[28 April 2020]

Dear Friends,

The board met about a week ago to continue deliberations about the fall out from the pandemic. Summarized below are actions taken to adjust the processes concerning the Election of Directors and the Carillonneur Examination, so that they can still take place in light of the unprecedented cancellation of congress.

First, the Election of Directors. The ballots will be mailed out to voting members in a few days as usual, but the only way to vote this year will be by mail. Please carefully read the instructions included with the ballot. To be counted, your ballot must be received by the Corresponding Secretary by June 25. A detailed explanation of the revised procedures can be found here. The election results will be available in July, and will be posted on this webpage and announced to the email list.

Second, the Carillonneur Examination process. Once the decision was made to cancel congress, the board sought the input of the exam committee on a number of potential ways of continuing the exam process. The exam chair also obtained information from candidates who passed the recording stage about their individual circumstances. After considering all of the different factors, the board unanimously approved the following adjustments to the process so that the candidates who passed the recording stage (i.e. those who received the approval of at least four out of five jurors) can complete the Carillonneur Examination process this year:

The recordings submitted by the candidates in January will constitute their examination recitals. As of about June 1, members with the right to vote in advancement votes will be invited to listen to those recordings online, and to cast their advancement votes online during the month of June. We will be using an e-voting service offered by Simply Voting Inc to conduct this vote. Additional information will be provided to voting members by June 1. We expect to be able to announce the results sometime in July. Further details are available here.

In view of the exceptional circumstances caused by the pandemic, this is a fair and equitable adaptation. Through no fault of theirs, candidates will not be able to perform for the whole membership this year, so we hope to feature this year’s successful candidates in New Members’ Recitals at future congresses, so that they can perform for everyone and receive belated but well-deserved congratulations for their hard work and achievements.

More information about these adapted processes and additional updates about the cancellation of Congress 2020 can be found at https://www.gcna.org/2020-updates/ 

Finally, we are working on offering, in webinar format, some of the presentations that would have taken place had congress not been cancelled. More details to come!

Before signing off, I want to thank all officers and board members for all of their work in recent weeks: three meetings in 30 days might be a record? Thanks also to our volunteer committees for continuing their work in these difficult circumstances. We will prepare and distribute officer and committee reports in June as usual, so you will learn about all the good work happening behind the scenes this year.

Keep safe and stay healthy!

Roy Lee
President