Marcia Van Beek and Kimera Way Interview
Item
Title
Marcia Van Beek and Kimera Way Interview
Description
Marcia Vanbeek is the former director of Major Gifts at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, and Kimera Way is the former president of the Foundation. They both discuss their role in the Viennese Ball, their past and current involvement with the event and on the committee, and the importance of scholarships and the significance they hold to the event. Both women also talk about changes the Ball has seen since its inception, such as the impact of the New Davies Center on the Ball.
Narrator
Interviewer Austin Kaiser
Date
May 2, 2019
transcription
AK: Austin Kaiser
MVB: Marcia Van Beek
KW: Kimera Way
AK: So then if I can just have both of you have some general background knowledge
here. Where are you originally from?
MVB: North Dakota.
AK: Then what brought you to Eau Claire then, I guess?
MVB: As a child my father decided to go back, or to start college and that is what moved us all around and eventually moved us to Michigan and to Wisconsin where he had his first position, so, yeah.
AK: And then are you from?
KW: I’m not, I’m from Wyoming originally and I've worked in higher ed my whole career and, I have been here in Eau Claire since 2001, at UW Eau Claire.
AK: Alright. So, I know you had left the university now, correct?
MVB: Right, I retired late last summer.
AK: How long were you with the university?
MVB: A little over 18 years.
AK: You had said since 2001, so?
KW: Yeah, so that's a little over 18 years too.
AK: Around the same time, awesome. Alright, and then so do you have the same job as Marcia here had as well, or a little different?
MVB: Different positions.
KW: Yeah, different positions. I came in as the executive director of the foundation to run the first campaign and then about 6 years into it I became the president of the foundation.
AK: And your job title was?
MVB: I was hired as director of major gifts and that was my title the entire time.
AK: Awesome, thank you. So, kind of the whole premise of this is to learn about the Viennese Ball and what you two have played your role in there, so kinda what was your involvement in the Viennese Ball and do you have any current involvement still?
MVB: I do, I have been serving on the committee that they kind of put back together about, I don't know, a couple months ago I think. So, you would like to know my role as, when I was employed here, ‘cuz I have different histories.
AK: Yeah like, sure, I guess if you want to start with what you kind of began doing at the Viennese ball and how that evolved I guess.
MVB: So in the very beginning, I was involved as a musician in the community, with the Eau Claire regional arts, not regional arts, Eau Claire musical arts corral, sorry. The old regional arts did become a thing yeah. So it's the Eau Claire musical arts corral and we were invited back in the early days of the ball in its inception, it was very much supported with community members, who actually physically put the ball together, you know, really build you know whatever it was, they put up the curtains in the ballroom and did a number of tasks, and that was really the only way the Viennese Ball happened back in that day when it was starting so it was very much a community, university effort
to put it on. So the group that I was involved in was invited to sing and be in the salon concert which was the opening of the ball, back in the day, and that was in the spruce tamarack area where the chandelier is that they moved to the new Davies Center were originally placed and so that was basically a concert that was to start the ball and then after that they did the grand march and the orchestra started playing so, we were like the opening show, preformed about an hour. Then, I served actually on one of the Viennese Ball committees back in the day when Chancellor Haas was here, and that was just only a year that I was on the committee then, but then it, my role when I started in the foundation in 2000, I was, I guess, a logical conduit with the Viennese Ball committee and the foundation, so I served on that committee then the entire time that I worked here and then the committee kind of disbanded I guess for one year and then they called it back so I've been asked to come back and serve on the committee, so I’ve been at the last couple of meetings and, spending time with them. So my role on the committee and as a foundation staff member was making them aware what was in the endowment and kind of talking about scholarships and helping them, providing some guidance with them in terms of how they put their scholarship package together for the ball each year.
AK: And then have you had similar involvement or?
(4:50)
KW: Well no not really because Marcia was so actively involved. I really was kind of a bit player in that I think that the main involvement that I had was, a few years after I got here there was an interest in probably doing a little bit more fundraising, I mean the way it worked is when you ordered your tickets you could say I want to do an extra contribution and so they’d buy their tickets and then the extra contribution would come over to start building an endowment, and then we had this notion of creating an emperor's circle and Bruce Larson, I don't know if you've heard that name but, der Kaiser, is a wonderful wonderful man, I mean he looked like Kaiser Wilhelm and he really
played that up and he was over and, he’s since passed, but he was over in St. Paul and he had this notion of we should try to do this. So I worked closely with Bruce for a number of years where we promoted the emperor's circle and it was if you gave a thousand dollars you got kind of special recognition and the goal was to try to build an
endowment separate from the proceeds from the Viennese Ball, proceeds that they used to actually support scholarships so we were, we built the endowment through gifts from people when they bought tickets and they made extra money and then for a period of time there was the emperor's circle and, so we have a nice endowment that we’ve supplemented money that's come in from the sale of tickets, and then worked with Bruce, he fell in love with the singing statesmen, loves the singing statesmen, loved the singing statesmen, and so he created a scholarship for the singing statesmen, for an outstanding singing statesmen who, then that scholarship was announced and awarded
at the Viennese Ball, and then when he passed he had an estate gifted endowed that scholarship so, but we used to, one of the things that we would do is he would bring lots of guests, he had friends, he actually started his own Viennese Ball in St. Paul for a couple years, and he had friends that were really engaged and they loved dancing and
everything so he would bring groups of people over with him and he'd be here for both nights of the ball and he'd be in full dress as the Kaiser and we would, we would buy roses for him, so we’d buy a dozen roses each night for him to hang out, to hand out to young women, you know, just to go around and just kind of give a rose, I mean he played
that role to the hilt, it was, he loved that, he loved doing the Viennese Ball, so that was my role as really trying to build that some additional fundraising and then working quite a bit with Bruce until he passed.
MVB: Well that also makes me think about how the fund itself and the foundation, which was separate from the revenues that come from the dollars earned from people going to the ball, but there were a couple of fundraising efforts and I think one was at the silver anniversary, the 75th anniversary of the university, there was an effort to
raise funds at that time and then there were funds for Ada Bors obviously the founder?
KW: Right, in memory of Ada Bors. And the the Bosendorfer piano that was, we had fundraised for that, to purchase the Bosendorfer which is the piano that gets rolled out for the, specifically for the Viennese Ball. And we, I think there was a period of time after Ada retired and there was new, Sol was in charge and there was this transition I mean frankly the transition wasn't as smooth as it might have been, and I think we played a role of just trying to help kind of keep things stable and mediate and make sure that were keeping things moving forward and, really trying to help keep the big picture in mind and, eye on the target. And now, with the chancellor you know, he loves the Viennese Ball and so he likes to have guests come so we've actually used it in the last few years as a donor engagement opportunity where, we've had major donors come and you know, and we've really promoted the ball and where he hosts people each night and, yeah he loves it.
AK: Alright, so one other thing I actually wanted to kinda ask you two about, we have looked into as much of the history as I guess we could kind of find, but from what we've heard it kind of sounds like scholarships, which you two are kind of, you know, that's what you’ve been working at, that's kind of what brought on the Viennese Ball and
kind of the purpose of it, I guess that kind of surprised me I guess when I thought of it I mean it definitely makes sense looking back, but I just though throw this big elaborate ball, I don't know if you could just tell me a little bit about, I don't know, especially if you know kind of since you've been around since more towards the end.
MVB: It was really an idea born by Ada Borres and I'm sure with chancellor Haas as well they sure worked in tandem in getting this off the ground, but yeah she really wanted to support the music students that's kind of the, its inception, really started out with music students so as, in the beginning stages the faculty was very involved. Of course the orchestra, jazz, all of that was very involved in performing, but in general the scholarship, that was the whole focus and the purpose, and it was a way to engage with community to get involved in that as well so through really getting them to come in the attendance of the ball really increasing over the years that secured a lot of scholarship dollars.
(10:27)
KW: So I’m trying to think if I’ve got this progression correct. So Jo Dahl, Johannes Dahl, who was, initially was the director of the Davies center and I think he worked with Ada, well then he came over and ran the foundation, and I think that connection of, well if we’re going to do this let’s also, I mean I think Ada had actually gone to a Viennese ball and was fell in-
MVB: Well absolutely her knowledge of it was from going to Austria, and I’m sure you have heard that or have that history, right?
KW: And so I think she came back and probably with her conversations with Jo, the notion of well how can we do this really cool event that we can engage the community but have a purpose, and the purpose was let’s raise scholarship dollars which of course we as a university historically have been known as Wisconsin singing university
and so I think that the notion that here we’re going to have our students front and center we’re gonna showcase them and that the proceeds should go to help scholarships with students and then president Haas, very much interested in the international component so, it actually was a really, I think a quite serendipitous connection in that, you know you have a wonderful university that’s got this great reputation for singing, you have an international focus, and that you wanted to do something more than just have an event. You wanted to have, and I think that was the way to effectively engage the community and so, and then it became such a part of our culture and our history and our tradition that I think that’s where?
MVB: Yeah and winding back, so the group that I sang in in the very beginning, we all wore gowns from the 1850’s era which is kind of when the whole Straussen, all of the waltzes and all of that was very prevalent so we actually staged and kind of did light operetta so it was sort of a staged dancing, singing kind of a thing so that was in keeping
with, really what Ada was wanting to promote.
KW: Yeah I think there was a real desire to try to replicate, you know exactly what you would see in, so if you couldn’t go to travel to Vienna you were gonna bring Vienna here.
AK: Yeah, come to Eau Claire. One other thing I kind of wanted to check with too, how did you see the Viennese ball kind of change from the old Davies center to the new I guess? ‘Cuz I’m trying to think of what year it was finished here and everything.
KW: It’s been about 7 years. 2012.
MVB: It’s, well, maybe it’s been about 4 years. 2007?
KW: 2012? 2012, yeah.
MVB: Wow, that’s gone fast. I think in the old Davies center it was so one floor, kind of, I mean it was pretty compact, and you pretty much had a chance to kind of see everybody who was there as you would walk back and forth from the area where the Polka band was playing and the other area where the orchestra and the jazz. So there was more of an intimacy I think in the old Davies, on the other hand it was extremely crowded so moving to the new Davies center you know, obviously alleviated some of that, but being more spread out I would say it’s, you know, it doesn't have the same feel in terms of, you know you could go the whole night and not see somebody that you knew was gonna be at the ball that night because you were just passing each other wherever, yeah. So it’s harder to connect I think with people that are attending, but the venue, obviously has allowed for some expansion and, you know, more people can be there as well so, I mean that’s the good that probably outweighs, you know what the old Davies had.
(14:17)
AK: That's kind of hearing from our other classmates that have done their interviews as well it kind of sounds like people have mixed feelings about it, that it kind of lost something.
MVB: It did
KW: Well you have to keep in mind that you know when they started this it was all geared towards the old Davies so all of the decorations, all of the setting, everything was geared towards that building so then you got rid of that building and you have a new building and you know I think it was trying to retrofit all of the old stuff all of the old
decorations and the old staging and the old setup in the new building and frankly the first year was kinda a little bit rocky.
MVB: And well they tried to have everything on the same floor the first year which was the Dakota Ballroom is where they put the polka band and then in the ballroom itself was where the orchestra well you can tell even just the proximity of that people coming and going it was just impossible and it was crazy.
KW: So I thing I think I have observed is that what is the sweet spot between preserving tradition and those who have had a long ownership in it and trying to make changes and adaptations to the changing tastes. One of the things I think has been probably a real challenges is that in the beginning the bulk of the people that attended were people from Eau Claire, the city folks. And so it was really an opportunity, it was a great dressed up event for people in the community and was kind of the event of the spring. And now the mix is more heavily geared towards students coming which I mean you have to value and appreciate that there is a role for students, but it has changed the nature of the feel of it or the formality of it. I mean honestly I went one year and the groups performing I think they were all students and I think as the night wore on they had all been drinking quite a bit and so there was a little bit of, not that that's a bad thing, but you know it just became and I think that it’s an opportunity, but potentially a challenge is how do you continue to adapt the ball to changing tastes and changing interests of of today. But also
provide it as an opportunity for a real multi generational event because we still have you know what I think is the beauty of it all is we have these amazing waltz people, people who are just like artists and they come from the cities and to just watch them on the dance floor is just. I mean I can’t dance worth a darn, but to see them dance is just
stunning and we have students who just really value that and what I also think is just cute and charming is that invariably every year someone gets engaged at the V-Ball which that is a tradition.
AK: Last year I had gone and when I was kind of on my way out I had just happened to peak into one of the ballrooms, I can’t remember which one, but I saw a guy drop down on one knee and pop a ring out of his pocket. I just happened to look in to see if my friend was still in there and happened to see this whole engagement and everything.
KW: It has become tradition almost that students who had any connection and you know we see Alumni who come back, groups of friends who come back specifically for the ball and so to have that identification and that connection is part of their history of the Viennese Ball. Pam Matson the chancellor and I saw this alum who lives out in
California, but she has friends and family here and she was going to here for the weekend over the ball so we were telling her sisters and her nieces all got dressed up and came to the ball and so that was so for us who work with alumni to have that linkage and connection of something that was so uniquely identified with Eau Claire is, that’s
what you have to preserve. You still have to adapt, but the big controversy is that if I am correct is that the volunteers use to make all of the tortes and the cakes and again that was a great source of pride and come along this notion of well there is food safety issues and so now the volunteers can’t do that. That was the real hard thing for the volunteers to give up, and it was such a neat engagement thing, but now you can’t.
MVB: And it started out as just one night and so if you didn’t get a ticket you know you didn’t go. And it was so difficult right. So if you made a torte you got a ticket.
(19:04)
AK: Okay, so that was kind of the key to get in?
MVB: But also that was really important and I think in the adjustment period some of the people who had made tortes in the past I think the next year when they didn’t do it they provided tickets for them as sort of a transition to smooth that change, but that was a big rude awakening to some people who that was their ticket to the ball every
year.
KW: I think it’s two nights and Saturday almost always sells out immediately, Friday night is a tougher deal, but it’s still big. It is a tremendous amount of work for those who have to do it, but there is an alum who lives, I think he is with the military. He is with the production crew and he comes back every year to help with the ball.
MVB: A lot of the original people, I can really only think of one person his kids went to school here and his wife worked here Laurie Gapko who was like an original on like those old committees to now. There aren't really many people who are left.
KW: They had the Austrian ambassador come a number of years. And a representative from the Austrian embassy.
MVB: There were also in the early days speaking of scholarships there was this exchange that Ada wanted to put together, she not only wanted students from Austria to come here, but our students to go there. And there was a point of time in the beginning where a company that I'm not going to remember the name of the company, but they literally paid for airfare for students to spend time going to school in Austria, I mean it was a huge, huge deal that fell by the wayside after a number of years, but that exchange was in Graz Austria was very important to Ada because she felt like that was also a way to get the students to understand the culture of the ball by visiting that
culture. That was a very cool aspect of all of this. She had support from businesses and she went over there and met people who would be like the equivalent of our governor or whatever in Austria and met many people who supported the ball financially for years so that too really was the startup of the fund and the foundation to establish that foundation fund.
AK: Is there anything that you two in particular would like to see change about the ball or have seen change that you really enjoy?
KW: I think probably one of the things that I have found is there is such a rich history. I mean change is always good, but change for change's sake isn’t necessarily the best thing and I think there has been for a number of years a core group of people who have really helped understand the why and everything of the ball. What I've seen the last
few years as new people have come on and they don’t have the sense of what is this all about, some people view it as oh my god this is a massive amount of work for a two night thing, why do we do this, lets not do it, or lets change. I know they are thinking about doing a different kind of a band or a different kind of a setting for more of a cabaret type, I can't remember what they are. But I think it is always important you leave yourself open, how do you adapt and how do you reflect changing tastes, changing interests, but that you don’t lose sight of what is such a signature item for this university. I mean it is an amazing showcase for our student musicians. I mean it is a lot of work, but where else do you get all of the different groups that are performing, the theatre students with the statues, something that is so ingrained into the ethos of this university. I think that is important to not lose that fundamental why do we do it and what's really good about it. Flipside of it is for a period of time it was so ingrained that I mean if you thought about changing the color of the napkins almost whoa that was a big deal and so there has to be kind of a happy medium. I don’t want us to see it not, ya know it is a lot of work, but I think it is work that produces a good result and it’s a great opportunity for us to showcase the university in ways we usually don’t.
MVB: I would concur with that, I also think just budgetarily looking at obviously community members pay more than students pay, and I also think there should be an element of that factored in, because it is to make scholarships and to really to really take a look budgetarily where that sweet spot is as well so they can maintain that and I don’t
know if they regulate numbers, I think at one point in time maybe did, but I don’t know if they still do. But I think just looking at that budgetarily yeah. I think I would like to see more of the elegance of the old ball as a community person.
AK: That seems to be kind of the popular opinion of other people that have been interviewed for this project is that it kind of lost this sort of elegance.
MVB: It is kind of a numbers thing, I think if you have enough of that older guard that's really into that elegance than you have those role models present, when that gets tipped you no longer have that presence. And so that again is sort of push pull that the committee has to struggle with, getting a good balance of that.
KW: I’ve found they call it prom for adults ya know because it is, it's an opportunity and there is a group of even as you get older the opportunity to get dressed up and to go out and really have that feel of doing that, I don’t think people will ever lose sight of that and so I do think that and that's one of things is that you have to question is okay if you take away everything and it just becomes another night out you can just go anywhere and have a night out, you take away some of the things that make this unique and so if you hold to some of the values of that and you make it unique than it will always have an audience, if you start dumbing it down so to speak to where it just becomes nothing unique about it then there is no motivation for people to want to come and do that.
(26:41)
KW: I don’t agree that people ya know there is still a desire in people I mean you see this with the students, the students dress up, and their in formals you see a desire of young people to even do that kind of yeah
MVB: Well and I would hope that the statesmen would continue to sing the songs of Austria and the traditional pieces, to me that does set the tone for that and I think from a music stand point they are starting to wave away from that little bit and I would like them to keep the integrity of what the purpose of the ball is when they select their music to me that kinda goes part and parcel and I do think they have kind of veered away from that. Some of the music has gotten sort of very serious just a whole different genre go music from what you would expect at the ball at the opening concert.
AK: Yeah yeah I’ve got some friends who are in statesmen and WOCO and everything so I usually go and see that every year
MVB: I think statesmen has for the most part have kept in the Danube Waltz and ya know some of those really traditional pieces. I think WOCO doesn’t. I think they have veered more away from that.
KW: And you know that comes down. We always talk about this we do things and if we’ve done something we do it year in and year out we get tired of it but we have to remember that our audience is always changing. And there are just certain things that you just have to do whether you think “Oh my god if I sing the Alma mater one more time” but you think about you go to a UW Madison game and the alma mater and the oo-rah-rah and all of that and they do that. and I mean what do you think about when you go to a football game. The first thing I think about is the Jump Around and the band may get tired of hearing that and tired that, but for the audience that doesn’t live and breathe
that. And I think that's what's probably really great about the V-ball is it does have a preserved sense of tradition and I think that every institution needs a certain number of traditions and those of us who are here and now it’s our responsibility to preserve and protect. Just because we may get tired of it. We aren't the…
AK: Doesn’t mean that other people shouldn’t get to experience it. So going on. How have you seen the scholarships that the university provides kinda shake the university and change the Viennese ball and how it affects the students and everything.
KW: Well ya know to be honest. We have pushed hard, we’ve advocated hard because for a number of years they were giving out fairly small, and a lot of scholarships, but really small and we just said of you are touting this as a major scholarship thing then your scholarships have to be meaningful. Besides I think Marcia has been a wonderful
voice in saying “we have the money lets award that”. I think that if you look the long picture there has been a lot of students that have gotten a lot of money.
MVB: I mean I don’t know the figure off the top of my head, you have probably interviewed people who do. Each year primarily the money has come out of the revenues from the ball itself. What the foundation has been able to do is supplement that to a degree where they can make those little bit more plus the Ada Bors service award. It was added to the mix and so they have expanded really not just musicians but they have expanded it to the students who are really working hard to prepare for the ball in Davies so they have made scholarships available now for them as well. That's been going on for a number of years, but that change I think throughout the years was a good change. And it covers musicians instrumentalists and singers so it covers the whole gambit in terms of the music department.
KW: Yeah I think people feel honored especially the people who get the named awards that are real specific. yeah they get the medals. They are sorta the visible winners, but the students get stipends that sort of thing for working at the ball as musicians.
(31:39)
AK: Have you seen, you probably don’t deal to much with admissions, but have you seen this bring music students to the university? Do you think this something that kind of attracts prospective students to bring them here?
KW: I think it is definitely a piece of the whole picture but oh my goodness the music department excels in so many ways and in so many areas that it just helps build that picture for people coming here. I mean its another opportunity for students to experience. I don’t know if I would say if its the reason but it certainly is a part of it. Wouldn’t you agree?
MVB: Yeah I mean there really isn’t a weak part to the yea ya know, jazz, orchestra, concert band, all the singing groups, yeah its amazing.
AK: The joke here is people have the football team as the star of their school, here we have got the marching band.
KW: My colleague Mike Crendo is very fond of saying “there was a marching band concert, and a foot game broke out.” It really annoys the athletic director to no end. He gets quite upset, but in a couple years that will change, but yeah
MVB: Well it gets people to the game well obviously there is attendance and who knows there may be people who decide to like football as a result who knows.
AK: Go for the marching band find a love for football.
KW: And as we get better I think they will see that and they will stay past halftime.
AK: Is there any really big major changes that have happened to the Viennese ball really stand out to you, other than the switching of the Davies Center, we already kinda talked about that.
KW: No tortes
MVB: Well yeah the food service makes them but it’s not the same
KW: Um I don’t know.
MVB: Again it goes back to the intimacy of the old Davies center, you walk down that hallway and there would be a little room where you would smell the bread, and go in and buy some. It seemed like there were more nooks and crannies that really oozed the Austrian culture. I don’t see as much of that. Again its partly spread out and you don’t
get that same feel. It feels like there is a little less of that.
AK: Do you think that there is almost to much going on at the new Viennese ball or…
MVB: Sometimes yeah they added a lot.
AK: Yeah there is so many different shows and everything and I was trying to make it to everything I felt I was like sprinting back and forth
KW: Yeah I think you just have to pick your poison
All: Yeah. It is busy Yeah
KW: Yeah and there is lots to do and so you can explore. My husband and I have gone and we’re not waltzers but we like to do the polka and so we will go down and spend a lot of our time at the polka. This. happened yesterday ya know in the old Davies it was so crowded, you got on the dance floor and you were like really. And this couple next
to us was really going after it and she kinda tripped and she was gonna fall, but it was so crowded and he held onto her and basically drug her around and we were dying laughing, laughing so hard. She couldn’t even fall because it was so crowded her spouse just drug around. but it was good.
AK: So what do you really see Viennese ball.. What the value of it to the university as a whole then?
(35:25)
KW: Well I think I might have touched on it earlier then we are known as Wisconsin’s singing university we have such a reputation for our music program and I mean there is so many concerts and activities that we are known for jazz, we are known for the symphony, we are known singing Statesmen and all that. There isn’t really a singular
event that showcases every in totality not only of our students but of our faculty too. Our faculty are front and center. They are front and center with the students and you get the trombone group and its faculty and students playing together and I think that is really the epitome of one of the real cornerstones of this university and really what talks about the character of the university. People come who have never experience it and they are just so blown away by it and what they are just so blown away by is the talent of our students and so you think about hundreds and hundreds of students in two nights can showcase this like you couldn’t do it any other way. Unless you wanted to do a three hour concert. which ya know people would have a different experience I mean they are living and breathing and actually part of it. I to me I think that is that venue and that stage to see the kind of students we have is just. I go and am blown away. I can’t believe the quality of students we have. I get chills when singing statesman sing
MVB: I think its so unique if you looked at all the universities in the state from the Wisconsin system I mean I think we are the only one who comes anywhere near doing this level of event that showcases an the entire music department. I was also gonna add that I think internationally ya know the faculty exchange that goes on and the people who are recognized also it shows that our interest in international culture and providing that for students as well.
AK: Is there anything you kinda wanted to talk about or anything you wish we would have asked about, or anything like that. I wanna say that you two had so much great knowledge for us here.
MVB: I mean we have touched on many of the things that I would have wanted to bring up. I don’t know I guess I would just ask. You’ve met with a number people who have talked about the early history. Have you had an opportunity to do that ?
AK: Our group personally hasn’t met. We have just kinda heard
MVB: But someone is ?
AK: yeah our whole class has gotten divided up to talk to everyone. We have heard bits and pieces from everyone and what they heard from everyone they interviewed.
MVB: Because there really were some struggles in the early days and I think that to Ada’s credit. She really hung in there. The business office would tell her “you can’t have access to any of this money it has to sit here so we know you are gonna have enough to make it next year. I mean they were very very strict with her and so the proceeds of
the ball in the very beginning in terms of the available funds for them to give scholarships was pretty limited. I just remember they were very concerned that this wasn’t gonna make it, but then with every ball they kinda saw increases interest and attendance and she won everyone over eventually. Obviously ,but just to really know difficult those years were. And how hard it was for that crew at Davies, I mean the people really heading this up and make a goal of it.
(40:00)
[Marcia Van Beek goes on to talk about other contributors to the early Viennese ball. Kimera Way then goes on to talk about the struggles that the early contributors face and the connection with the ball they had. Kimera Way then goes on to tell about the love that the current chancellor has for the ball, but some of the changes that might have been slightly detrimental. Ms. Van Beek then chimes in with relationship with the community's importance and the history of the relationship with the community importance.]
MVB: Marcia Van Beek
KW: Kimera Way
AK: So then if I can just have both of you have some general background knowledge
here. Where are you originally from?
MVB: North Dakota.
AK: Then what brought you to Eau Claire then, I guess?
MVB: As a child my father decided to go back, or to start college and that is what moved us all around and eventually moved us to Michigan and to Wisconsin where he had his first position, so, yeah.
AK: And then are you from?
KW: I’m not, I’m from Wyoming originally and I've worked in higher ed my whole career and, I have been here in Eau Claire since 2001, at UW Eau Claire.
AK: Alright. So, I know you had left the university now, correct?
MVB: Right, I retired late last summer.
AK: How long were you with the university?
MVB: A little over 18 years.
AK: You had said since 2001, so?
KW: Yeah, so that's a little over 18 years too.
AK: Around the same time, awesome. Alright, and then so do you have the same job as Marcia here had as well, or a little different?
MVB: Different positions.
KW: Yeah, different positions. I came in as the executive director of the foundation to run the first campaign and then about 6 years into it I became the president of the foundation.
AK: And your job title was?
MVB: I was hired as director of major gifts and that was my title the entire time.
AK: Awesome, thank you. So, kind of the whole premise of this is to learn about the Viennese Ball and what you two have played your role in there, so kinda what was your involvement in the Viennese Ball and do you have any current involvement still?
MVB: I do, I have been serving on the committee that they kind of put back together about, I don't know, a couple months ago I think. So, you would like to know my role as, when I was employed here, ‘cuz I have different histories.
AK: Yeah like, sure, I guess if you want to start with what you kind of began doing at the Viennese ball and how that evolved I guess.
MVB: So in the very beginning, I was involved as a musician in the community, with the Eau Claire regional arts, not regional arts, Eau Claire musical arts corral, sorry. The old regional arts did become a thing yeah. So it's the Eau Claire musical arts corral and we were invited back in the early days of the ball in its inception, it was very much supported with community members, who actually physically put the ball together, you know, really build you know whatever it was, they put up the curtains in the ballroom and did a number of tasks, and that was really the only way the Viennese Ball happened back in that day when it was starting so it was very much a community, university effort
to put it on. So the group that I was involved in was invited to sing and be in the salon concert which was the opening of the ball, back in the day, and that was in the spruce tamarack area where the chandelier is that they moved to the new Davies Center were originally placed and so that was basically a concert that was to start the ball and then after that they did the grand march and the orchestra started playing so, we were like the opening show, preformed about an hour. Then, I served actually on one of the Viennese Ball committees back in the day when Chancellor Haas was here, and that was just only a year that I was on the committee then, but then it, my role when I started in the foundation in 2000, I was, I guess, a logical conduit with the Viennese Ball committee and the foundation, so I served on that committee then the entire time that I worked here and then the committee kind of disbanded I guess for one year and then they called it back so I've been asked to come back and serve on the committee, so I’ve been at the last couple of meetings and, spending time with them. So my role on the committee and as a foundation staff member was making them aware what was in the endowment and kind of talking about scholarships and helping them, providing some guidance with them in terms of how they put their scholarship package together for the ball each year.
AK: And then have you had similar involvement or?
(4:50)
KW: Well no not really because Marcia was so actively involved. I really was kind of a bit player in that I think that the main involvement that I had was, a few years after I got here there was an interest in probably doing a little bit more fundraising, I mean the way it worked is when you ordered your tickets you could say I want to do an extra contribution and so they’d buy their tickets and then the extra contribution would come over to start building an endowment, and then we had this notion of creating an emperor's circle and Bruce Larson, I don't know if you've heard that name but, der Kaiser, is a wonderful wonderful man, I mean he looked like Kaiser Wilhelm and he really
played that up and he was over and, he’s since passed, but he was over in St. Paul and he had this notion of we should try to do this. So I worked closely with Bruce for a number of years where we promoted the emperor's circle and it was if you gave a thousand dollars you got kind of special recognition and the goal was to try to build an
endowment separate from the proceeds from the Viennese Ball, proceeds that they used to actually support scholarships so we were, we built the endowment through gifts from people when they bought tickets and they made extra money and then for a period of time there was the emperor's circle and, so we have a nice endowment that we’ve supplemented money that's come in from the sale of tickets, and then worked with Bruce, he fell in love with the singing statesmen, loves the singing statesmen, loved the singing statesmen, and so he created a scholarship for the singing statesmen, for an outstanding singing statesmen who, then that scholarship was announced and awarded
at the Viennese Ball, and then when he passed he had an estate gifted endowed that scholarship so, but we used to, one of the things that we would do is he would bring lots of guests, he had friends, he actually started his own Viennese Ball in St. Paul for a couple years, and he had friends that were really engaged and they loved dancing and
everything so he would bring groups of people over with him and he'd be here for both nights of the ball and he'd be in full dress as the Kaiser and we would, we would buy roses for him, so we’d buy a dozen roses each night for him to hang out, to hand out to young women, you know, just to go around and just kind of give a rose, I mean he played
that role to the hilt, it was, he loved that, he loved doing the Viennese Ball, so that was my role as really trying to build that some additional fundraising and then working quite a bit with Bruce until he passed.
MVB: Well that also makes me think about how the fund itself and the foundation, which was separate from the revenues that come from the dollars earned from people going to the ball, but there were a couple of fundraising efforts and I think one was at the silver anniversary, the 75th anniversary of the university, there was an effort to
raise funds at that time and then there were funds for Ada Bors obviously the founder?
KW: Right, in memory of Ada Bors. And the the Bosendorfer piano that was, we had fundraised for that, to purchase the Bosendorfer which is the piano that gets rolled out for the, specifically for the Viennese Ball. And we, I think there was a period of time after Ada retired and there was new, Sol was in charge and there was this transition I mean frankly the transition wasn't as smooth as it might have been, and I think we played a role of just trying to help kind of keep things stable and mediate and make sure that were keeping things moving forward and, really trying to help keep the big picture in mind and, eye on the target. And now, with the chancellor you know, he loves the Viennese Ball and so he likes to have guests come so we've actually used it in the last few years as a donor engagement opportunity where, we've had major donors come and you know, and we've really promoted the ball and where he hosts people each night and, yeah he loves it.
AK: Alright, so one other thing I actually wanted to kinda ask you two about, we have looked into as much of the history as I guess we could kind of find, but from what we've heard it kind of sounds like scholarships, which you two are kind of, you know, that's what you’ve been working at, that's kind of what brought on the Viennese Ball and
kind of the purpose of it, I guess that kind of surprised me I guess when I thought of it I mean it definitely makes sense looking back, but I just though throw this big elaborate ball, I don't know if you could just tell me a little bit about, I don't know, especially if you know kind of since you've been around since more towards the end.
MVB: It was really an idea born by Ada Borres and I'm sure with chancellor Haas as well they sure worked in tandem in getting this off the ground, but yeah she really wanted to support the music students that's kind of the, its inception, really started out with music students so as, in the beginning stages the faculty was very involved. Of course the orchestra, jazz, all of that was very involved in performing, but in general the scholarship, that was the whole focus and the purpose, and it was a way to engage with community to get involved in that as well so through really getting them to come in the attendance of the ball really increasing over the years that secured a lot of scholarship dollars.
(10:27)
KW: So I’m trying to think if I’ve got this progression correct. So Jo Dahl, Johannes Dahl, who was, initially was the director of the Davies center and I think he worked with Ada, well then he came over and ran the foundation, and I think that connection of, well if we’re going to do this let’s also, I mean I think Ada had actually gone to a Viennese ball and was fell in-
MVB: Well absolutely her knowledge of it was from going to Austria, and I’m sure you have heard that or have that history, right?
KW: And so I think she came back and probably with her conversations with Jo, the notion of well how can we do this really cool event that we can engage the community but have a purpose, and the purpose was let’s raise scholarship dollars which of course we as a university historically have been known as Wisconsin singing university
and so I think that the notion that here we’re going to have our students front and center we’re gonna showcase them and that the proceeds should go to help scholarships with students and then president Haas, very much interested in the international component so, it actually was a really, I think a quite serendipitous connection in that, you know you have a wonderful university that’s got this great reputation for singing, you have an international focus, and that you wanted to do something more than just have an event. You wanted to have, and I think that was the way to effectively engage the community and so, and then it became such a part of our culture and our history and our tradition that I think that’s where?
MVB: Yeah and winding back, so the group that I sang in in the very beginning, we all wore gowns from the 1850’s era which is kind of when the whole Straussen, all of the waltzes and all of that was very prevalent so we actually staged and kind of did light operetta so it was sort of a staged dancing, singing kind of a thing so that was in keeping
with, really what Ada was wanting to promote.
KW: Yeah I think there was a real desire to try to replicate, you know exactly what you would see in, so if you couldn’t go to travel to Vienna you were gonna bring Vienna here.
AK: Yeah, come to Eau Claire. One other thing I kind of wanted to check with too, how did you see the Viennese ball kind of change from the old Davies center to the new I guess? ‘Cuz I’m trying to think of what year it was finished here and everything.
KW: It’s been about 7 years. 2012.
MVB: It’s, well, maybe it’s been about 4 years. 2007?
KW: 2012? 2012, yeah.
MVB: Wow, that’s gone fast. I think in the old Davies center it was so one floor, kind of, I mean it was pretty compact, and you pretty much had a chance to kind of see everybody who was there as you would walk back and forth from the area where the Polka band was playing and the other area where the orchestra and the jazz. So there was more of an intimacy I think in the old Davies, on the other hand it was extremely crowded so moving to the new Davies center you know, obviously alleviated some of that, but being more spread out I would say it’s, you know, it doesn't have the same feel in terms of, you know you could go the whole night and not see somebody that you knew was gonna be at the ball that night because you were just passing each other wherever, yeah. So it’s harder to connect I think with people that are attending, but the venue, obviously has allowed for some expansion and, you know, more people can be there as well so, I mean that’s the good that probably outweighs, you know what the old Davies had.
(14:17)
AK: That's kind of hearing from our other classmates that have done their interviews as well it kind of sounds like people have mixed feelings about it, that it kind of lost something.
MVB: It did
KW: Well you have to keep in mind that you know when they started this it was all geared towards the old Davies so all of the decorations, all of the setting, everything was geared towards that building so then you got rid of that building and you have a new building and you know I think it was trying to retrofit all of the old stuff all of the old
decorations and the old staging and the old setup in the new building and frankly the first year was kinda a little bit rocky.
MVB: And well they tried to have everything on the same floor the first year which was the Dakota Ballroom is where they put the polka band and then in the ballroom itself was where the orchestra well you can tell even just the proximity of that people coming and going it was just impossible and it was crazy.
KW: So I thing I think I have observed is that what is the sweet spot between preserving tradition and those who have had a long ownership in it and trying to make changes and adaptations to the changing tastes. One of the things I think has been probably a real challenges is that in the beginning the bulk of the people that attended were people from Eau Claire, the city folks. And so it was really an opportunity, it was a great dressed up event for people in the community and was kind of the event of the spring. And now the mix is more heavily geared towards students coming which I mean you have to value and appreciate that there is a role for students, but it has changed the nature of the feel of it or the formality of it. I mean honestly I went one year and the groups performing I think they were all students and I think as the night wore on they had all been drinking quite a bit and so there was a little bit of, not that that's a bad thing, but you know it just became and I think that it’s an opportunity, but potentially a challenge is how do you continue to adapt the ball to changing tastes and changing interests of of today. But also
provide it as an opportunity for a real multi generational event because we still have you know what I think is the beauty of it all is we have these amazing waltz people, people who are just like artists and they come from the cities and to just watch them on the dance floor is just. I mean I can’t dance worth a darn, but to see them dance is just
stunning and we have students who just really value that and what I also think is just cute and charming is that invariably every year someone gets engaged at the V-Ball which that is a tradition.
AK: Last year I had gone and when I was kind of on my way out I had just happened to peak into one of the ballrooms, I can’t remember which one, but I saw a guy drop down on one knee and pop a ring out of his pocket. I just happened to look in to see if my friend was still in there and happened to see this whole engagement and everything.
KW: It has become tradition almost that students who had any connection and you know we see Alumni who come back, groups of friends who come back specifically for the ball and so to have that identification and that connection is part of their history of the Viennese Ball. Pam Matson the chancellor and I saw this alum who lives out in
California, but she has friends and family here and she was going to here for the weekend over the ball so we were telling her sisters and her nieces all got dressed up and came to the ball and so that was so for us who work with alumni to have that linkage and connection of something that was so uniquely identified with Eau Claire is, that’s
what you have to preserve. You still have to adapt, but the big controversy is that if I am correct is that the volunteers use to make all of the tortes and the cakes and again that was a great source of pride and come along this notion of well there is food safety issues and so now the volunteers can’t do that. That was the real hard thing for the volunteers to give up, and it was such a neat engagement thing, but now you can’t.
MVB: And it started out as just one night and so if you didn’t get a ticket you know you didn’t go. And it was so difficult right. So if you made a torte you got a ticket.
(19:04)
AK: Okay, so that was kind of the key to get in?
MVB: But also that was really important and I think in the adjustment period some of the people who had made tortes in the past I think the next year when they didn’t do it they provided tickets for them as sort of a transition to smooth that change, but that was a big rude awakening to some people who that was their ticket to the ball every
year.
KW: I think it’s two nights and Saturday almost always sells out immediately, Friday night is a tougher deal, but it’s still big. It is a tremendous amount of work for those who have to do it, but there is an alum who lives, I think he is with the military. He is with the production crew and he comes back every year to help with the ball.
MVB: A lot of the original people, I can really only think of one person his kids went to school here and his wife worked here Laurie Gapko who was like an original on like those old committees to now. There aren't really many people who are left.
KW: They had the Austrian ambassador come a number of years. And a representative from the Austrian embassy.
MVB: There were also in the early days speaking of scholarships there was this exchange that Ada wanted to put together, she not only wanted students from Austria to come here, but our students to go there. And there was a point of time in the beginning where a company that I'm not going to remember the name of the company, but they literally paid for airfare for students to spend time going to school in Austria, I mean it was a huge, huge deal that fell by the wayside after a number of years, but that exchange was in Graz Austria was very important to Ada because she felt like that was also a way to get the students to understand the culture of the ball by visiting that
culture. That was a very cool aspect of all of this. She had support from businesses and she went over there and met people who would be like the equivalent of our governor or whatever in Austria and met many people who supported the ball financially for years so that too really was the startup of the fund and the foundation to establish that foundation fund.
AK: Is there anything that you two in particular would like to see change about the ball or have seen change that you really enjoy?
KW: I think probably one of the things that I have found is there is such a rich history. I mean change is always good, but change for change's sake isn’t necessarily the best thing and I think there has been for a number of years a core group of people who have really helped understand the why and everything of the ball. What I've seen the last
few years as new people have come on and they don’t have the sense of what is this all about, some people view it as oh my god this is a massive amount of work for a two night thing, why do we do this, lets not do it, or lets change. I know they are thinking about doing a different kind of a band or a different kind of a setting for more of a cabaret type, I can't remember what they are. But I think it is always important you leave yourself open, how do you adapt and how do you reflect changing tastes, changing interests, but that you don’t lose sight of what is such a signature item for this university. I mean it is an amazing showcase for our student musicians. I mean it is a lot of work, but where else do you get all of the different groups that are performing, the theatre students with the statues, something that is so ingrained into the ethos of this university. I think that is important to not lose that fundamental why do we do it and what's really good about it. Flipside of it is for a period of time it was so ingrained that I mean if you thought about changing the color of the napkins almost whoa that was a big deal and so there has to be kind of a happy medium. I don’t want us to see it not, ya know it is a lot of work, but I think it is work that produces a good result and it’s a great opportunity for us to showcase the university in ways we usually don’t.
MVB: I would concur with that, I also think just budgetarily looking at obviously community members pay more than students pay, and I also think there should be an element of that factored in, because it is to make scholarships and to really to really take a look budgetarily where that sweet spot is as well so they can maintain that and I don’t
know if they regulate numbers, I think at one point in time maybe did, but I don’t know if they still do. But I think just looking at that budgetarily yeah. I think I would like to see more of the elegance of the old ball as a community person.
AK: That seems to be kind of the popular opinion of other people that have been interviewed for this project is that it kind of lost this sort of elegance.
MVB: It is kind of a numbers thing, I think if you have enough of that older guard that's really into that elegance than you have those role models present, when that gets tipped you no longer have that presence. And so that again is sort of push pull that the committee has to struggle with, getting a good balance of that.
KW: I’ve found they call it prom for adults ya know because it is, it's an opportunity and there is a group of even as you get older the opportunity to get dressed up and to go out and really have that feel of doing that, I don’t think people will ever lose sight of that and so I do think that and that's one of things is that you have to question is okay if you take away everything and it just becomes another night out you can just go anywhere and have a night out, you take away some of the things that make this unique and so if you hold to some of the values of that and you make it unique than it will always have an audience, if you start dumbing it down so to speak to where it just becomes nothing unique about it then there is no motivation for people to want to come and do that.
(26:41)
KW: I don’t agree that people ya know there is still a desire in people I mean you see this with the students, the students dress up, and their in formals you see a desire of young people to even do that kind of yeah
MVB: Well and I would hope that the statesmen would continue to sing the songs of Austria and the traditional pieces, to me that does set the tone for that and I think from a music stand point they are starting to wave away from that little bit and I would like them to keep the integrity of what the purpose of the ball is when they select their music to me that kinda goes part and parcel and I do think they have kind of veered away from that. Some of the music has gotten sort of very serious just a whole different genre go music from what you would expect at the ball at the opening concert.
AK: Yeah yeah I’ve got some friends who are in statesmen and WOCO and everything so I usually go and see that every year
MVB: I think statesmen has for the most part have kept in the Danube Waltz and ya know some of those really traditional pieces. I think WOCO doesn’t. I think they have veered more away from that.
KW: And you know that comes down. We always talk about this we do things and if we’ve done something we do it year in and year out we get tired of it but we have to remember that our audience is always changing. And there are just certain things that you just have to do whether you think “Oh my god if I sing the Alma mater one more time” but you think about you go to a UW Madison game and the alma mater and the oo-rah-rah and all of that and they do that. and I mean what do you think about when you go to a football game. The first thing I think about is the Jump Around and the band may get tired of hearing that and tired that, but for the audience that doesn’t live and breathe
that. And I think that's what's probably really great about the V-ball is it does have a preserved sense of tradition and I think that every institution needs a certain number of traditions and those of us who are here and now it’s our responsibility to preserve and protect. Just because we may get tired of it. We aren't the…
AK: Doesn’t mean that other people shouldn’t get to experience it. So going on. How have you seen the scholarships that the university provides kinda shake the university and change the Viennese ball and how it affects the students and everything.
KW: Well ya know to be honest. We have pushed hard, we’ve advocated hard because for a number of years they were giving out fairly small, and a lot of scholarships, but really small and we just said of you are touting this as a major scholarship thing then your scholarships have to be meaningful. Besides I think Marcia has been a wonderful
voice in saying “we have the money lets award that”. I think that if you look the long picture there has been a lot of students that have gotten a lot of money.
MVB: I mean I don’t know the figure off the top of my head, you have probably interviewed people who do. Each year primarily the money has come out of the revenues from the ball itself. What the foundation has been able to do is supplement that to a degree where they can make those little bit more plus the Ada Bors service award. It was added to the mix and so they have expanded really not just musicians but they have expanded it to the students who are really working hard to prepare for the ball in Davies so they have made scholarships available now for them as well. That's been going on for a number of years, but that change I think throughout the years was a good change. And it covers musicians instrumentalists and singers so it covers the whole gambit in terms of the music department.
KW: Yeah I think people feel honored especially the people who get the named awards that are real specific. yeah they get the medals. They are sorta the visible winners, but the students get stipends that sort of thing for working at the ball as musicians.
(31:39)
AK: Have you seen, you probably don’t deal to much with admissions, but have you seen this bring music students to the university? Do you think this something that kind of attracts prospective students to bring them here?
KW: I think it is definitely a piece of the whole picture but oh my goodness the music department excels in so many ways and in so many areas that it just helps build that picture for people coming here. I mean its another opportunity for students to experience. I don’t know if I would say if its the reason but it certainly is a part of it. Wouldn’t you agree?
MVB: Yeah I mean there really isn’t a weak part to the yea ya know, jazz, orchestra, concert band, all the singing groups, yeah its amazing.
AK: The joke here is people have the football team as the star of their school, here we have got the marching band.
KW: My colleague Mike Crendo is very fond of saying “there was a marching band concert, and a foot game broke out.” It really annoys the athletic director to no end. He gets quite upset, but in a couple years that will change, but yeah
MVB: Well it gets people to the game well obviously there is attendance and who knows there may be people who decide to like football as a result who knows.
AK: Go for the marching band find a love for football.
KW: And as we get better I think they will see that and they will stay past halftime.
AK: Is there any really big major changes that have happened to the Viennese ball really stand out to you, other than the switching of the Davies Center, we already kinda talked about that.
KW: No tortes
MVB: Well yeah the food service makes them but it’s not the same
KW: Um I don’t know.
MVB: Again it goes back to the intimacy of the old Davies center, you walk down that hallway and there would be a little room where you would smell the bread, and go in and buy some. It seemed like there were more nooks and crannies that really oozed the Austrian culture. I don’t see as much of that. Again its partly spread out and you don’t
get that same feel. It feels like there is a little less of that.
AK: Do you think that there is almost to much going on at the new Viennese ball or…
MVB: Sometimes yeah they added a lot.
AK: Yeah there is so many different shows and everything and I was trying to make it to everything I felt I was like sprinting back and forth
KW: Yeah I think you just have to pick your poison
All: Yeah. It is busy Yeah
KW: Yeah and there is lots to do and so you can explore. My husband and I have gone and we’re not waltzers but we like to do the polka and so we will go down and spend a lot of our time at the polka. This. happened yesterday ya know in the old Davies it was so crowded, you got on the dance floor and you were like really. And this couple next
to us was really going after it and she kinda tripped and she was gonna fall, but it was so crowded and he held onto her and basically drug her around and we were dying laughing, laughing so hard. She couldn’t even fall because it was so crowded her spouse just drug around. but it was good.
AK: So what do you really see Viennese ball.. What the value of it to the university as a whole then?
(35:25)
KW: Well I think I might have touched on it earlier then we are known as Wisconsin’s singing university we have such a reputation for our music program and I mean there is so many concerts and activities that we are known for jazz, we are known for the symphony, we are known singing Statesmen and all that. There isn’t really a singular
event that showcases every in totality not only of our students but of our faculty too. Our faculty are front and center. They are front and center with the students and you get the trombone group and its faculty and students playing together and I think that is really the epitome of one of the real cornerstones of this university and really what talks about the character of the university. People come who have never experience it and they are just so blown away by it and what they are just so blown away by is the talent of our students and so you think about hundreds and hundreds of students in two nights can showcase this like you couldn’t do it any other way. Unless you wanted to do a three hour concert. which ya know people would have a different experience I mean they are living and breathing and actually part of it. I to me I think that is that venue and that stage to see the kind of students we have is just. I go and am blown away. I can’t believe the quality of students we have. I get chills when singing statesman sing
MVB: I think its so unique if you looked at all the universities in the state from the Wisconsin system I mean I think we are the only one who comes anywhere near doing this level of event that showcases an the entire music department. I was also gonna add that I think internationally ya know the faculty exchange that goes on and the people who are recognized also it shows that our interest in international culture and providing that for students as well.
AK: Is there anything you kinda wanted to talk about or anything you wish we would have asked about, or anything like that. I wanna say that you two had so much great knowledge for us here.
MVB: I mean we have touched on many of the things that I would have wanted to bring up. I don’t know I guess I would just ask. You’ve met with a number people who have talked about the early history. Have you had an opportunity to do that ?
AK: Our group personally hasn’t met. We have just kinda heard
MVB: But someone is ?
AK: yeah our whole class has gotten divided up to talk to everyone. We have heard bits and pieces from everyone and what they heard from everyone they interviewed.
MVB: Because there really were some struggles in the early days and I think that to Ada’s credit. She really hung in there. The business office would tell her “you can’t have access to any of this money it has to sit here so we know you are gonna have enough to make it next year. I mean they were very very strict with her and so the proceeds of
the ball in the very beginning in terms of the available funds for them to give scholarships was pretty limited. I just remember they were very concerned that this wasn’t gonna make it, but then with every ball they kinda saw increases interest and attendance and she won everyone over eventually. Obviously ,but just to really know difficult those years were. And how hard it was for that crew at Davies, I mean the people really heading this up and make a goal of it.
(40:00)
[Marcia Van Beek goes on to talk about other contributors to the early Viennese ball. Kimera Way then goes on to talk about the struggles that the early contributors face and the connection with the ball they had. Kimera Way then goes on to tell about the love that the current chancellor has for the ball, but some of the changes that might have been slightly detrimental. Ms. Van Beek then chimes in with relationship with the community's importance and the history of the relationship with the community importance.]
