The Musical Offering

The Musical Offering is an educational institution committed to the growth and development of the individual and community through music instruction and performance. It is our goal to provide a supportive and nurturing environment in which students, teachers and all lovers of music can explore and deepen their relationship to music and self-expression. The Musical Offering also serves as a meeting place and forum for the musical community in Evanston and the surrounding area. The Musical Offering believes in the promotion of beauty, artistic freedom and self-empowerment engendered by the shared musical experience.

We provide private lessons for a host of musical instruments, including piano, strings, woodwinds, guitar, and voice. We also provide group classes for youth and adults, including MOrchestra, our youth orchestra program; Plugged & In Live, an umbrella term for a number of small ensembles that perform jazz, blues, or rock and roll; adult chamber music; and Scratch Orchestra, an ensemble open to students of all ages and experience levels that explores improvisation and composition. Students have a host of opportunity to learn composition as well, from private composition lessons to participation in our annual student-written musical theatre production.

Scholarships are available to students for all of these programs, so that our classes can be accessible for students from all walks of life. We also partner with local schools and community organizations to bring music to students throughout the community.

We rent a building with about 3,000 sq. feet of space, including a recital hall that seats 60 and seven rehearsal studios. We employ sixteen teachers, who are all highly trained and active performers in addition to their educational background, which provides a high quality of instruction to all students. Artistic Director Rick Ferguson maintains relationships with all local public schools and has connections throughout the community that have led to fruitful partnerships. In addition, we employ a permanent Managing Director to handle finances, marketing, and communication with students, families, and community members.

So far, our organization has doubled the size of its physical space, partnered with four local elementary schools and the local middle school, become a certified partner with the Royal Conservatory of Music, redesigned our website, and transitioned from paper to online registration. Moving forward, we're working to increase enrollment in Scratch Orchestra, expand our social media presence and following, and explore several new potential community partnerships. As part of the board's strategic planning, we will be surveying our staff, parents, and students to get a better sense of what they enjoy about our organization and how we might improve in the future.