Kickstarter

Hello potential backers!  Welcome to Bridge the Gap Chamber Players (fondly referred as "BtG.)

So what is BtG, anyway?

We are a semi-classical music group based in Dallas, Texas consisting of young musicians of the DFW and surrounding areas that provide free concerts in the metroplex.  Our goal is to do exactly as our name suggests.  But that may be a bit vague, so allow us to explain.

Classical music's role in society has experienced a major decline over the past few decades and we believes that it has more to do with the culture that has been created by us, the musicians, than music itself.  This culture has made many people, especially those in the younger generations, feel uncomfortable in the concert environment.  

We're here to bridge the gap between the audience and the performers by creating an accessible, fun, and relaxed concert environment, as well as bringing a social element into play.  (We go out for drinks after our concerts and always invite the audience members to join us.)  We also aim to bridge the gap between all eras of music, because good music is good music, regardless of whether or not it is classical.  When it comes down to it, all music is written about the same thing: life and how we experience it.  So don't be surprised if one of our performances has music of Beethoven, Brahms, The Beatles, and Jimi Hendrix.

How will you do this?

We will be putting on 4 concerts between the months of October 2012 and April 2013.  We are currently in contact with venues in Dallas that we feel have a similar mission to us: sharing art with everyone.  These include the McKinney Ave Contemporary Museum and the (nearly finished) Klyde Warren Park near downtown Dallas.  All of these concerts will be free to the public and we plan to have some type of music for everyone.  So while classical may not be your main interest, we'll have a couple popular tunes or pieces inspired by popular tunes there to help bridge the gap for you and the music.

Why Kickstarter?

Last year we successfully raised the money for our first season through Kickstarter and our concerts were a great success.  This season, we're looking to build on that and do bigger and more unique things.  More concerts, bigger variety in music, and more relaxed.

Where is the money going?

The money we raise through Kickstarter will go towards paying for concert venues, a new logo by a professional designer, photos, registering as a non-profit with the IRS, website costs, and advertising.

Donor Incentives:

As you can see, we have some pretty neat donor incentives this year.  We just wanted to clear up some confusion about the final three.  All of those three include having your name on the website, postcard, shot glass, t-shirt, signed photo, and a thank you from the stage.  However, you must pick only one from the final three incentives because they are each limited.  (i.e. If you pick the $1,000 incentive, it will include those up to $250, but will not include the $500 or $750 offers.)  We just felt it was good to make sure that was clear such that we don't have any angry backers!

Visit the links below for more info on our resident composers.  You can also listen to samples of their work.

Nathan Courtright: http://www.nathancourtright.com/

Michael van der Sloot: http://soundcloud.com/mvds

We're very excited about the upcoming season and hope that you'll support us and become part of the BtG family!

www.bridgethegapchamberplayers.org

http://www.facebook.com/BtGChamberPlayers