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History
Founded in 1981 by oboist Rogene Russell and bassoonist Charles Price, Fine Arts Chamber Players of Dallas (FACP) has over two decades of history featuring local professional musicians in chamber music concerts at no charge to the public. In collaboration with Harry Parker, Director of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts in Fair Park, the first Basically Beethoven series took place during summer 1981, at the Museum in Fair Park. The group was named Fine Arts Chamber Players for its home. In 1982 FACP hired Mischa Semanitzky as conductor of the summer series. Charles Price resigned in 1983 to become Personnel Manager of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. In 1984, the Dallas Museum of Art opened downtown and FACP moved into the Arts District for its first winter series. Since that time, six free Saturday afternoon performances, now called the Bancroft Family Concerts, have been offered at the DMA during each fall-winter-spring season. During July a Sunday afternoon concert series, entitled the Basically Beethoven Festival, has been given at the Dallas Horticulture Center in Fair Park. These daytime slots were chosen in keeping with FACP's focus of bringing professional classical music to those who would not traditionally be able to attend-particularly senior citizens and families with children. FACP's classical chamber series have a decades-long tradition of attracting standing-room-only audiences. In 1989, Maestro Semanitzky moved to Arizona. Rogene Russell was named Artistic Director of FACP. During the same year, Ms. Russell led an attempt to reach broader audiences through the creation of an educational outreach program, Dream Collectors. With the assistance of two grants from the Meadows Foundation of Texas, the musicians and actors of the ensemble created a unique presentation of classical music, storytelling, improvisation, mime, and magic with the intention of introducing the classical arts in a manner that would cross language, social, and economic barriers. In 1991, the Meadows Foundation funded a grant of $17,500 for the creation of two new repertoire pieces for Dream Collectors. These pieces, a Native American folktale, "He Who Paints the Sky," and an environmental piece, "Earth Rhythms," were part of the Dream Collectors repertoire for six years; "Earth Rhythms" is still being performed today, as part of the Music of Poetry program. With the overwhelming success of their efforts, Dream Collectors decided to integrate other subjects with the arts. With the assistance of a second Meadows Grant of $30,000 in 1994, the group created LD Zone, a program designed to bring an awareness of the challenges faced by children with dyslexia and other learning differences. The physicians and staff of Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children served as consultants on this project. In May 1997 Scottish Rite Hospital released a video presentation of LD Zone. In keeping with the mission of FACP, Dream Collectors offers its programs to public elementary schools in the City of Dallas at no charge. Since its inception, Dream Collectors programs have reached over 160,000 children and won numerous awards, including the 1996-97 Arts Basic Award for exemplary arts education programming by the Texas Commission on the Arts and an education award from the Dallas Business Committee for the Arts. During the academic year there is a long list of schools waiting for free Dream Collectors performances in their schools. At the invitation of the Arundel Festival, West Sussex, FACP traveled to England to present three performances in Arundel Castle during August 1996. Texas Instruments underwrote this tour. In fall 1997, FACP sponsored "Integrating Music and Society: Classical Music's Heritage and Future," a ground-breaking five-event symposium on the future of classic music. This event, held at the Dallas Museum of Art, provided a unique forum for discussion and music making by the major musical organizations in Dallas. This free event included participation by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, The Dallas Opera, Dallas Museum of Art, TITAS, and the Arts District Foundation. In winter 1998, FACP was awarded the largest grant in the organization's history from the Meadows Foundation of Texas. The $70,000 grant established a cash reserve and provided operational support over a two-year period. FACP is managed as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization by the Executive Director, Artistic Director, a strong Board of Directors, and a roster of outstanding local artists. Since its inception in 1981, FACP has performed for over 500,000 Dallas-area citizens.
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