Anniversaries are great! 10 years! That’s how long Outpost has been in the (not so) NEW Space. Yes, ten years ago-- May 2000-- was the opening concert by the great Herbie Mann with his Eastern European inspired ensemble, Sonaterra. It’s going to be another great season at the Space and beyond with everything from the Outpost/ Walker Art Center-commissioned Bill Frisell, Rahim AlHaj, Eyvind Kang Baghdad/Seattle Suite collaboration, to Joy Harjo, who returns with her one woman show, to Zakir Hussain once again at the Lensic. Something for everybody. And in July, it’s the 5th Annual Jazz Festival with Los Pleneros de la 21; Miguel Zenon; Toshiko Akiyoshi & our own Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra directed by Bobby Shew, and more! I’m excited. Hope you are as well.

So….. Here’s the deal. We couldn’t do it without your support, But you know that! And you’ve shown that you know that! Year End Donations, quite amazingly, were up 35% from last year. In these economic times that’s really something. THANK YOU and congratulations! We just ended a four year $100,000 grant with the Doris Duke Foundation— something that will not be easy to replace (but must be done!). Not surprisingly, we’ve heard from several granting agencies that grants will be significantly smaller for the foreseeable future. Makes sense. Grants come from Foundation investment income or Government funds and we all know what’s happened on that front. And all of our personal finances are hurting as well. So here’s what we need to do. MANY smaller donations are the way to go. Actually, it’s better that way— to not rely on any ONE source for support. It’s what happened this winter as many folks donated a bit less than last year. But there were MORE OF YOU. So let’s talk SPRING MEMBERSHIP DRIVE. We have a great base of around 650 members. Our goal over the next year is to raise that number up to 800 (900 in 2011; 1,000 in 2012). WE CAN DO IT. BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP. If you aren’t a member, become one today and get your friends on board. As a member you get discounts on tickets, plus discounts for your kids, newsletters sent to your home 3x per year, and invitations to member- only events. Tell you what… If you bring us a new member, we’ll give you a $5 discount off of your next membership! As it is, every spring is a great time to become a member. A membership of $45 or more gets you 10 free raffle tickets for a chance to win a trip for two to the Monterey Jazz Festival in September (thanks MJF!)

Finally, I want to thank all the people who think of ways to support Outpost. This past December, Albuquerque lost a wonderful and much-loved community member: Tim De Young—lawyer, musician, family man, and friend to many. His wife, Connie Meadowcroft decided to honor his memory by creating a fund to support our education program. Deep thanks to her and all the generous friends of Tim who donated almost $2,000 to this effort. Together we can keep it all going for another 20 years. I know we can!

Tom Guralnick,
Outpost Founder and Executive Director