Ann Danis radiates positive energy. Her enthusiasm for classical music is centered around her desire to make it accessible and popular for people, children, and anyone who will listen. Trying to break with the associations that accompany the pairing of the words “classical” and “music,” Danis founded the Ocean State Chamber Orchestra in 1991. “If you want to listen to great music and see people actually enjoying themselves, you need to come join us,” she told me over coffee. According to the audiences, OSCO is Rhode Island’s best kept secret. In such a small state with such a strong arts scene, this seems nearly impossible.

The Ocean State Orchestra is the only professional orchestra in Rhode Island. Their 22 string players give three concerts a year, usually performing in small venues such as the First Uniterian Church on Benefit Street in Providence. The most important goal, says Danis, is “just to get people to come!” Children under ten years old listen for free, and Danis stressed the desire of OSCO to encourage people to dress casual, bring their children and to feel comfortable.

The small size of the state and its strong art community is both advantageous and difficult for the Ocean State Chamber Orchestra. Danis herself moved to Rhode Island from Westport, Massachusetts twenty-five years ago in order to get involved with the arts scene in Rhode Island, which offers “a lot of interesting people” and a “tight knit community” but also a limit of funding sources and a lot of competition for those few sources. OSCO’s small budget, supported by the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, Danis herself and donations by a long list of supporters, does not afford for advertising. “We’re just trying to stay alive” she told me with a smile after explaining the struggles of reaching out to the community to find audiences. "After 9/11 and then the Station fire, people make choices with their dollars," Danis said. “Arts always take the short end of the stick.”

But her smile reflects her hope, her confidence, and her comittment to “provide concerts that enlighten and transform people through the power of musical language,” which is OSCO’s motto. Her hope is to attract a growing and diverse audience, especially children, to concerts. Her confidence is in OSCO’s ability to put together programming that is interesting, a challenge in the 21st century, and her comittment can be seen in her efforts to promote classical music with programs such as the Ocean State Youth Orchestra and Soul Food, a student-run organization affiliated with the Ocean State Chamber Orchestra and Ocean State Youth Orchestra that gives live musical performances at soup kitchens throughout the state of Rhode Island. On OSCO’s webite, www.osco-online.org, the Ocean State Youth Orchestra is described as “230+ students, ages 5-18, from 60 communities and 100 schools, gathering for the creative process that is MUSIC.”

As Ann Danis drove away on Thayer Street in her hot red convertible, which she tells me is popular with her students at the University of Rhode Island, I wondered about one of the things she told me: “people forget” she had said. “They assume the arts will always be around.” And though I share her trepidations for arts funding in Rhode Island, I am confidant in dedicated, talented artists such as Danis who continue efforts to involve people, make them aware, and touch them with music and other arts while promoting the growing presence of arts in Rhode Island.

For more information on the Ocean State Chamber Orchestra, email info@osco-online.org or visit them online at www.osco-online.org

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