Our Speaker Today:

Claire Crawford, Classical South Florida

Claire Crawford is the major gifts officer at Classical South Florida 89.7FM.

Claire was raised in Fort Lauderdale, went to school at FSU, NSU and Indiana University.  Prior to the position at Classical South Florida she chaired the Fund Development Committee of the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society.  She raised more than $6 million for the society and developed programs for its long-term sustainable funding. Crawford’s professional certifications include a Certificate in Fund Raising Management from The Fund Raising School at Indiana University, Certificate in Craftsmanship from The Craftsmanship Center and a Certificate in Arts Administration from Harvard.

Claire has been a member of the Broward Cultural Council for 20 years and was also the chair.  In this role, she worked with the Broward County Commission to add four additional sales tax categories to the Special Purpose Fund. Prior to that she was a member of the Florida Department of State and worked with Secretary of State George Firestone.   She was also a member of four-person team, led by the Florida Secretary of State, which increased cultural grant funding from $600,000 to $20 million in three years. Claire also volunteers as the vice –chair of the Fort Lauderdale Centennial Committee, which will celebrate the incorporation of the City on March 27, 2011.

Claire lives in Fort Lauderdale with her husband Bill Crawford, an attorney, and the author of Florida’s Big Dig, an awarding winning book on the construction the Intracoastal Waterway.

About Classical South Florida

Claire gave us an excellent overview of Classical South Florida, 89.7 FM.  The station has 25,000 weekly listeners and 1000 members. Classical South Florida is owned by American Public Media and is a non-profit corporation.

Ten years ago, classical music disappeared from south Florida. In October, 2007, American Public Radio bought the signal, and the mission of the non-profit is to promote availability and access to classical music. Research shows that the more people listen to the music on the radio, the more frequently they attend local music events.

Programming is shown on the website, and on Friday evenings in August, New World Symphony will be featured from 8 – 10 PM.

The station has changed the way hosts present music and are making the program successful, looking for ways to bridge the gap between people new to classical music as well as veteran listeners.

Underwriting is part of the funding for the station, and the funding is up 20% from last year. Statistics show that listeners typically earn over $75,000 per year, are homeowners, have a high educational level, and are between the ages of 36-64. More Spanish speaking listeners are now in the market, so the station is working to address the needs of the Spanish audience.

Claire created the Lunch and Learn program to attracto donors. This is similar to a museum program, where there is a lunch with a lecture on a special topic, for example Chopin, and they are also planning a gala for November 10^th.