Yesterday, I hosted a barbecue at my house, and Ronen Givony, director of the brilliant cross-genre Wordless Music Series, was kind enough to supply the indie rock soundtrack. (He also helped light the grill.) For those who don’t know Ronen, his day job is as a grant writer with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, whom he had initially approached to host the Wordless Music Series back in 2006. When they turned him down, he decided to go out and produce the series on his own. Much to everyone’s surprise, Wordless Music has become one of the most talked-about musical happenings in the city, attracting generous writeups from Alex Ross and Your’s Truly. Now, for reasons which are probably clear, the Chamber Music Society has decided that they will no longer be needing Ronen’s services come September.
Ronen does have a game plan: he is intending to become the booking agent at a new multi-genre performance venue in the Village. But, that’s not going to happen until December at the earliest, leaving a gap of three to four months, during which he will basically be living off his savings. So, consider this a call to action: anyone that with any leads on full or part time grant writing jobs, or any other short term gigs that might seem appropriate, you can contact Ronen directly at the email address on the Wordless website: words@wordlessmusic.org. Or, you can leave a comment here, and I’ll make sure he gets it.