I.

General Information
1. Applicant Organization Name: Musical Arts Youth Organization, The Bloomingsongs
Project

2. Year Organization Incorporated: December 1999

3. Application Discipline (e.g. dance, theatre, music): Music

4. Contact Person: Sarah M. Olivio

5. Address: Address 3742 W. Parkview Dr. 47404

6. Email: bloomingsongs2@gmail.com

7. Phone: 812-361-9332

8. Website: http://www.mayomusic.org, bloomingsongs.bandcamp.com

II. Board & Staff

1. Upload current board member list in a PDF format. Please use attached template. For
each board member, please include: Full Name, Official Role on Board (e.g. President,
board member), Affiliation (Profession; Job Title and Employer, if applicable), Total Years
of Service on the Board.

2. Number of Full Board Meetings Per Year: Four Board Meetings

3. Upload the names, titles, and bios of key staff members. Indicate if paid or volunteer.

Please limit bios to 1/2 page each and include length of service in organization.

4. Number of Paid Full-Time Staff: ___0__________________________________________

5. Number of Paid Part-Time Staff:

___3___________________________________________

6. Number of Volunteers in 2018:

____15___________________________________________

7. All Volunteer Organization (If you are an all volunteer organization, with no paid
employees, briefly explain who is primarily responsible for implementing the
organization's operations and programming. If not applicable, type
N/A):___N/A_______________________________________________________________

III. Organizational Narrative

1. What is your organization's board-approved mission statement?

Our mission is to provide musical training to a wide array of students of all levels and
backgrounds, to promote excellence while fostering individual development, and to
prepare students not just as musicians but as community members.

2. In 250 words or less, describe your organization’s history and purpose, and your
artistic activities and programming (in discussing activities, include number and type,
e.g., 5 exhibitions/year).

The BloomingSongs Project, which is part of the Musical Arts Youth Organization, was
established in 2017 and gives Bloomington area families and students access to music
of all different genres and cultures: contemporary, classical, jazz, electronica, Middle
Eastern, bluegrass, choral music, and Brazilian choros. We record albums featuring
these genres and distribute them through a variety of community engagement activities.
We offer workshops for families, students, and teachers. In teacher workshops, we
distribute our CDs and then discuss with the teachers how they can utilize the material
in their own classroom. Our workshops are also for the Bloomington community as we
host in different public areas, such as the Monroe County Public Library. This provides
opportunities for anyone to come and listen to the CD and learn from our talented
artists. Additionally, we go into the classrooms of different local schools to distribute the
CDs, use the music to teach lessons to students, and offer interactive concerts. We are
able to give kids the opportunity to learn the basics behind improvisation, dynamics,
musical forms, tempos, articulations, and various movements. Throughout the year, we
offer three workshops, one interactive music release concert, three smaller breakout
concerts, and visit more than ten schools.

The purpose of these projects are not only to teach students, teachers, and families, but
also to create and distribute these CDs which the Bloomington community can keep for
a very long time. This opportunity allows for continued learning from the music after the
concert is over.

3. In 200 words or less, how do you evaluate what you do? Based upon your evaluation,
what are your plans for improvement for FY20?

Our main way of evaluation is through the opinions and reflections of our artists,
teachers, students, and concert goers. We strive to make our concerts and workshops
as interactive as possible, so we really focus on how our audience responds to the work
that we do. If the audience is really engaged for a certain genre or activity in a workshop
we make sure to include it in future projects. The same goes for activities that are not as
well received. We work on what we think was the issue and try to make sure it is more
responsive to what our audience needs and desires. We want our music and community
engagement activities to be a learning opportunity for everyone involved.

Since we are a newer project, our main goals for improvement is to continue expanding
community engagement by reaching more people. As of now, we reach thousands of
students, teachers, and families, and within the next couple years we want that number
to be tens of thousands. We are starting to look at collaborations with other Bloomington
arts organizations in order to reach even more audiences.
IV. Community Impact and Engagement (use bullet form)

1. Describe your organization's planning process and detail how the community is
involved. (250 words) Please, if applicable, add a link to your current strategic plan.

● As an organization we:
o Reflect on the opinions from teachers and artists that were involved in the
project
o Select our artists for the recording and begin to book studio times.
o Contact various artists within the Bloomington community: i.e., the Jacobs
School of Music affiliates, world-renowned artists, WFHB frequents, and
Bloomington hangouts
o Commission original compositions and adaptations.
o According to the artists’ availability, we finalize the booking of studio
sessions
o After the recording, the sound engineers send copies of the files to the
artists for approval then produces 500 CDs as hard copies and free
access on our website
o Pay for the recording studio and pay the artists for their time and music
o Host workshops to students and teachers
o Pay the artists involved in the workshops and live performances and
collect feedback from families, artists, and teachers who participated.

2. Describe your organization's community engagement work. Include information about

collaborations and/or partnerships and how community is part of the evaluation process.
(100 words)

When selecting the artists, BloomingSongs draws from artists in the Bloomington
community. We collaborate with the Monroe County Public Library to provide an
interactive concert featuring these artists. This gives Bloomington families an
opportunity to experience diverse musical cultures, receive a free CD, and ask
questions to the artists about the songs, instruments, and culture that they come from.
Depending on the number of CDs that BloomingSongs gives out, it gives an estimate of
the amount people attending our events. Also, evaluation is done by observing how the
community audience interacts with the artists through singing along, clapping, and
dancing.

3. How are you addressing community engagement in your organizational work?

Include information about how you are working with underserved populations (100
words)

BloomingSongs works with volunteers from the community. The volunteers help in the
planning process and the grant application process. We select artists and in accordance
to their strengths and encourage collaboration between them. Some of these strengths
include performing, composing and pedagogy. BloomingSongs focuses balancing all
kinds of artists from different genders, races, and cultural backgrounds, which makes
the project diverse. All the recorded songs are offered for free to the public. In addition,
when selecting the schools that will benefit from the workshops, BloomingSongs gives
priority to schools which have high populations of students from low income
backgrounds.

4. Summarize your arts education efforts, including those who benefit and how many.
(100 words)

The BloomingSongs collection is made available to area preschools, elementary

schools, and teachers for free of charge and all audio is available online as a free
download. Through teacher training, teachers learn interactive BloomingSongs activities
for utilization in their classrooms. The repertoire itself has something for everyone. In
addition, BloomingSongs works with the artists to go to schools and give talks and
workshops about their music. Last year the project was able to reach over 2,000
people. This year, we’re planning to grow our audience with the increase of our network
through word of mouth and stronger social media.

5. Is your organization accessible to persons with disabilities as defined in the

Americans with Disabilities Act? See Accessibility Checklist and ADA Planning
Resources above guidance.

Yes

V. Participation and Audience

1a. How many members of the community did your organization serve last year? Total
number of adults, 18 and over:

Nearly 150

1b. How many members of the community did your organization serve last year? Total
number of young people, up to age 18:

Over 2,000

2. How many artists did your organization pay last year?

36

3. How do you track audience participation?

We track the audience by taking a head count for the public concerts and counting the
number of CDs we give. Additionally, we ask the teachers to give us the number of
students in their classes that attend the workshops and performances. This information
is also tracked through monitoring the number of views/ clicks of our free audio files
online.
 Bloomington Arts Commission Grant Application
BloomingSongs

Part VI: Artistic Documentation

https://bloomingsongs.bandcamp.com/album/ https://bloomingsongs.bandcamp.com/album/
little5old5little5new5little5bloom52! phlox-of-a-feather
!
!!

https://www.facebook.com/BloomingSongs/photos/a.186845031827696/4145
65259055671/?type=3&theater!
!
https://www.facebook.com/BloomingSongs/photos/a.186845031827696/5
53092055202990/?type=3&theater!

https://www.facebook.com/BloomingSongs/photos/a.186845031827696/
479293262582870/?type=3&theater!
!
 https://www.facebook.com/Blooming
Songs/photos/a.318402868671911/3
56642688181262/?type=3&theater!
!

https://www.facebook.com/Bloom
ingSongs/photos/a.393931021119
095/393941047784759/?type=3&
theater!
!

https://www.facebook.com/BloomingSo
ngs/photos/a.186845031827696/4442
43259421204/?type=3&theater!
!
VII. Financial Information

1. Organization Fiscal Year Start Date: September 1

2. Organization Fiscal Year End Date: August 31
a. If applicable, please list cash support received by the applicant from the City of
Bloomington during the past three years. Use this template “BAC Grant_Previous City of
Bloomington Support.pdf”
4. Include 3 year’s Total Cash Operating Income for FY18, FY17, and FY16:
5. Budgeted Cash Operating Income for the Current Year (FY19):
6. Financial Documentation (most recently completed fiscal year)
a. Upload Income and Expense Statement (aka Profit and Loss):
b. Balance Sheet (Statement of Financial Position):
7. FY20 Projected Budget (use template provided “BAC Grant_2019-2020 Operating Support
Budget Template.pdf”)
8. FY20 Total Projected Cash Income: $0.00
9. FY20 Total Projected Cash Expenses: $2,100
10. Total FY20 Projected In-Kind: $1,530.00
11. Please provide a brief explanation of your FY19 budget, the differences between
this fiscal year and previous years, and if there are any other major changes.

The main programs for FY19 were the Bridges Summer Music Camp, and for the first
time for the Musical Arts Youth Organization, the Bloomingsongs project. Bridges
Summer Music Camp income came from student participant fees, and expenses were
for the music instructors' payments at $30/hour each over the 2 weeks of camps.

BloomingSongs income came from a Smithville grant, and were used for artist fees and
recording fees. Costs for monthly insurance came from funds leftover from the previous
fiscal years.

Anticipated programs for FY20 (Sept. 1, 2019 - Aug. 31, 2020) includes the Bridges
Summer Music Camp (anticipated as similar to FY19 expenses) and the
BloomingSongs project.