2016 was an incredible year!

And it's all thanks to you, our students!
--Liz Jackson Hearns

​2016 was another incredible year.

This being my first full year working only for The Voice Lab as a teacher and business owner, I have a lot to be grateful for. I’m grateful for my amazing business partner, Alexandra, and our wonderful staff of teachers; I’m grateful to Rachel our office manager; and of course I’m grateful to my husband, Sean, for his constant support and grounding.

Mostly, though, I’m grateful to our students for sticking with us through this year of rapid growth, for meeting and getting to know each other, and for providing encouragement to each other to create a loving and supportive community! What a gift you have given! You have joined us for open mic nights, geeked out with us at workshops, celebrated us in our travels to conferences, colLABorated with us (two times!), welcomed us to your social and support groups, told us your stories, and conquered this whole “love your voice” thing with panache and grace. I am constantly in awe of you!

To show our gratitude, we have done our best to provide new and evolving ways for you to explore your voice and find more confidence and joy. 2017 will be no exception, and in fact we might even try to do more (the mantra for 2017 so far is All the things!). So without any more mushy gooey lovey nonsense, here are some of the awesome things we did in 2016 and what we’re looking forward to next year!

THANK YOU for another great year at The Voice Lab!!

2016 Stats:

• Welcomed Katherine, Diane, and Rachel to our team of voice nerds!
• Expanded our offerings to include singing lessons for kids!
• Hosted 11 Third Thursday open mic nights!
• Geeked out at 7 workshops and performances!
• Visited nearly a dozen trans and queer organizations to offer free voice workshops!
• Presented at 2 conferences to advocate for trans voice care!
• Co-sponsored Trans Turning Point with Live Oak and Center on Halsted!
• Celebrated student Asher Brown’s debut album!
• Celebrated our 1 year anniversary in the Northcenter neighborhood and joined the Chamber of Commerce!
• Hosted a super rad first annual Holiday Shindig at Mrs. Murphy and Sons Irish Bistro!
• Taught more than 1,400 lessons!

Dreams and plans for 2017:

• Piano lessons! It’s finally happening!
• Another two seasons of ColLABorate: Unplugged
• Coll’Opera! Our first collaborative opera scenes program
• Return of Sing ouT, a workshop for trans and GNC singers
• Group speaking voice classes for trans and GNC folks
• Music theory group sessions
• Teaming up with folks like Jeremy Cohn for combined workshops
• Summer musical activities for kids
• Karaoke master class with the Northcenter Chamber of Commerce
• Kids’ open mic night
• A trip to Sweden to present on a panel for trans voice care at the International Conference of Voice Teachers
• A trip to Earlham College where Diane will present at the Transgender Singing Voice Conference
  

And we will continue to build our Love Your Voice! community, fill the lesson rooms, and see our students shine! Thank you!