Music on the Hill seeking sponsors
Board short at least $13,500 for popular June-July series
There will be Music on the Hill at St. John’s College this summer. But organizers say the popular concert series still faces a financial shortfall, and they hope community donors and sponsors will help keep them out of the red.
“It’s usually down to the wire; this year, it’s a little tougher,” said Douglas Maahs, chairman of the Music on the Hill volunteer advisory board, who cited a rise in costs and a loss of a few key sponsors.
Maahs said the annual six-concert series has raised $34,000 to date, short of a projected $47,500 target for direct expenses like those that cover the soundstage, lights, security and the musical guests.
Including indirect costs like field maintenance and management brings the budget to $70,000, Maahs said.
In previous summers, those indirect expenses for the free outdoor series were generally handled by St. John’s College. But Maahs said the college has transferred some of those logistical costs to the board, forcing Maahs and others to amplify the call for community assistance.
Two longtime sponsors also fell away: VERVE Gallery, which closed in February, and the A.L.H. Foundation, whose president, John P. Greenspan, died in September.
Nonetheless, Music on the Hill has received a commitment from St. John’s that the shows will go on — at least this year.
If expenses are not fully covered by donors and sponsors, the college will foot the rest of the bill, said Carol Carpenter, communications director with the St. John’s Santa Fe campus.
But that won’t necessarily remain the case in the future.
“We’ve committed to having Music on the Hill this summer,” Carpenter said, “and then I think we have to re-evaluate based on what the fundraising numbers look like this year, as well as direct and indirect costs and how that all stacks up.
“If the [Music on the Hill] board is able to raise the funds to cover at the least our direct costs, and at the most all of our costs, it puts the program in a more positive stead for the future,” Carpenter added.
Entry fees have not been part of the discussion about the future of the free concert series.
“This has always been a gift of ours and our sponsors to the community,” Carpenter said. “We really hope to continue honoring that intent.”
The Music on the Hill board says community
members who enjoy the summertime shows can go to the St. John’s College webpage for the concert series, where donations can be made and sponsorship deals can be initiated. In the past, the concert series has used surplus funds to provide financial aid to New Mexico residents who attend St. John’s.
Maahs said the social media outreach will intensify over the next month, by which time the board hopes to have met its 2017 budgetary targets.
Before then, Music on the Hill will host two fundraising dinners, one Tuesday at Santa Fe Bar & Grill and another April 18 at Il Piatto.
City officials last year cut free shuttle service to Music on the Hill, but a St. John’s alumnus stepped in halfway through the season to pay a local valet and limousine company to provide free rides to concertgoers.
Maahs said the series is very close to securing a private partnership to provide free shuttles again this year.
The 2017 Music on the Hill concerts are scheduled for June 14, June 21, June 28, July 12, July 19 and July 26. Musical acts have not yet been finalized.