Cockburn (pronounced "Coe-burn), Australia will be entering into a Sister City relationship with Mobile this year. . Cockburn and Mobile, besides both being seaports and sharing a similar climate also share Austal Shipbuilding. To celebrate this, the City of Cockburn will be hosting a series of events during their Spring Festival in October of 2008 and they have requested that a portion of the Murphy Band be on hand when a street is re-landscaped and names after Mobile. The plan is to be in Cockburn from October 20 through 27 with a band that can function as a marching band, a concert band, and a jazz band. The Australian government is providing a grant to move a portion of the students and private donations are covering the rest, thus the trip will be of no charge for the selected students, other than the cost of a passport and some spending money. Auditions for the travel band were held last January. While in Cockburn we will be paired with Hamilton High School. We are planning a series of joint performances with them plus a recording. In 2009 Hamilton will travel to Mobile to be hosted by Murphy for a similar experience.
We have been requesting donations in terms of individual student sponsorship, which is $2800. per student, which will cover the airfare as quoted by Qantas. To date, I am proud to say that a number of corporations and politicians have stepped up. Thyssen-Krupp is sponsoring four students. Randy Davis (Alabama House-Republican) is sponsoring one, plus has provided an additional donation. Joseph Mitchell (Alabama House-Democrat) is soliciting sponsorships. We have applied some money from our own sources within the band program to sponsor one student. The Retirement Services of Alabama has provided sponsorship, has well as Austal Shipbuilding and Alabama Orthopedic. David Calametti with the Arts Alive program is also soliciting funds for us. As you can see, we are well on our way to realizing our goal of a group of musicians that will make Mobile proud.
We are at present working on a benefits package for all of our sponsors. We anticipate quite a bit of press coverage as we near our performance dates in October and we intend on publicizing the names of all of the donors through the local media as well as listing them in the program guides and travel attire for the band members. It goes without saying that we have always provided performing ensembles from the Murphy High School Band for community activities and we would be proud to provide music for our corporate and private sponsors.
Persons interested in possibly sponsoring a student (or students) or a percentage of one, should please contact us.The Panther Band Boosters (the Booster Club of the Murphy High School Band) is incorporated as a tax-exempt, non-profit corporation, thus donations are tax deductible. Further information about this program and other facets of the Murphy Band can be obtained from our website, www.murphyband.com, or by contacting the Murphy Band Room.