Uniting Voices Chicago (formerly Chicago Children’s Choir) is pleased to announce Chelsea Lauing has joined our organization as Chief Development Officer! Chelsea will succeed Amy Alvarado Tinucci, who transitioned into the Chief Operating Officer role earlier this year, co-leading the organization alongside President Josephine Lee.
With a decade of experience working as a strategic, enthusiastic, and compassionate frontline fundraiser, Chelsea previously led the corporate, foundation, and government fundraising at Columbia College Chicago and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Prior to relocating to Chicago in 2021, Chelsea resided in Madison, Wisconsin, where her development roles focused primarily on individual giving, including leadership and major giving, at the Morgridge Institute for Research and the University of Wisconsin Foundation. Additionally, during her time in Madison, Chelsea served as the Director of Children’s Choirs at Bethel Lutheran for 15 years, teaching several volunteer choirs of K-5 kids. Having earned her Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Chelsea is a classically-trained musician, a dedicated music practitioner and a devoted supporter of the arts and arts education.
Give a warm welcome to Chelsea and read on to learn what she’s most excited about, the importance of music in her own life and how she plans to build a harmonious world through the work we do.
Uniting Voices: What are you most excited about in your new role as Chief Development Officer? What drew you to working for Uniting Voices?
Chelsea Lauing: I am thrilled to be here as the new Chief Development Officer, and I’m most thrilled about working for an organization and with a team whose mission and values so perfectly align with my own. Although my professional experience is focused on nonprofit fundraising, I went to school at UW-Madison to be a music teacher, and even after I left the field full-time, I taught K-5 children’s choirs part-time on the weekends in Madison for nearly 15 years until I relocated to Chicago in 2021. People often ask me what I miss the most about Madison, having lived there for so long, and my answer is always the same: I miss my students. So, I’m incredibly excited to be with Uniting Voices Chicago, feeling the joy and energy of the kids as they practice and perform, and I’m even more excited to do my part to make sure youth in Chicago and beyond have access to these musical opportunities for years to come.
UV: What’s your philosophy or guiding principle for development work, and how do you plan to apply it at this organization?
CL: I fundamentally believe that when we help one another, our entire community benefits. I have worked in fundraising shops that were highly competitive, where collaboration between fundraisers wasn’t always top of mind, and I would say my development philosophy is to be the opposite of that experience. Fundraising is a team sport; it’s never solely because of my work that a gift came in, but rather because of the collective work of our incredible programming, artistic and administrative staff. Our organization is stronger, more effective and more enthusiastic when we work towards our shared goals together.
UV: Why are you so passionate about our mission to inspire and change lives through music?
CL: Where do I even begin with this question?! When I was a kid, I remember telling my parents that I didn’t really like music very much. Clearly, this was not true; I literally never stopped singing around my house, to my family’s chagrin. When I was a few years into my teaching role in Madison, I had a student say the same thing to me: “I don’t like music very much.” This was a student who showed up to a volunteer choir on the weekends every week, a student who I regularly had to kick out of my classroom because he never wanted to leave. What I realized he was trying to tell me, and what I was saying as a child myself, was, “I don’t really like the one music experience I’m getting in my school.” I deeply believe kids need to have varied, relevant and joyful music experiences in their lives. One size doesn’t fit all, and Uniting Voices Chicago is offering youth all kinds of ways for their lives to be inspired and changed through music. If I’d had Uniting Voices as a child, I would’ve found my way to my lifelong love of music so much sooner.
UV: What’s your favorite concert or live performance you’ve ever been to?
CL: I have been fortunate to attend so many incredible live performances in my life: Adele in Munich this past summer, my first opera working with Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Eras Tour and the Yellow Brick Road Tour, to name a few. But the most meaningful concert for me was seeing Paul McCartney in Madison with my husband, mom and sister. The Beatles are my all time favorite band and I’ve been listening to them since I was a baby, so seeing Paul live was an experience I will never forget. He still puts on quite a show!
UV: How do you bring our values of expression, education and excellence to your own life?
CL: Music has always been a space where I felt truly safe expressing my authentic self, and as a teacher, it was always a top priority that my students felt the same way. Music inherently encourages creativity, individuality and self expression; I’m so grateful that music has been a safe space for me to be me, and I love that Uniting Voices offers this same opportunity to thousands of youth. As for education and excellence, one of the traits I value most in myself and in others is curiosity. I believe all humans are innately curious and never lose the desire to learn new things, and that continued pursuit of knowledge leads to excellence. Education is a lifelong adventure; we are always seeking to learn and grow so we can be better colleagues, better friends and better humans.
UV: In your own words, how do you think building a harmonious world starts here in Chicago?
CL: We’re living through incredibly divisive times in this country, but I believe music is one of the few spaces where people continue to come together, finding commonalities and making connections despite their differences. Before we relocated to Chicago in 2021, my husband and I were considering a number of cities around the country for our “big move.” But Chicago drew us in; this city feels like the core of this country, full of people from all walks of life. In many ways, Chicago reflects the greater country around us: the struggles, the challenges and the similarities. Chicago is the perfect place to start building this harmonious world, and where better to start than with the next generation of global leaders, teaching them to work with one another with empathy and respect through music!