How You Can Help

Dear Music Education Supporters

Oklahoma Conservatory of Music is growing, and we need your help!

As our administrative and rent costs have risen, it has become clear that we can only survive as a Not-For-Profit, charitable arts organization. Becoming a 501(c)3 will help us manage costs and keep lesson prices approachable for families. We will also be able to provide new and unique programs for students as we move forward.

We need your help in this next step of OCM’s future! Any donation will go a long way.

We will also establish the OCM Founding Donors. With a donation of $1000 or more, you will be listed as one of the founding donors on the front page of our website and all concert and recital programs in perpetuity. This campaign to establish the OCM Founding Donors will run through May. These funds will allow us to operate healthily, as we undertake the costly process of becoming a nonprofit.

Many costs are associated with becoming a 501(c)3, including attorney and application fees. We have also recently moved into the beautiful space at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral. This much larger space allows us to reach more students and provide them with better education. However, higher costs associated with that move have created financial strain on our budget. We do not want to increase tuition for our students and we must continue providing appropriate compensation to our fantastic faculty.

Having founded OCM over eleven years ago, I am proud of what we have accomplished in a decade. We have influenced countless music students, who now as adults are either professionally or semi-professionally involved with music, or lead enriching lives in other fields. Classical music requires rigor, mental strength and perseverance, as it demands technique and precision. Classical music also requires imagination, creativity and passion, as it embodies who we are as human beings. It is an art that demands sacrifice from a very young age. Students as young as four or five years old spend countless hours in practice, learning and perfecting their tone, intonation, rhythm, balanced and rounded movements. They are introduced to the world of sound beauty, and with time as they become more advanced, their imaginations blossom as they find their own meaning behind each note and each phrase. While their non-musician peers enjoy spending time with friends and doing fun things, our students sacrifice that free “fun” time for practice, rehearsals, and performances. They do so happily, because they grow to love what they do. In a community like OCM, our music students are surrounded by like-minded peers, who grow together from young musical children to formidable young artists.

Oklahoma Conservatory of Music is a music school unique to the Oklahoma City metro area and the state. It is a place where students are taught by high-quality, expert musicians and teachers. They attend private lessons and ear training classes and are part of small and large ensembles. They study, rehearse and perform, surrounded by other musicians, under the careful eye of our faculty. Our mission is to elevate music education in Oklahoma to a level that can compete with major music programs nationwide. Our mission is also to provide financially-challenged students with access to serious musical studies, which they would not be able to afford otherwise. Your support will allow the school to build a scholarship program for needy students. It will enable the school to expand existing programs, create new ones, and provide students with higher education opportunities. These opportunities will include the establishment of OCM as an examination site for the Royal Conservatory of Music examinations, offering first in the state Dalcroze Eurythmics classes, and expanding into woodwind, brass, percussion and voice. Soluna Concert Series will be part of Oklahoma Conservatory of Music.

The concert series aims to create thoughtfully-programmed concert experiences that connect with audiences on emotional and spiritual levels. Guest artists performing at these concerts, apart from inspiring students and the community, will teach OCM young musicians in masterclass settings. Unfortunately, none of this will be possible without the community’s help. Only through financial donations from a music education supporting community, through grants, and other means will we be able to fulfill our mission.

Growing up in Poland, I attended a music school all my young life. Having every day filled with music classes, private lessons, chamber music and orchestra rehearsals, countless performances, I knew I always wanted to be a musician. Through exciting, fulfilling, challenging, and testing days, music and the community of devoted teachers and peers kept me determined to become the best musician I could be. After coming to the United States over twenty years ago, I wanted to grow the same community, built on a serious study of this powerful art. Deep in my heart, I feel I came to this beautiful country to make a difference in students’ lives, and create a place of music study, which will last for generations to come.

To donate, visit www.ocmschool.com/donate. Gifts of $1000 or more will establish you as a Founding Donor. But remember, any amount will help us bring the power of music to our next generation of young Oklahomans. You may also send us a check, made out to OCM.

Oklahoma Conservatory of Music
STE A
127 NW 7th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73102

Help us establish OCM as THE hub for top music education in Oklahoma! We cannot do this without the support of surrounding communities and individual donors like you. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Dr. Angelika Machnik-Jones
Director, Oklahoma Conservatory of Music
Cellist, Oklahoma City Philharmonic
Angelika@ocmschool.com
405-698-0320
www.ocmschool.com