Song & Aria Festival Cancellation Notice

Dear Boston NATS members:

It is with regret and reluctance to do so that we are cancelling the Song and Aria Festival,
which had been scheduled for March 6th and 7th at Eastern Nazarene College.  The
enrollment for the event was 80 singers in the various divisions, which historically had
been around 250.  This of course meant a huge loss of income at the same time the
chapter faced a considerable expense paying for rental space.  Last year the chapter
concluded the festival with a deficit of $3000, and this year it loomed at over $8000.  
Unlike other areas of the country, ours is not one where hosts are eager to offer their
space and facilities to us gratis. Therefore a major part of our expenses is a result of no
longer being hosted by Boston University.  It goes without saying that our Board will  
spend considerable time investigating possible venues, which are deemed reasonably
priced and will make carefully considered adjustments or alterations to the festival either
in size or format.  We will of course consider any suggestions you, the membership have   
for us, and indeed hope to have solutions offered by you.  While there were contributing
circumstances, such as the need to hold the event over two days and the fact that this year
we switched exclusively to on-line registration, the overriding factor was our shared duty
as a board to be fiscally responsible.  Please be advised that we looked at a number of
alternatives to this action, but in the long run we ended with no alternative.  None of us is
happy with this course of action, but we look upon it as an opportunity to modify our
goals in a manner which will be positive and improve the operation of the chapter for the   
future.    

We will do our absolute best to send all refunds as soon as possible. We ask for your
patience when waiting for the refunds as there are many and only one person to handle
them on top of their other full-time job of teaching.  If you haven’t received a refund in
two weeks, please contact send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Those who sent
checks, your checks will be sent in tomorrow’s mail and should arrive by the beginning
of next week at the latest.  We appreciate your consideration.     

Sincerely,

Thomas Enman, Interim PresidentSONG and ARIA Festival 2010: March 6 and 7, 2010