Hi, I'm Joe Lee, the Artistic Director of Nashville in Harmony's youth choir, Major Minors, and I'm raising money for our trip to Washington D.C. and New York City!

Major Minors offers LGBTQIAP+ and allied youth, ages 12-18, an opportunity to discover their voice, build their community, and become powerful self-advocates and agents of social change. Our mission is to build community and create social change, and music is the vehicle through which we accomplish that! We discover the power of our voices as we perform songs that express our experiences, our identity, and our hope to audiences across middle Tennessee and beyond.

This summer, we have an opportunity to learn, serve, and perform alongside our sibling organization, GenOUT, the youth chorus of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington D.C. We will meet in D.C. to join forces, and travel together to New York City. While in our nation’s capital, we will participate in a camp with GenOUT that will allow us to expand our musical abilities, learn new repertoire, rehearse with GenOUT, and strengthen relationships with old friends as we make new friends. We will offer performances in the area and tour educational and historical sites such as the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean Veterans Memorial, the World War II Memorial, and the United States Holocaust Memorial and Museum. We will also combine with GenOUT for a service project with SAGE, D.C.: Advocacy & Services for LGBTQ+ Elders.

After a few days in D.C., the combined choirs will travel New York City, one of the most diverse cultural capitals of the world. While in New York, we will tour the 9/11 Museum and Memorial, travel to the top of the Empire State Building, visit Ellis Island and Liberty Island and experience Times Square and Central Park. We will also tour the Stonewall Inn, visit the New York City AIDS Memorial, the Guggenheim Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History. In addition to sightseeing, we will see 'Dear Evan Hansen' on Broadway. If you aren’t familiar with this show, it is a ground-breaking work of art that explores many topics that apply to the youth of today and tomorrow. While in New York, we are also planning performances, both formal and “pop-up," and will volunteer for a service project with SAGE, NYC.

Will you consider making a gift to offset the cost of this trip? This campaign is an essential piece of the fundraising puzzle that will make this trip possible for everyone. Any money raised over the goal amount will go directly to the fundraising efforts of the individual members. Thank you for your kind consideration and generosity.