Currently, our group is growing with new members, including more vocalists, instrumentalists, and other related artists. As a result, we now feel the need to add this wishlist tab to expand our searches for items that may be a little more specific to our concert necessities. Below is our current wishlist of items that people may no longer have a use for and wouldn’t mind donating to our group. This wishlist may allow us to offer more authentic productions using items that will enhance our costumes, props, music library, and instrument collection, etc.
Please look the list over and don’t hesitate to contact us if you think you have something that might work for us. While we do not have a 501c3 status and cannot offer tax forms, we are still in need of such donations and hope that you will consider us as a local performing group operating on a shoestring budget. You can email us with a description and/or photos of what you wish to donate at thebrasilesensemble@gmail.com. Please note that while we would love to accept whole collections of items, we have a very small storage space, so we are forced to be a bit controlled on how much we can accept at one time.
We REALLY appreciate your thoughtful donations!
sheet music – vocal only – preferably classical sacred, Renaissance, or Baroque
instruments – particularly percussion — claves, axatse, hi-hat, bombo, temple blocks, bendir, bells, güiro, finger cymbals, small tambourines, rhythm sticks, jingle sticks, tabor
fabric – preferably for formal contemporary evening gowns or period evening gowns from the Renaissance, Baroque or Victorian eras — tulle netting, chiffon, moire taffeta, antique satins, velvet, velveteen, cloqué, lamé, organdy, organza, voile, brocade, damask, jacquard, sateen, tapestry
vintage clothing for period costuming pieces – solid colored pants in heavy fabrics, (excluding corduroy,) large vests for men, large frilly shirts for men, large evening gowns, brocade or textured tights for women in any color, ruffled collar attachments-aka “dickie” collars or throat dickies, large velvet skirts, 1960’s and 1970’s patterned dresses/skirts, blouses and shirts
ribbon – all types — no shorter in length than 3 feet, though we tend to use a lot of ribbon with metallic gold or silver fibers woven in
lace – large and small — no shorter in length than 3 feet – scalloped or straight, cream or white
trim – ball fringe, bead fringe, braided border tapes, braided cords, tassels, frog closures, piping cords
beads / sequins – loose jewel beads, small and large sequins, crystal beads of various sizes, beaded lace, rhinestones, sequin paillettes
vintage buttons – large metal, large pearl or even large wooden ones
junk jewelry – brooches and other pins, loose jewels, rings, necklaces, jeweled shoe buckles, teardrop jewel or pearl earrings, beads, chains, hat pins, tiaras/crowns, other hair pieces, pearls, cameo velvet chokers, or pendant necklaces
colored printing paper – letter size only
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Since 2016, The Brasiles Ensemble has always taken pride in being kind to the environment.
- Our costumes are almost exclusively created from garments carefully collected from local thrift stores—mainly from That Nothing Be Lost Thrift Store at Graymoor in Garrison. We can highly recommend this wonderful shop– four floors of thrifting heaven!
- Many of the trims, buttons, jewels and sewing supplies that we use for creating costumes have come from Retake-Remake, located in the historic Hat Factory in Peekskill. We cannot say enough about how excited we were when this specialized art thrift shop opened up!
- Some of our small percussion instruments have come from local estate sales—mostly purchased from Hudson Valley Estate Works sales. This business has had spectacular sales over the years and we have been fortunate enough to score some wonderful additions to our instrument collection.
- We carpool as often as we can to commute to performances.
- We try our best to do as much online as we can to avoid using too much paper.
- As for props, we try to reuse items year after year and keep them in storage between performances. Again, most of our props come to us secondhand.
- Before “Covid-times,” we would have receptions after our concerts using washable cloth table cloths, reusable or compostable plates, napkins and cups and serving small foods on reusable platters or trays and beverages, preferably poured from glass containers.
The Brasiles Ensemble 