The first Board of Directors meeting of NPO WFAO took place in Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture from August1to 3, 2008. Twenty-one representatives from the UK, Belgium, the United States, Venezuela Taiwan, Korea and Japan attended the meeting. The ensuing discussions dealt with the establishment of the NPO, the definition of its mission, budget concerns and WFAO’s participation in the 2001 Shanghai World Fair.

Outline

♪Dates: The meeting was held from August 1 to 3, 2008
♪Place: Sunport Hotel Takamatsu, Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture.
♪Representatives: One or two representatives from England (1), Belgium(1), U.S.A.(1) Venezuela(1), Taiwan(2), Korea(2) and Japan(13). Total: 21

Contents of the meetings

（１）NPO-WFAO management policies at present and in the future..

Mr. Morishita provided detailed information about the actual and future budget items and about the contributions offered by both patrons and supporting members.
Explanation of the legal process involved in the final official recognition of our NPO status as well as the reinforcement of supporting funds and its management. The final recognition of the NPO status will lead to full financial independence of the financial basis of WFAO and signifies a new start for WFAO. I wish to express once more my deep gratitude for your help and support.

（２）Examination of the ways to increase participation at the 2009 Toyota Youth orchestra camp centering principally on East Asia.

The Toyota Youth Orchestra Camps are open to youths between age 15 and 22 and aim at the formation and training of those who will fill in the ranks of future Amateur Orchestras.　Those camps are held once a year. The next camp will be held from Friday, March 26 to Sunday, March 29. The ways of increasing participation and improving international exchanges with surrounding countries such as China, Taiwan, Korea and other nearby countries was amply examined during the Takamatsu meeting.

（３）2009, WFAO meeting in Belgium.
～how to share and help amateur orchestras in developing countries～

The next WFAO meeting will be held in Antwerp, Belgium in 2009.Belgium. That meeting will take place somewhere between April and May and preparations are progressing according to schedule. The activities planned for the meeting include attendance to an important European Youth Orchestra Festival and other concerts. We hope to be able to gather representatives from as many European countries as possible and we are counting on their affirmative action to widen the reaches of our goals. We also hope to be able to foster active support for amateur musicians in developing countries.

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（４）Examination of our participation in a concert in Shanghai. International musical exchange concert in the framework of the Shanghai Expo.

The Shanghai World Expo will take place from May to November 2010 and we are aiming at fostering international musical exchanges through members of the World Federation of Amateur Orchestras.　We are now negotiating our participation with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the Shanghai Youth Orchestra Now that the Peking Olympic Games have concluded those negotiations are no gathering speed and will become more concrete.

（５）Princess Takamadonomiya Attendance at the Takamatsu Conference
～Encouragement words received at the meeting～

Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado.
Princess Takamado offered words of encouragement to all the participants in the meeting and made several questions about the progress and policies and social context with which amateur musician deal in their respective countries.
Referring to the music program developed in Venezuela and the social contribution of that program, not only for young children but also for society in general, Here Imperial Highness’ words stimulated us ever more to pursue our mission and goals. Those words still resonate in my heart and constitute the greatest encouragement I could receive to pursue our actions.

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（６）NPO WFAO Takamatsu meeting joing message.

This is joint message to conclude the Takamatsu meeting. We once more thank all the participants for their attendance, interest, help and support.

＜＜NPO WFAO Takamatsu meeting joint message.＞＞
We have gathered in Takamatsu City and vividly discussed the management and future policies of NPO WFAO as well as this new start as an international organization.
We have also examined the concrete ways we can adopt for our participation in the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.
Furthermore we have examined concrete ways of contributing to the development of amateur orchestra’s activities in those countries were those activities are still incipient in order to widen the scope of our actions.
We have also strengthen our determination to contribute to world peace through wideing the scope of our actions.

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  With Princess Takamadonomiya