Musician Diversity
In This SectionThe decade 2014-2024 saw little progress towards improving the very low representation of Black musicians, and only modest increases for other BIPOC groups. The representation of most BIPOC groups remained very low: in 2024, 2.3% of surveyed orchestra musicians were Black, 4.6% were Hispanic, 11.7% were Asian, 2.1% were multiracial, 0.5% were American Indian, 0.2% were Native Hawaiian, and 78.6% were White.
In 2024, women and non-binary individuals comprised almost half of the orchestra musician population, but their representation was highest in smaller to medium budget orchestras.
This data includes orchestra fellows. Substantial differences in representation between individual racial/ethnic groups prevent the collective reporting of BIPOC musicians.
2024 Snapshot
Visit our Frequently Asked Questions page for more information about how this data is analyzed, the value of the metric we present in measuring change, and the work underway by orchestras to improve diversity of representation.
2014-2024 Trends
Black musician representation improved only very slightly, from 1.8% (2014) to 2.3% (2024). In 2024, Black musicians were around twice as likely to be working in smaller budget orchestras, than in their larger budget counterparts.
During the same time period, the proportion of orchestra musicians identified as Asian remained higher than that of all other BIPOC groups combined. In 2024, Asian musicians were around 1.5 times more likely to be working in larger budget orchestras than in smaller-to-medium budget orchestras.
Women comprised almost half of the overall orchestra musician population throughout the 10-year period. Women were roughly 20% more likely to work in smaller-to-medium budget orchestras than in larger budget orchestras.
Visit our Frequently Asked Questions page for more information about how this data is analyzed, the value of the metric we present in measuring change, and the work underway by orchestras to improve diversity of representation.
More Resources
The League’s Inclusive Stages program is working to increase the racial diversity of musicians in American orchestras through research and coalition work.
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