NYCGMC 2025 Membership Fundraising Drive

Hello everyone!

Thank you for considering to donate to the NYCGMC Membership Fundraising Drive! This is my 4th year with the chorus and I can gladly say it has been an incredible experience since the moment I walked into my first rehearsal. It is my weekly escape to go join my community, making the long commute out from Scotch Plains, NJ out to New York City (New Jersey Transit trains permitting).

The New York City Gay Men's Chorus puts on three major performances with a winter holiday concert, a spring concert, and June Pride Program. We are often given the opportunity to perform throughout the year all around the city at events such as the New York Stock Exchange Tree Lightings, Coney Island Cyclones Games, and Playbill Pride. This year, we have an exciting opportunity to perform as a headline chorus for the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Eastern Division Conference. This performance being a full circle moment for me having performed in ACDA honor choruses growing up.

On top of our choral obligations, the chorus fosters a community for queer people to meet and sing with each other. A place to be ourselves and sing the pop songs, musical theatre, ballads, dance music, and drag performances we've been chanting since we were young. While fostering our own safe space is important, we also recognize the impact we have on the LGBTQIA+ community at large. During a time of increasingly harmful legislation and violence against our community, it is imperative we share our voices and not be silent or silenced. The impact we have when we perform in person and in our social media is tangible to not only the local NYC community, but an international audience as well. It is in this goal of sharing music, hope, and joy that I ask for your donation to this incredible organization.

So how does your donation help the chorus? The donations we collect will go towards a variety of operating costs such as renting our rehearsal spaces, purchasing the rights to the music, granting us the opportunity to commission music by queer composers, contributing to our scholarship fund to ensure finances are never a barrier for singing members to be able to participate. No donation is too small and is incredibly appreciated. If you'd like to read more about our organization and further fundraising drive details please read further below. Thank you so much for your consideration!

Welcome to the NYCGMC 2025 Membership Fundraising Drive!

The New York City Gay Men’s Chorus is an internationally renowned performing arts institution in New York City and a pioneering voice for the LGBTQIA+ community. Through the power of song, the NYCGMC challenges people’s perceptions of the LGBTQIA+ community, combats fear and hatred, encourages compassion and human connection, and thrills audiences with inspiring performances. The NYCGMC champions social justice and embraces the values of diversity, inclusion, equity, and intersectionality.

Originally founded in 1979 and assuming its present form in 1980, the NYCGMC provided a safe and supportive community when LGBTQIA+ people faced daunting challenges, extreme discrimination, and devastating loss. The Chorus now confronts the unprecedented challenges of recent years in its inimitable fashion by reflecting on our extraordinary past and forging an innovative and exciting path towards the future, inviting New York City and the entire world to join in the celebration.

Comprising nearly 300 talented singers of various ages, backgrounds, and experiences, across a spectrum of gender identity and sexual orientation, NYCGMC is actively engaged in how we can be stronger together.

In addition to our mainstage shows, the NYCGMC annually presents over forty outreach activities across all five boroughs and beyond. Previous years’ outreach performances have included appearances at LGBTQIA+ teen homeless shelters, at SAGE (Services and Advocacy for older LGBTQ+ people), and at corporate and public pride celebrations. NYCGMC has performed at Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, and Yankee Stadium; at gala fundraisers for the Swish Ally Fund and the Ackerman Institute; and at the Brooklyn Museum and the Global Citizen concert in Central Park, among many others. Television appearances including Good Morning America, the Tonight Show, and Last Week Tonight have provided a national platform for the mission. In June 2022, NYCGMC performed in the 75th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall. In June 2023, the NYCGMC performed a concert exclusively for NYC middle and high school students at the Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture in the Bronx. Through technical assistance and joint concerts, NYCGMC supports development of LGBTQIA+ choruses in the U.S. and internationally. NYCGMC’s school outreach program has served over 2,000 NYC public middle and high school students. In July 2024, we joined over 7000 other queer singers in Minneapolis at the GALA Choruses Festival as a display of unity, strength, resilience, and solidarity for LGBTQIA+ people.

As a non-profit organization, NYCGMC relies on the generosity of donors to support this important work and to keep our song alive. Your support allows NYCGMC to amplify our mission and our voices at this important moment. In these critical times when LGBTQIA+ people are under scrutiny and attack, your donations make an enormous difference. Thank you in advance for your generosity!

@NYCGMC