June 2023

Dear Musician:

Thank you for expressing your interest in and supporting Gateways Music Festival's unique mission of "connecting and supporting professional classical musicians of African descent."

We are thrilled to announce that Gateways is now expanding to host both a fall and spring festival each year. This means double the opportunities for musicians to participate! Additionally, multiple small ensemble performances fill out the season throughout the year and we have also strengthened our online presence. These developments will allow us to engage with more musicians and enhance our Festival's programs and activities.

While the level of interest in Gateways has grown significantly, we regret that we cannot accommodate all musicians who wish to participate at this time. We understand that this may be disappointing for those not invited, but please be assured that we are actively working to expand our opportunities and welcome more musicians to be a part of Gateways.

We would like to clarify our process for participation:

• Participation in the Gateways Festival Orchestra and chamber music programs is strictly by invitation.

• Multiple criteria are taken into consideration when determining invitations to the Gateways Festival Orchestra.

• The personnel for the Gateways Festival Orchestra changes with each festival. Our priority is to provide opportunities for first-time participants.

Furthermore, we are delighted to share that Gateways has experienced significant growth over the past decade. Despite this growth, we remain committed to further developing our programming and creating more opportunities to connect and support the community of classical musicians of African descent.