Harmony, Incorporated
Harmony, Incorporated, is an international organization of women singers whose purpose is to empower all women through education, friendship and singing. Founded by 1959 by Peggy Rigby, Charlotte Sneddon, Mary Avis Hedges, Jeanne Maino and Mary Perry in Providence, Rhode Island, the organization currently has just under 2000 members in the United States and Canada and is closely affiliated with the Barbershop Harmony Society. History. In 1957, several members of Sweet Adelines International (SAI) broke from the organization in protest of the policy limiting membership to Caucasian women. In 1958, chapters from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Orillia, Ontario , also left SAI to form Harmony, Incorporated. Harmony, Inc. was incorporated in the State of Rhode Island on February 26, 1959. The founding member chapters of Harmony, Inc. were the Melody Belles of Providence, Rhode Island; Sea Gals of New Bedford, Massachusetts; The Harmonettes from North Attleboro, Massachusetts; Harmony Belles of Barrie-Orillia, Ontario; and the Harborettes from Scituate, Massachusetts. 1963, a Sweet Adeline chapter in Ottawa, Ontario was threatened with expulsion after accepting a black woman, Lana Clowes, as a member. As a result, Ottawa's Capital Chordettes left SAI to become the seventh chapter to join Harmony, Incorporated . In 2013, Harmony, Inc. announced the creation of the Affiliate membership category, extending membership to men involved with the organization. Contests. Harmony, Inc. annually holds international and area-level conventions and contests for choruses and quartets to improve singing, conduct meetings and provide educational instruction. Quartets who win the international gold medal are called "Harmony Queens," and are considered champions forever and may not compete again. A chorus that wins the gold must sit out of competition one year and may compete for the gold medal again in the second year following their championship. Areas. Harmony, Inc. is divided into  geographical areas, and the membership of an Area consists of all the chapters and Associate members assigned to it by the International Board of Directors (IBOD). For purposes of administration (particularly of local schools and contests) the society is organized into geographical districts as follows: