Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School

Memories 2019
Greetings students and faculty of VOM 2019,
We hope you are savoring fond memories of our time together in the redwoods in late August – the tunes, the songs, the dances, the laughter and the sessions into the wee hours! This lively 36 th  VOM was epic and we want to thank everyone for supporting the camp in myriad ways. A huge  thank you!  and  gracias ! to our 2019 Instructors who contributed their musical skills generously and were a joy and an inspiration to all. A rich and varied tapestry of music and dance was woven into the Redwoods by all and it was a special treat to experience the music of our visiting Galician friends, who led us into their infectious music and dance with such energy and pizzazz!
As you are aware, the camp depends on volunteer effort and on donations in order to provide our program. There are many costs involved in providing an international faculty of top-notch tradition bearers and we believe strongly in providing financial aid for students who need it. Our two donation-fueled funds provided many opportunities for VOM participants and we want to thank all who gave generously:

  • The Peter Connelly Memorial Fund, with an infusion from the Maury Richmond endowment, provided $27,231 in financial assistance to 48 campers.  Without this aid, most of these musicians would not have been able to attend.

  • The Legacy Fund helps hugely with overhead costs and, for example, allowed us to bring our Galician friends to VOM from Spain

We received two generous offers this year from two campers to match up to $15,000 in donations to the Peter Connelly Memorial fund and an additional $15,000 to the Legacy Fund.  While the donations to the Peter Connelly Memorial Fund will continue to help fund campers on an annual basis, the donations and matches to the Legacy Fund will be used to set up a VOM Legacy Endowment.  This endowment will provide a mechanism for bequests and large gifts to be restricted to generating growth for unforeseen costs at VOM, to help us keep the rate of tuition increases low, and to provide for opportunities like bringing special musicians and/or groups that we would otherwise not be able to afford.  We are very grateful to these campers for their generous offers.
With sadness in our hearts, we honored the memory of our dear friend and musician extraordinaire, Cali McKasson.  Her loss was deeply felt, as was her presence in our sharing of memories and tributes to her. A special fund to provide financial assistance for young musicians was set up with generous donations from campers. This fund will have a particular emphasis on promoting diversity in the student body where possible. Each year, at least one financial aid applicant shall be named as “ Cali McKasson Kovin Memorial Fund recipient”. 
We are about to send out our annual fundraising letter for Valley of the Moon as well as Sierra Fiddle Camp and the other entities of our parent non-profit  Scottish Fiddlers of California .  Please consider donating and supporting camp so we can continue to provide an excellent program such as we had this year!
We look forward to yet another wonderful Valley of the Moon fiddling experience in 2020 and hope to see you there!

VOM Organizing Committee
December 6, 2019

PS Don’t forget to visit Smugmug for more amazing photos and videos of this year’s camp compiled by Amy Luper.

Scottish Fiddlers of California is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, and each of its projects is individually funded as well as supported by shared resources. Your tax-deductible donation can be specifically targeted, or allocated to the area of greatest need.