The Kristin Linklater Appeal
***** THE KRISTIN LINKLATER APPEAL UPDATE (23RD MARCH 2021)
"...And into this nothingness the next breath enters, drawing, in a sense, the future into the present." - Kristin Linklater
Through everyone’s incredible generosity and commitment to The Kristin Linklater Appeal Fund we are jubilant and overjoyed to
announce that we have reached our first milestone in the continuing journey of Kristin's beloved Voice Centre in Orkney.
Since its launch in June 2020, our Appeal has raised £143,169! It’s an astonishing figure and we are both humbled, and exhilarated by
this achievement!
Our paramount thanks goes out to the Designated Linklater Teaching Community throughout the world. Their commitment and
generosity of time and energy have provided an engaging Linklater Live and Sessions programme which has generated over £33K to the Appeal fund. Truly amazing -- outstanding in fact -- and there are still many exciting offerings to come…Thank you all.
Additionally, we are also profoundly indebted to our ‘2020 Match Fund Patron’ and their commitment to double every £2020 raised.
They were instrumental in accelerating our fundraising and achieving our target. This success belongs to everyone who contributed
what they could, or simply reposted or forwarded the GoFundMe page - every donor has participated in purchasing a future for the
Kristin Linklater Voice Centre!
We have optimistic and dynamic plans for on-site activities resuming in August at the Centre while we await the Scottish government's instructions as to when it will be safe to gather in person. Your donations have allowed us to maintain the property, whilst
simultaneously securing the jobs of our current and essential team : Yvonne, Rena and Julie. Additionally, in the last two weeks we have also added two key new members to our team: Hannah Grady, Marketing Coordinator, and Kenny Manson, Business Manager (and
alumni workshop participant here at the Centre with Kristin in 2014).
In the interim we will continue to offer Linklater Voice workshops online which have expanded the international reach of Linklater
Voice work even further than Kristin could have imagined possible.
These last nine months have also given us an opportunity to identify new areas and opportunities for growth through a charitable wing of KLVC to be announced in the coming months. The purpose of this new initiative will be to buttress and enhance the Centre’s ability
to maintain the gold star excellence of Linklater Voice work world wide, while honouring it as a living ethos, and giving it space to shake out its curls every now and then. We have Kristin's writings to archive, archival videos to edit - not to mention a digital world of
teaching and outreach to expand upon. Critically we need to make the Centre financially accessible to all - that MUST be a foundational tenet of this institution going forward. Additionally we look forward to feedback from our community as to the mission for this
endeavour, which we hope will reflect the needs and potentiality of the Centre and the artists and teachers for which it was built.
To go back to Kristin's quote, we are now “drawing, in a sense, the future into the present'', and it is very exciting. Everyone’s hard work
is paying off and we thank you all once again for your contributions, generosity and support over these last months. The fundraising
team and I are grateful to each and everyone of you.
Hamish
The KLVC Fundraising Team
P.S. While we have achieved this phenomenal goal of our initial fundraising effort, and we hope everyone is popping a cork with Kristin’s name on it somewhere, we will be keeping this Appeal site active, for the sake of utility and familiarity, as we continue forward into the heart of Phase 2: The Relaunch of the Physical Centre which has necessarily been delayed from our initial Spring target.
***** MATCH FUNDING UPDATE (OCT 1ST 2020) *****
Dear Linklater Friends -
We have some exciting news to share....
WE HAVE MATCH FUNDING!!!
Every time we hit the magic number £2020 in donations, the money will be doubled by our match donor!!
Every contribution made from now until the end of October, whether you donate directly here through the Kristin
Linklater Appeal or by booking a Linklater Live session, - https://www.linklatervoice.com/workshops/linklater-live-webinars - will help us reach the magic £2020 number...over and over again!
The campaign is currently at £112,000 - with your help and with the help of our match donor we are confident we can make it to our target of £140,000 and beyond!
With love and gratitude,
Hamish, Magnus and the KLVC team
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The legacy of Kristin Linklater:
An Appeal to her friends, family and world-wide community
Since the sad news of Kristin’s death, we have been overwhelmed by the support and love you have shown her. We have been comforted and uplifted by the often passionate expressions of gratitude you have expressed towards her and her lifelong vision.
We are determined that her work – so valuable to so many people - should continue here at the Kristin Linklater Voice Centre in Orkney . But we need your help if it is to be carried on.
This year, the Coronavirus epidemic has meant that courses in Orkney have been cancelled, and the centre remains closed. But we believe that it can – and will – open again, to welcome students and teachers back to the place that Kristin herself created and which lies at the heart of everything she did.
To do that we must raise enough funds to keep it going through this year, to meet its running costs, clear off debts, and set it on a stable footing for the future.
Our £140,000 ($176,000) target
We have drawn up a two-phase business plan which has a target of £140,000 ($176,000.) If, with your help, we can reach that goal, then the Kristin Linklater Voice Centre (KLVC) has a future.
PHASE 1: THE BRIDGE FROM TODAY TO SPRING 2021
We transition KLVC to charitable status, whilst retaining the key personnel in Orkney who make it work, clearing debts accrued during the shut down, while simultaneously offering virtual coaching, generously donated by support from a number of Kristin’s finest teachers.
PHASE 2: THE RELAUNCH
We’re aiming for next Spring, and a dynamic rotating team of Linklater teachers continuing Kristin’s work. She herself was actively pursuing this transition at the time of her death, setting the Centre on a stable footing.
The initial total is enough, we believe, to save, and sustain KLVC over the next year. These funds will allow us to keep the lights on, reposition ourselves as a not-for-profit organisation, and breathe new life into the Centre in a post pandemic era. This was Kristin’s dearest wish – and we are determined to honor it. Additionally we will be establishing the Kristin Linklater Memorial Fund to fundamentally improve the access and diversity of the Centre. For KLVC to have a future it needs to increase radically BIPOC representation in both Linklater teaching ranks, AND workshop participation.
Will you help us ensure that her legacy continues and flourishes in Orkney?
On Mom and Orkney, a message from Hamish Linklater
Mom’s sudden passing has been immeasurably hard, but it's been overwhelming to receive so many messages about the effect her work has had on people’s lives.
Mom was brought up in Orkney and often spoke about how important the islands' landscape was to her work. She encouraged workshop attendees to explore, and experience the cliff tops and rocky beaches, the ancient neolithic UNESCO world heritage sites, the howl of the North Sea, all helping participants understand the source and force behind what she was doing. (Mom's work sizzled with the elements of the landscape in which she was raised).
"My work is filled with images of nature, and I think that is due to the fact that I grew up surrounded by the ocean, birds in rocky cliffs, grassy hillsides, and the wind and the rain." Kristin Linklater
This was Mom’s home, but she also built her Centre here because it was the optimal, natural, and inspired location for her work to be best understood, integrated, and breathed. Mom’s great hope was to have her work continue in Orkney, and we would be so grateful if you would help us at this critical stage in our endeavor.
Hamish Linklater