Band Concert Will Benefit 'Our Own Thing' Projects

Conductor, Musicians Confer

F. Nathaniel Gatlin (third from left), conductor of the all black Virginia State College Symphony Band, talks with some of the members of his woodwinds section prior to a concert. The band will appear in concert at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Jones School auditorium to kick-off a fundraising campaign by the “Our Own Thing” organization to send 10 local youngsters to the National Music Camp at Interlochen this summer. This is the first Ann Arbor appearance of the Virginia Symphony.

Band Concert Will Benefit 'Our Own Thing' Projects

...the all-black Virginia State College Symphony Band will appear in concert at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Jones School auditorium at the kickoff of a fund-raising campaign by “Our Own Thing” to send 10 local youngsters this summer to the National Music Camp at Interlochen.

Last year, “Our Own Thing” — an Ann Arbor group dedicated to providing free cultural instruction to local youngsters — sent two Ann Arbor youngsters to Interlochen.

“Our Own Thing” classes are primarily designed for black youngsters, though about six of the 75 youngsters participating in the classes this year are white. The classes give instruction in music, dance, drama, creative writing, art and photography.

“Our Own Thing” hopes to raise $10,006 to send the 10 Ann Arborites to music camp. The Interlochen Music Camp is participating in the fund drive by making two half-scholarships available for this summer to “Our Own Thing,” according to Willis C. Patterson, associate professor at the University

School of Music and president of the “Our Own Thing” board of directors.

A cocktail party and a bucket campaign are two more activities planned for later this month as part of the fund-raising effort.

Virginia State College’s Symphony Band has appeared national television more than a dozen times in the past 10 years, and has performed before concert audiences in the major music halls of the East and Southeast.

In 1967, the band represented the United States at Expo ’67 in Montreal, Canada.

Virginia State College is one of the oldest black colleges in the country. It is located in Petersburg, Va. Conductor of
the symphony band is F. Nathaniel Gatlin, head of the department of music.

This will be the first appearance in Ann Arbor of the symphony band.

The 10 winners of “Our Own Thing” scholarships to Interlochen will be announced at Wednesday’s concert. The concert is free of charge, but donations are invited to support the fundraising scholarship drive.

Money is also attended to support ongoing programs and to expand the group’s scholarship efforts on behalf of needy University students in the area.

The scholarship winners are expected to be mainly Ann Arbor elementary and secondary students.