TCWC Member Alanna Walen Featured in Alumni Newsletter
My friends from the women's softball league had been encouraging me to check out this choir for a couple of years, and I finally went to the first rehearsal of the season. Before I even entered the Minneapolis church basement door, I knew I was going to be friends with Carol, a woman I just met, who I learned through enthusiastic conversation had gone to grad school with my roommate from Grinnell. That was 1999, and my commitment to the Twin Cities Women's Choir has grown from tentative soprano to board member, Treasurer, section leader, and occasional soloist.
Former Board Member Receives Friend of the Choir Award
On February 7th, at the Let the Good Times Roll concert, the Board bestowed the first Friend of the Choir Award to Punch VanGrasstek. This award was established by the Board to recognize individuals or businesses who champion the choir which is measured by donations given in time and/or money and further the mission of the choir in the community through successful and significant fundraising and promotion of the choir.
Inclusive Twin Cities Women's Choir creates music, community
The temperature hovers around -5 at 7 p.m. on a recent Wednesday night. The streets in the area of 39th and Chicago in South Minneapolis are deserted — until you reach Calvary Lutheran Church. There the lot is full, and cars spill out onto the street. Women hurry, with purpose, into a basement room — where they leave their cares behind for the next two hours.
Kindness legacy
Profile: Mary Bussman conducts the Twin Cities Women's Choir
Mary Bussman's passions are music and justice, one having to do with her driving force; the other with who she is. She indulges the first as director of the 140-member Twin Cities Women's Choir, the other by being an openly gay woman.
