifying and femme-presenting percussionists to dream big and create change in the world. Nief Norf will help me explore avenues of music that are unconventional and new. SōSI will help me sharpen my chamber music skills and develop repertoire and connections that will help my all-female percussion group, folx Percussion. Silkroad’s GMW will help me develop world percussion skills and return to the fundamentals and roots of this wonderful profession that I’ve chosen.

As always thank you for your time and support,

McKenzie Squires

About each festival:

Nief Norf describes itself as an ‘interdisciplinary new music intensive that brings together dozens of performers, composers, improvisers, scholars, and music technologists to collaborate on the performance, creation, and discussion of contemporary music’. The festival offers an immersive environment hosted at the state-of-the-art Natalie L. Haslam Music Center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and aims to encourage both appreciations for live music and support for contemporary art. Culminating with a Nief-Norf Summer Festival Marathon Concert, fellows have the opportunity to participate in numerous masterclasses, workshops, performances, and more throughout the festival.

This year attending SōSI is especially important because we've been going strong for 15 years! The more than 350 alumni of SōSI have contributed so much to the percussive world since we started in 2009. For SōSI 2023, we are going to continue looking ahead to the future of new ideas in percussion music, as well as bringing back music written during past festivals. We will also be celebrating 10 years of the composition program by featuring the percussion music of our Director of Composition Andrea Mazzariello. This unique two-week program allows participants to experience Sō Percussion’s processes for creating and premiering new work firsthand. SōSI features mentorship from the members of Sō Percussion, our composition faculty, a diverse array of guest artists, our artist-in-residence, Princeton faculty, and other special guests. As in past years, percussion students at SōSI will be placed in groups to perform in numerous concerts and masterclasses throughout the two weeks. Composition students will study with Andrea Mazzariello as well as with members of Sō Percussion & guest faculty.

Directed by cellist Mike Block and co-led by Wu Man, Silkroad's Global Musician Workshop (GMW) is a musician training program modeled after the genesis of the Silkroad Ensemble. This experience is led by a group of all-star faculté artists, including musicians from the Silkroad Ensemble and their colleagues, teaching styles of music that represent a wide range of backgrounds and traditions. This week-long program includes faculty-led bands of diverse participants, group workshops that teach tunes from around the world, topic-based elective classes, nightly jam sessions, panel discussions, and a multi-night performance festival featuring both faculty and participants! GMW is open to musicians and educators ages 18+ from any musical background — university students, professional and amateur performers, teachers, and teaching artists — with backgrounds in classical, jazz, folk, and traditional styles. We believe it’s important to address inequitable behavior that disproportionately hurts the most marginalized people in society – including people of color, women, and LGBTQ+ people. We believe that these communities must be centered in the work we do, and we strongly encourage applications from people with these identities or who are members of other marginalized communities.

Cost:

Nief Norf

June 1st-June 13th (Knoxville, TN)

Tuition: $2299

Housing: $49 + $360

+additional cost of transportation and meals

SōSI

July 16th-July 30th (Princeton, NJ)

Tuition: covered

Room and Board: $2,800

Silkroad’s GMW

August 6th-August 12th (Boston, MA)

Tuition: covered

Housing: $880

Meals: $345

+additional cost of transportation and meals