We appreciate all the positive input you provided us conveying that we are doing many things right. This is really encouraging. At the same time, we do understand that there are other areas where we can improve. There are some areas where some clarification is warranted as you will see below.
Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam will give serious consideration to the following constructive feedback:
- 3rd day programs should end at 7 PM
- Scheduled breaks for lunch and snacks on the first day
- Practice sessions should be conducted in the auditorium for a nominal charge
- Split USK into 2 groups to accommodate all the participating children
- Mark stage passes with row numbers on stage
CTU apologizes for the following and will do its best to take remedial measures in the coming years:
- Mis-communication about the commencement of the Utsava Sampradaya Kritis. The CTU volunteer making the announcement did not realize that there were CTU attendees still remaining in the Rama temple after the parents were requested to come to the Rathi auditorium. At the same time, we would like to appreciate all the attendees who attended the Nadaswaram concert. The attendance was a lot better than it was in 2007.
- Delay in the starting the concerts and dance performance.
- Inadequate sound testing. We did get positive feedback from the professional artists on the overall quality of the sound system.
- Not acknowledging the kids who sat patiently on stage after Utsava Sampradaya Kritis.
Here are responses to some other feedback:
1. Gundecha brothers concert should have been on Monday evening.
Please note that CTU is constrained by the arrival and departure times of the artists who are travelling around the country. Therefore, it is not always possible to position various artists at a time of our choice. That said, CTU accepts this as valuable input for consideration in future years.
2. Attendees (adults and children) should make proper behavioral choices within the auditorium during CTU events
CTU can request the attendees to not do things that will be disruptive to the CTU event at hand. However, CTU also looks to the attendees to make these choices on their own. CTU appreciates the CTU well-wisher who took the time to point this out through the feedback process. CTU agrees that we — as a community — should learn to respect the artists on stage and respect other rasikas.
Clarifications
1. There are a lot of talented and enthusiastic children that would like to be given an oppurtunity to accompany but were not given the oppurtunity due to lack of information on the process. Only people with inside information and connections could do it this year
CTU did not make any decisions on who should provide accompaniment. All these decisions were made by the lead performer in the Accompanied Performance. The Lead performers entered the registration with the names of the violinist and the Mridangist. The Lead Performer used his or her personal contacts to determine who should provide the accompaniment. The Accompanying artists did not approach the Lead Performer for a very simple reason. They did not know who the Lead performers were. The Lead Performers approached the accompanying artists of their choice. This is why the Registration process proactively requested for the full names of the accompanying artists.
Please refer to the responses to Questions 12 and 14 for more details at FAQ .
Also read: Accompanied Performances,
CTU 2008 RegistrationCTU would request all families — to work with each other — to create these “teams” of accompanied performances in preparation for next year. The information about accompanied performances was made available on the CTU website. Responses were provided to all questions posed. Therefore, the statement that “only people with inside information and connections could do it” is incorrect. At this time, CTU does not intend to make any changes to the process next year since it is as fair as it can be.
2. You need to have some special connections to have things properly arranged at the Utsavam and hopefully Nadhan can fix this problem. The kids of the volunteers seemed to always be in the prominent center spots in all the rows.
This statement is not true and there is no problem that needs to be fixed here.
Here is why.
Seating assignments were made in the presence of music teachers who were present during all the practice sessions. The overall quality of the USK program was the single driver for the seating arrangement. CTU accommodated several special requests including seating siblings in strategic positions for better photography and video as long as they were not in violation of the overall seating structure. Children were seated in different rows according to their age. Contrary to the feedback above, CTU has received a lot of positive feedback from parents and CTU well-wishers about the overall quality of the performance as well as this year’s arrangement having much better visibility than last year. We take pride in having incorporated the feedback we received last year and look forward to growing and improving each year.
3. Finally, it felt sad to see a few kids playing the violin sqeezed in the back while some others were in front. Seating should be fair and not limited to core members or teachers for all CTU group events.
All Pancharatnam participants were given a seat number based on the number of practices attended by them and not because they are core volunteer’s children. And also, the front row is allotted to children who can sing all songs without looking at the book and with confidence. Please note that there is only that much space on the stage, we can’t put everybody in the front row. Regarding the teachers seating, these teachers know all the Pancharatnam the CTU method and have trained students with that method. Pancharatnam participants are aware of all this as the attendance chart has been sent to them after each practice session.