Jacksonville Children’s Chorus: Scholarships on the ‘wish list’

The Jacksonville Children's Chorus was established in 1995 at Jacksonville University with 16 young voices. It has since grown to enroll more than 1,000 singers each year from diverse racial, religious and socio-economic backgrounds in its programs.

Darren Dailey, who became the chorus's president and artistic director in 2006, said the nonprofit's mission is to help children discover joy through music and to inspire excellence through choral education.

"I feel like I have thousands of children – and my two daughters," Dailey said.

Since 2006, the chorus has grown its choral education programs and developed self-produced, sold-out concerts including the annual Martin Luther King Jr. "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" event, the annual Cool Side of Yuletide holiday concert and performances with guest artists including Amy Grant, Voca People, Kristin Chenoweth and Audra McDonald.

The chorus performs with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and has toured for concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York City; at the Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston, South Carolina; in Ireland with the National Children's Choir of Ireland; at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, St. Mark's in Venice and St. Jacob's Cathedral in Corfu, Greece; and other venues in Italy, Spain and France.

When he arrived in Jacksonville, the chorus was funded primarily by local government arts grants, augmented by tuition from parents of chorus members.

"The only other organization that was funding the chorus was the Swisher Foundation, which no longer exists. It was clear we needed to diversify our funding," Dailey said.

Private philanthropy to support the chorus began soon after the chorus was founded with gifts from Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver, majority owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Their support grew in 2006 when they established the Jacksonville Children's Chorus Scholarship Endowment Fund.

"They have had remarkable impact in the community and the Weavers led the way for the chorus. It is a testament to their belief in young people and their support attracted other philanthropists," Dailey said.

Current major supporters of the chorus include State of Florida Division of Arts and Culture, the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, the Delores Barr Weaver Legacy Fund, Florida Blue Foundation, the Henry and Lucy Gooding Endowment, Bank of America Charitable Foundation and VyStar Credit Union, joined by dozens of other philanthropic organizations, local corporate sponsors and individual donors.

"When our donors visit a rehearsal and see what happens to create great young artists, they see that we are teaching lifelong skills," Dailey said.

According the the chorus's 2023-24 annual report, 27% of its annual revenue is earned income from programs and performance sand 73% from contributed revenue.

In that year, the chorus spent more than $50,000 for tuition scholarships.

"Forty percent of our singers are on partial scholarships. Scholarships are significantly underfunded, so that's what's on my wish list for the holidays," Dailey said.