UMW conductor named vice president

BY KELSEY WHEATON

Kevin Bartram, conductor of the University of Mary Washington Philharmonic Orchestra, was a recently appointed vice president of the College Orchestra Directors Association.

Bartram will take his position as vice president next week at the group’s national conference in Fort Worth, Texas.

As vice president, Bartram will be responsible for fundraising and bringing in new directors and performers to the organization. He will also be the webmaster for their site, codaweb.org.

According to Bartram, his duties as vice president for the large organization will not interfere with his role as conductor of the UMW Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he has held for over ten years. Instead, this position will supplement his duties at the university.

Bartram said he hopes, through the position, to make the university more visible on a national and international level.

Following a one-year term as vice president, Bartram will move up to the position of president-elect and eventually be appointed president of the organization for the 2015-2016 academic year. He will become the first president elected from a Division III school.

In addition to receiving congratulations from the University itself, Bartram also received a letter from Sen. Mark Warner, in which he congratulated Bartram on his “commitment to the common good,” which has “made a lasting impact on the arts community.”

In his appointment as vice president, Bartram hopes to continue to make an impact on the arts community. As vice president, he plans to create an exchange program that works closely with the Argentinian Ministry of Culture, giving Argentinian performers the opportunity to travel to North America, as well as having performers from North America travel to Argentina.

Bartram says that creating new ambassador opportunities is one of his goals as vice-president, and the exchange program with the Argentinian Ministry of Culture would be an opportunity to make connections and spread advocacy for live classical music across the globe.

While he has two years before he will become president of the organization, Bartram is looking forward to the opportunity to serve as vice-president. He stated that it is largely through his experience with the university that he was elected to this position.

“I’m happy to get our name out there more,” he said. “It shows that small schools can still think big.”