Become a Chapter Member

Invitation to Join

The Greater Bridgeport Chapter,  American Guild of Organists (AGO)  invites church musicians, choir directors, pastors, music committee members, soloists, instrumentaists, or those that want to be part of a group that shares a love of the organ, of choral music, or the love of God through music, to join our chapter.

The chapter covers the Greater Bridgeport (Stratford, Shelton) and Fairfield County (Fairfield, Westport, Norwalk, Trumbull, Monroe, Easton) areas, and is blessed with a wealth of excellent church musicians, choirs, music programs and glorious church organs.  Interested parties from throughout the state are welcome.

The AGO and Chapter programs are designed to educate, share and support fellow professionals; act as a resource for the church committees and clergy; and frequently involve the community we together serve.

Membership information for the AGO, all chapters, is available on the ONCARD membership system accessible on the National AGO website www.agohq.org. There are instructions how to complete registration along with additional national online search features for colleagues throughout the AGO.

There are several types of membership:

  1. Chapter Friends – these are churches, committee members, pastors or other institutions; non-organists/directors. For $35/annually, chapter friends can take advantage of local substitute placement service, help with job opportunities, receive regular e-mail announcements of local area events (for all of the church, choral ensembles, university and symphony events), receive the annual directory of area AGO members contact information, and request support with Professional Concerns on salary, compensation or employment matters.  Whether your church currently has an AGO Chapter member musician or not, this keeps the church itself linked to the talent pool and professional standards in our area.
  2. Musician Chapter Members – these are paid organists and choir directors. There are several rates based on age and member status categories. Three or more of the annual Chapter programs are geared specifically to continuing professional education on music and job performance to support worship.  Recent programs have/are covering topics such as integrating contemporary music styles into your service, hymn improvisation, working with other area music groups on special concerts/fund raisers.  The AGO is comprised of some 20,000 national members and offers both national and regional conferences on alternating years as an excellent resource for all of your professional training and music needs.  This annual fee includes the monthly The American Organist national magazine which is focused on resources and information for organists and choir directors.
  3. Dual Chapter Members – the AGO is a national organization and some colleagues would like to belong to multiple AGO chapters. In some cases Greater Bridgeport AGO members may be a member of neighboring New Haven Chapter or Fairfield West Chapter because they live or have other friends in that chapter. The National AGO organization requires that musicians belong to one primary chapter but can belong to as many other chapters as they choose. The Dual Chapter Member rate is also $35/year.

Regardless of type of membership, we want AGO members to promote their concert and special events to their colleagues. We maintain a Facebook account. We encourage musicians to have a member bio to introduce themselves, their backgrounds and current position to area colleagues. There is pride for institutions and non-musicians to belong as performance venus and sponsors. Get involved and enjoy the wonderful music eco-system that makes the Greater Bridgeport AGO Chapter so special.

Membership Year

The AGO fiscal year starts July 1 and ends June 30 each year, nationally. Existing members are renewed in June through the end of August to be ready for the new program year.

New members can be added at any time. Don’t wait to get started. If you have any questions regarding membership please contact John Polo.