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Chorus America, Smithsonian Find Perfect Harmony for Flag Day Celebration

In honor of Flag Day on June 14 and the 200th anniversary of the national anthem, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History plans to celebrate the day in a major way. A number of groups are collaborating, including Chorus America.

In honor of Flag Day on June 14 and the 200th anniversary of the national anthem, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History plans to celebrate the day in a major way. A number of groups are collaborating, including Chorus America.

You hear it before almost every Little League game, school assembly, and professional sporting event, but for its 200th anniversary, the National Museum of American History was hoping to do something special to celebrate the United States’ national anthem, which was penned by Francis Scott Key after the Battle of Baltimore in 1814.

Thanks to a large effort by NMAH’s Raise It Up! Anthem For America campaign, and some fortunate timing, the museum enlisted the help of a number of associations and other nonprofit organizations to put on a concert on the National Mall in Washington, DC, featuring guitarist Kristen Capolino, the United States Air Force Concert Band, and the Singing Sergeants. The event—being held on Flag Day, June 14—will culminate in the singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by more than 450 chorus singers.

Chorus America, a leadership development organization that represents the choral industry and that just so happened to be holding its annual conference in DC this week, reached out to offer to help the museum coordinate the event.

“About 18 months ago, we entered into an agreement with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts that we were going to do a weeklong festival of choral music during our conference, which would culminate in a huge chorus on the Mall on Saturday,” said Ann Meier Baker, president and CEO of Chorus America. “All of those plans were in motion when a board member of ours, who’s also very involved with the board of the Smithsonian Institution, told us about their plans to hold this celebration. It was just one of those lucky situations.”

Chorus America put a call out to members attending its conference to offer them the opportunity to participate in the event’s grand finale, Baker said.

“We’ve enlisted a good bit of research about this over the years and learned that people who sing in choruses, not only are there an enormous number of them, but they’re also really dedicated to their communities,” she said. “The opportunity to do something like this, it’s all about participation and coming together around a national anthem that bridges divides and is very much in keeping with the nature of choruses.”

Dozens of organizations are either helping to spread the word about Raise It Up! or are holding their own events in coordination with NMAH, including AARP, Boy Scouts of America, American Military Retirees Association, American Alliance of Museums, and National Association for Uniformed Services.

“Collaborations are always valuable, because of all of the connections that you make,” Baker said. “They can also be challenging. I’ve learned over the years that there’s huge payoff, but you have to make a big investment, too. This has been a very nice group of people to work with, and it’s been lovely to have likeminded, hardworking folks who are willing to roll up their sleeves and do what it takes to make something happen.”

(Smithsonian Institution)

Rob Stott

By Rob Stott

Rob Stott is a contributing editor for Associations Now. MORE

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