Representing San Marcos arts in the Big Apple

The students of the San Marcos High School Orchestra are raising money to travel to New York City and compete at a national level on a major arts platform – not only a first for many of the students, but a first in San Marcos history.

The San Marcos High School Orchestra made their first voyage last year to Corpus Christi to perform at the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Performing Arts Center. But according to Orchestra Director Christopher Hanson, what they thought was just a opportunity to perform at a great venue, turned out to be a competition, in which they swept away the judges and competition.

“While we were at Texas A&M Corpus Christi we performed in what was called the Scholastic Music Festival held by Director’s Choice. We prepared music and performed and really enjoyed it, and though it might seem odd, we didn’t even realize it was a competitive festival,” Hanson said. “But we swept the whole festival; we got Outstanding Orchestra in our class and Outstanding Overall Orchestra of the festival. We came home with all these trophies, and we actually didn’t even know they were trophies at the time; we were just so oblivious, we thought it was just an opportunity to perform at this beautiful venue.”

But over the summer, Hanson was contacted by a company called Forte Production, based out of New York. They invited the San Marcos High School Orchestra to come compete in the National Orchestra Cup.

“I asked them where they had heard about us and they told me that based off of the performance in Corpus Christi, that our name and the results had been shared with them and they wanted to invite the top school orchestras from across the country to come compete,” Hanson said. “It was really overwhelming to get that invitation, so we brought it to our administration and the school board, and both were very supportive of us going to represent San Marcos in New York City.”

Only nine high school orchestras from across the country were invited to compete in the competition, and only one will be named Grand Champion. As can be imagined, Hanson takes pride in his students’ accomplishments, but he said he wants that pride to spill over into his students and the community.

“These students are pretty extraordinary in my opinion, because they are taking on the added responsibility and challenge of trying to master an instrument and trying to explore the opportunities they have to express themselves through music, while still being a full-time high school student – and that’s huge,” Hanson said. “It’s a huge commitment to undertake learning an instrument and performing and rehearsing and all the time that is needed for the ensembles and the programs.

“We hear a lot of talk about student athletes, but I don’t think student artists get enough credit for the countless hours they spend working on their craft and working with each other so that when they perform together, it’s cohesive and whole. And this has given them the recognition they deserve, in that the work that they do and the skills that they have, give them these types of opportunity.”

Last year the Corpus Christi trip was the first time that a majority of Hanson’s students had actually traveled past San Antonio, and for some it was the first time out of the greater San Marcos area. The New York trip will be the first time for many of his students to travel out of state, and almost all of their first time to go to New York City, according to Hanson.

The cup will be held on March 9 in the Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City.

The plane tickets alone for the round trip for 50 students is $20,000. The students on their own have raised approximately $9,000 so far. But Hanson said that they are hoping to raise the money for the plane tickets separately so that the money the students have raised can be used for hotel accommodations, food and entertainment while in New York.

Local businesses and organizations are also joining in on the fundraising. Blakcliff, a local clothing and arts promotion company, and Mermaid Society SMTX have collaborated on a "Uniquely San Marcos" T-shirt, that 50 percent of all proceeds from their sale will go to the San Marcos High School Orchestra in their efforts to go to New York.

Mermaid Society SMTX founder July Moreno, San Marcos High School Orchestra Director Christopher Hanson and Blakcliff co-owners Tipsy Philip and Brock Freeman collaborated on the “Uniquely San Marcos” T-shirt as a fundraiser for the orchestra’s trip.

According to Blakcliff co-founder Tipsy Phillip, the idea behind the "Uniquely San Marcos" project was to highlight everything that is unique to San Marcos – from the year-round 72-degree river to the earthquake-formed caves found at Wonder World Cave and Park. But for the first shirt, they wanted to highlight the talented San Marcos High School Orchestra.

“We had an idea to start a project with Mermaid Society and Blakcliff and that idea birthed the ‘Uniquely San Marcos’ T-shirt to highlight the things that are San Marcos specifically,” Phillip said. “We were looking for a way to give back to the city, and July from Mermaid Society mentioned the high school orchestra needed funding to get to New York and we thought ‘what could be a better thing to do than to use this shirt as a platform to highlight what the orchestra is doing and donate half the proceeds for the trip?’”

The “Uniquely San Marcos” T-shirts are available at Blakcliff's website.

“These kids are getting a rare opportunity for those that can’t usually afford it or imagine being able to go on a trip like this. Because when you have to limit your imagination, your goals, dreams, everything suffers a little bit because you’re confined to what you are surrounded by,” Phillip said. “But if people believe in these kids and show them that their art, that their passion can take them somewhere, that’s something.”

With the event in full swing, the San Marcos High School Orchestra launches into a festive rendition of “Joy to the World,” during their fundraiser.

Donations are also being accepted through a GoFundMe page. They are hoping to have the $20,000 raised by mid-February, to purchase plane tickets, but will be accepting donations up until March 1. All donations are tax deductible. Checks can be addressed to the San Marcos High School Orchestra and can be delivered by hand or mailed to the San Marcos High School, 2601 Rattler Rd.

Hanson said that any money raised that goes over the $20,000 will go towards other visits for the students while in New York like going to see the Museum of Modern Art and other opportunities.

“When people write a check or donate money, they aren’t just giving us money, they are funding a life-changing experience for a student,” Hanson said. “Every dollar that we are raising is going to give a student an opportunity that they otherwise would not have had.”

The orchestra is seeking additional business sponsors and private donations for the trip. Those that wish to sponsor or donate to the trip can contact Christopher Hanson at 832-866-8355 or christopher.hanson@smcisd.net.