Theoroi completed its third year of existence back in June 2014. My predecessor Kathleen van Bergen and former Schubert Club Board Members Suzanne Asher and Matt Zumwalt conceived the idea, allegedly over a glass of wine at the St Paul Hotel one evening after work.
For those who don’t know Theoroi, it is our program aimed at inviting young adults in their 20s and 30s to be more engaged with the Twin Cities arts scene. Engaged not only in the sense of attending events and performances, but also engaged in the sense of creating a conversation with their friends about the things they’re attending through social media.
Those who join get to attend one arts performance a month with tickets subsidized by The Schubert Club. The 14-15 season includes performances by Cedar Cultural Center, Mixed Blood Theater, Bakken Trio with Black Label Movement, Cantus with Theater Latte Da, Ten Thousand Things, Northrop Dance, Penumbra Theater, and of course The Schubert Club. There are also social get-togethers and extra activities like backstage tours before or after most events. The performances are selected by Marketing & Audience Development Manager Tessa Retterath Jones with input from Theoroi participants.
What makes Theoroi a little different to young professionals clubs run by other arts organizations is that our program of performances and events includes a wide variety of artistic performances and disciplines, not just recitals and chamber music presentations which The Schubert Club itself presents. Theoroi “ambassadors” attend performances by Minnesota arts organizations from large to small-scale. It’s an opportunity to sample a wide variety of the best of the Twin Cities and to do it with fellow curious-minded people.
Aside from the challenge of how to actually pronounce the word Theoroi, we like our name! In ancient Greece, Theoroi (plural) were ambassadors whose mission was to visit neighboring cities, to announce an upcoming Festival and to invite people in these cities to attend and/or perform.
Each year about 25 individuals are chosen to participate in the program, which runs from September through June. About half the spots have been filled for the 14-15 season already, but there are still a couple of weeks to apply for the remaining spots. The deadline is Friday, August 15, 2014.
Learn more about Theoroi here.
I’m going to take a month’s summer break from writing this blog but will be back in the week of September 1st.