Holiday Concert Fundraiser TOGETHER TOGETHER TOGETHER Announced December 3

Pollock Properties Group of Keller Williams and Matt Keane of Guaranteed Rate will present the Holiday Concert Fundraiser Event of the season! Join Charlie Pollock & Friends for this exciting family-friendly night of holiday music & cheer, while raising money for the Vanessa Pollock Music Initiative!

This is our 8th annual concert, and we are so thrilled to be able to be back TOGETHER again in person (finally!) after two years of producing this annual holiday concert online. We will still be livestreaming the event this year, for those who are unable to join us in person.

Every year for eight years, Broadway star, Charlie Pollock (Pretty Woman, 9 to 5), gathers his world-class musician and Broadway friends to delight audiences and raise money for the "Vanessa Pollock Music Initiative", a fund managed by the Achieve Foundation. Last year's concert, which was live-streamed due to Covid, had over 3,400 views!

Scheduled to appear with Charlie this year for the concert titled "TOGETHER" are some Broadway and film industry favorites, such as Colin Donnell (Anything Goes, Almost Famous, Netflix's 'Irreverent') Ginna Claire Mason (Wicked, Hallmark's 'A Holiday Spectacular'), Kevin Kern (Finding Neverland, Les Miz) Mary Kate Morrissey (Mean Girls, Wicked) Mark Evans (Mrs. Doubtfire, Waitress), with a special holiday message from Norbert Leo Butz. This year's concert will be directed by Mark Marshall.

This year's goal is to raise $16,662 for private music lessons or upgraded instruments for all 18 students that the South Orange/Maplewood school district music teachers have nominated!

Taking place December 3, 2022 at 6pm for Happy Hour (wine & SOMA Brew beer will be available for purchase by donation) and at 7pm for the concert! We are at an exciting new venue that provides incredible sound as well as real-time live-stream capabilities (so you can also watch from the comfort of your own home as a family)!

DATE: Saturday, December 3

TIME: 6pm Happy Hour, 7pm Concert

VENUE: 639 Mountain Avenue, Springfield NJ

TICKETS ARE LIMITED FOR IN-PERSON SEATING. Suggested donation of $20+ per person

REGISTRATION REQUIRED FOR LIVESTREAM CONCERT LINK: Suggested $25+ donation

All viewers must register! (in-person & livestream)

REGISTER HERE!

The VPMI was founded eight years ago by Vanessa & Charlie Pollock, founders of Pollock Properties Group at Keller Williams, in order to fund the rental of band and orchestra instruments for all in-need students in the district, as well as help repair instruments throughout the South Orange-Maplewood School District (SOMSD), and to provide private music instruction and professional-grade instruments to prodigious Columbia High School students, who are nominated for the award by their music teachers. Since the program was established, the VPMI has underwritten the rental of more than 800 instruments so that all students who wish to participate in band or orchestra are able to do so, and has awarded 60 scholarships for private music lessons or professional-grade instruments to talented CHS students. The VMPI has also funded several music-related teacher grant requests over the years.

This year, the VPMI has already funded 2 teacher grants for $6670 (partial purchase of 3 string bass instruments for schools and upgraded mouthpieces for CHS students!) It also plans to fund more than $9000 for the rental of over 130 instruments and awards will be offered to 18 students for lessons/instruments.

The Vanessa Pollock Music Initiative is conducted in partnership with the SOMSD and Achieve Foundation, the local Education Foundation. Achieve is an independent, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that raises funds to promote exemplary public education for all students and educators in our community. Said Achieve Executive Director Eileen Collins Neri, "The VPMI is compatible with Achieve's mission to help ensure that all children in the South Orange-Maplewood School District have equal access to every learning opportunity, and we're pleased to support the arts in our schools through this fund."

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