Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Strand, Executive Director of Windsong, Cleveland’s Feminist Chorus.
Hi Amanda, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Windsong, Cleveland’s Feminist Chorus, began as a pickup group in 1979 to perform a single act for a community event during the beginning of the women’s choral music movement. From that first performance, the group fluctuated in numbers and names before settling on Windsong, Cleveland’s Feminist Chorus. Windsong has always been a place where women could gather in safety and find their voice. In 2002, when we officially became known as Windsong the group began to look at what we could offer beyond just gathering in sisterhood and song. Our mission is to empower women through their participation in the performance of music, but now we also use our platform to effect social change that is diverse, women-supportive, and environmentally responsible and strive to build community and provide education through partnerships with like-minded organizations.
In the past couple of years, Windsong has taken advantage of the “downtime” that the Covid pandemic brought to do work to evaluate who we are as an organization, who we want to be, and how we can have a greater impact on our community, both internally and to the greater community of Cleveland. We have identified our core values to be an organization that strives to create a joyful, caring community with a spirit of inclusiveness and diversity. We create music to promote feminism, social justice, activism, and the empowerment that comes from finding one’s own unique voice.
This work has helped us to evaluate our individual biases, identify areas we can make improvements, and really determine the direction we want Windsong to go in the next couple of years (and decades!)
I have been a member of Windsong almost as long as I have lived in Cleveland. I found Windsong in January of 2009 when I was in need of a choral group to be my outlet, to be my community, and to be my meditation. Shortly after joining, I was asked to join the board of directors of Windsong, which we call our Core Group. Since 2009, I have been Secretary, Treasurer, Financial Manager, President, and this year I have been appointed the first official Executive Director of Windsong. This group has been my family. This group helped me to become the adult and feminist I am today.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not always been a smooth road. Windsong has gone through several Artistic Directors, has been as small as 6 members, had to learn how to navigate choral rehearsals through Zoom, and has survived solely on the financial support of individual members, friends, and family.
We are a completely non-auditioned chorus, which means we have members that have studied music and been singing their whole lives, and we have members that cannot read music and depend on the support of their fellow singers to teach them the correct notes. We have members who have been with us since the early years when feminism was finding its footing and remember the struggles to be loud and proud and have fought many times for the rights of women, and we have members that do not identify as women and are fighting an equally important fight to be recognized and have their voices be heard. The heart of Windsong has always been a community; regardless of where you are coming from in your personal identity and struggles, we are a community that rallies around each other, and even if we cannot fully understand the position of a fellow member, we offer our support. That is the beauty of this organization; our members are our heart.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Windsong typically has two concerts each season, one in the late fall and one in the spring. We also do many community gigs, and these range from participating in Pride in the CLE, singing in local bookstores, singing for National Women’s Conventions, and everything in between. Windsong concerts are known for not just singing beautiful and relevant music but telling a story through song and narration.
Windsong is a member of the Sister Singers Network (SSN,) a collaborative group of Women’s and Feminist Choruses from across the US, and a member of The Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses. These two groups help us connect with similar choruses from across the country to share resources, insights, and support. Both organizations also host a musical conference every four years (on alternating years.)
The Sister Singers Network asks a member chorus to host their quadrennial choral music festival, and the next festival is going to be this summer. The best part, Windsong is hosting this festival right here in Cleveland! We are so excited to welcome 600-700 attendees from choruses from all over the country to spend 5 days gathering in fellowship, workshops, and song. We do have help from our co-hosts, three other Ohio choruses, Columbus Women’s Chorus, MUSE, Cincinnati Women’s Choir, and Calliope Feminist Chorus.
We are deep in the planning stages for our “We Rock the World” festival, which will be held in downtown Cleveland, and will end in a culminating, open-to-the-public event at the Connor Palace Theater at Playhouse Square on Saturday, July 1, 2023! This will be an amazing musical experience with Windsong performing, as well as the other Ohio choruses premiering a commissioned piece by Cleveland native Jan C. Snow, and the showstopper – two 200+ people mass choruses, each singing several pieces, including a world premiere song by Ayo Awosika, created for the festival.
Windsong is honored to be hosting this festival, the network’s first since 2018 and our first opportunity to gather together in person since the Covid pandemic began. Some choruses have become masters at virtual productions, and some have only just returned to rehearsing together. That is why this festival, in particular, feels even more important than the ones in the past. We need to come together, share our struggles and our triumphs, and raise our collective voices in song. I am especially excited to welcome all the attendees to Cleveland and show them all what an amazing city this is. We are working on planning many opportunities to spotlight the best of the best of Cleveland and to share this network and festival with the city of Cleveland. Check our website and socials for details on all the opportunities to see Windsong and the SSN Festival performances this year.
What are your plans for the future?
This season Windsong welcomed our new Artistic Director, Jessica L. G. Steuver, a Ph.D. student in Music Education at Case Western Reserve University. Jessica has brought many years of experience conducting school and community choruses to her role as our Artistic Director. She has also brought a passion to push ourselves as an organization to dig deeper and to do more. Jessica has programmed thoughtful content for our concerts this season that is relevant to the issues happening in our group, in our city, and in the world. Jessica has also helped create a list of ways to get involved and take our activism to the next level, action.
This season also marks our last season with our phenomenal accompanist Karin Tooley. She has been with us for 20 years and has helped create and cultivate our sound over all these years. She has truly been an asset to Windsong and will be difficult to replace, but it is time for her to move on to new adventures.
Windsong held our first annual Sing Out for Justice event in October of 2022, and we are beginning to plan the second annual Sing Out for Justice to be held in fall of 2023. We are scheduled to do a joint concert with University Choral at Case Western Reserve University in March, as well as a couple community gigs. We are partnering with the CIFF as a community partner, but you’ll have to wait for the official announcement to learn more about that. Windsong’s spring concert, “Lifting As We Climb,” will be held on Sunday, May 7, 2023. And as always, look for us at PRIDE in the CLE in June.
Looking beyond our spring concert, the community gigs, and the SSN Festival, Windsong will continue to work towards expanding our network and our reach in NEO. We will continue to work on the tough questions of who we are as an organization, who we want to be and how we can help those in our community and around the world, and how we can continue to give those around us a voice through song.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.windsongcleveland.org
- Instagram: @windsongcle
- Facebook: @windsongcle
- Twitter: @windsongcle
Image Credits
Rustin McCann
