Message from the Board Chair

Music is a fundamental aspect of the human experience, providing a portal  for exploring differences and seeking common ground.

What a joy to write on behalf of the Board in celebration of another stellar year at PCM. As we individually find our way back from virtual and distanced encounters to familiar activities, so too has PCM, with the reinvigoration of group classes, ensembles, and in-person performances.

The year has seen us focusing on Common Ground, the title of our campus development campaign, but more than that, a statement of our values—that music is a fundamental aspect of the human experience, providing a portal for exploring differences and seeking common ground at a time when it is so welcome.

Many activities this year exemplified these values of connecting people through music. We saw it in:

• Adult music history students having lunch together in the courtyard after each class because they have become a community with shared interests. • Kids who had never met or played together, beautifully performing chamber music after a mere few weeks of rehearsals. • Seven-year-old pianists and college-bound violinists jamming together in the courtyard. • In-person Young Musicians classes being provided to all 565 students at Longfellow Elementary for the first time ever. • Shoppers at Vroman’s joyfully finding our new World Music faculty performing outside and forming a spontaneous audience. • Residents of MonteCedro filling their auditorium for PCM-presented history classes and concerts for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. • Our world-class faculty presenting live

Musical Interludes—concerts conceived in response to books. • Graduating seniors being cheered on by family, friends, and colleagues as they performed recitals in stunning

Barrett Hall.

Like all non-profit boards, we talk about our role in ensuring the public trust—confirming that PCM’s actions advance our purpose of providing opportunities to learn, perform, and enjoy music to a broad spectrum of the community. We could not be prouder of the way the faculty and staff have innovatively sustained and built the PCM community of participants through the challenging years of the pandemic and as we search for our new normal.

With music as our Common Ground, and with your generous support and participation, PCM helps us forge meaningful connections with one another. Thank you so much for joining us.

Laurie Sowd Chair of the Board