Members of the Saskatoon Chamber Singers and the Saskatoon arts community mourned the untimely passing of our friend Jacquie Ackerman in October 2018. Jacquie was a member of the Saskatoon Chamber Singers for over 20 years, and a board member for well over half that time. As a permanent legacy to Jacquie’s contributions to our choir, her leadership in the arts community, and love of music, we are honoured to announce the launch of the Jacquie Ackerman Memorial Commission Fund. The fund will be held by the Saskatoon Community Foundation.
The Jacquie Ackerman Memorial Commission Fund will be dedicated to the commissioning of new Canadian choral compositions, recognizing Jacquie’s passion for performing and conducting Canadian music. Commissioning new works is an important way of supporting the arts in Canada and making new repertoire available to choirs across the country and beyond. The ability to more routinely engage Canadian composers in the creation of new works will further the Saskatoon Chamber Singers’ mandate to perform and promote Canadian choral music.
We would like to thank Jacquie’s family for their kind support of this initiative. The first piece was commissioned in memory of Jacquie, and premiered at our November 11, 2019 concerts. You can listen to a recording here.
In establishing this fund, we are dreaming much longer term. To date, our choir been able to undertake four commissions, based on a combination of grants, donor support, and ad hoc operational funding. Inspired by the response so far, our goal is to secure funding for commissions many years into the future, ideally through the establishment of a permanent endowment fund. We are seeking to raise $15,000 to allow the commissioning of new works on a regular basis.
We invite you to join us in creating this lasting tribute to Jacquie.