While there are several excellent organizations that present music events in the Cortland area, there are few that present Classical music. Our purpose is to give opportunities for local musicians – especially Classical and Jazz musicians – in an environment where they can share their music and interests with the community.

The planned activities for Cortland Music, Inc. are primarily the presentation of music concerts and festivals, most of which will be free and open to the public. These activities are planned to take place in or near the city of Cortland, NY, a small community of less than 20,000 souls near the geographic center of the state. 

These festivals and concerts are organized and promoted by members of the board of Cortland Music, Inc., music teachers, music college professors as well as by other volunteers. 

The Classical Music Festivals present the talents of professionals, amateurs and students during a music event typically scheduled for four to as many as eight hours. Professionals are paid for their effort and may either accompany amateurs and students or perform as soloists or in small professional ensembles. Each soloist or group typically gives a half hour to an hour-long presentation. There are four festivals each year, with the summer event being held in a city park. Admission to the festivals is free and open to the public.

Individual concerts are also part of our music program. These concerts present the talents professional, usually local, musicians. Professionals are paid at a rate somewhat higher than that used for our festivals. The number of these events will vary, but four per year would probably be typical. Admission to these events has mostly been free and open to the public.

These activities further our charitable purpose in that the work is done for the public good. Our hope is to create and environment in which there are opportunities both for performers and listeners to enjoy classical and other styles of music that are not particularly popular in this area. Our educational purposes are served by the performance opportunities given to students, and the listening opportunities given to the public. Our cultural purpose is served by presenting music of a different time or of a different culture. In addition, the musicians often include insightful descriptions of the music and its historical or cultural context. Our scientific purpose may be served by a well-grounded understanding of acoustics, both for the recording of performances and in measuring and modifying the acoustics of performance spaces.  

While Cortland Music, Inc. is a non-profit, activities such as those described above have been going on for several years. Two sole proprietors businesses, Cortland Music, Inc and SikoraArts, have relied on the fiscal sponsorship of other non-profits to accomplish this.

The activities that I have described above represent roughly 80% of our effort. The remaining roughly 20% goes to related grant writing and fund raising to support these activities.