The Story of Sounds

Beginnings

The roots for Sounds of Kingman were planted during the late 1990s and early 2000s, when a group of local citizens were working on Heritage Crossroads, an organization that had as its primary goal to bring a RU/DAT Study to our town. (RU/DAT is a project of the American Institute of Architects.) One of the projects that Heritage Crossroads provided in the early 2000s for a couple of summers was free concerts in the park. They were well attended and seemed very popular.

Later, when the Kingman Center for the Performing Arts Committee was becoming active with their efforts to build a permanent center, Robin Gordon and Karen Lynne had an idea. It seemed to them that, in conjunction with the movement for a Center, a movement was needed that would engage and encourage the community’s interest in attending live performances. At lunch after the Holidays in early 2010, Robin and Karen decided on the steps they would need to take in order to build a committee to meet this goal.

They made an appointment for March 25, 2010, to talk with Darel Fruhwirth, then the Director of Kingman Parks and Recreation, in order to get his support and to ask for a cooperating relationship with Parks and Recreation. This step was vital for two reasons: Taking advantage of the City’s liability insurance and also gaining access to venues available to the Parks and Recreation Department through inter-governmental agreements–such as the high-school auditorium. They found Mr. Fruhwirth to be extremely interested and cooperative. Thus, Sounds of Kingman was launched.

Robin and Karen asked some of their former Heritage Crossroads associates and other friends to join; they in turn recruited a few other people, and an initial meeting was planned. The first committee meeting was held on May 4 at the Community Center on Harrison. Attending were Robin, Karen, Martha Prumers, Rosanne Rosenberg, Joshua Noble, and Wendy Dunlap.
At the first meeting, the name Sounds of Kingman was chosen, a Mission Statement and a Vision Statement were written. A freewheeling discussion helped members focus on some future strategies for implementation as well. Pro-tem officers were appointed: Robin agreed to serve as Chair, Karen as Vice Chair, and Wendy as Secretary-Treasurer. Martha and Karen agreed to work on a draft of bylaws for the group’s consideration, and the next meeting was set for May 14. Sounds of Kingman was on its way!

As We Go On