League Announces Major New Professional Development Program

Orchestra Intensives will develop talent and expand hiring pool for vital roles in orchestra managements

New York, NY (October 28, 2025) – The League of American Orchestras announces a series of four-day Orchestra Intensives to build the skills and knowledge of professionals around specific roles in orchestra administration. The first in the series, the Orchestra Personnel Management Intensive, will take place in Bloomington, IN in March 2026. This will be followed by an Artistic Administrators Intensive in Fall 2026 and an Operations Intensive in Spring 2027. The program is made possible by a generous grant from The Dr. M. Lee Pearce Foundation, Inc.

These new programs will take a deep dive into specialized career paths, narrowing the focus and allowing an in-depth approach. The Intensives are geared to people new to and/or interested in advancing in a career in orchestra personnel management, especially orchestra personnel managers of smaller-budget orchestras and orchestra personnel staff of larger-budget orchestras, as well as to those more broadly interested in pursuing an orchestra administrative career that includes personnel management. Orchestra Intensives will sit alongside the longstanding and highly regarded Essentials of Orchestra Management program as the League’s major investment in professional development for the orchestra field.

“This program arises directly out of feedback from leaders in the field about the need for a wider pool of applicants for certain jobs specific to orchestras,” said Simon Woods, President and CEO of the League. “In the largest orchestras, we have seen a pattern of strong administrative leaders moving from one orchestra to another without enough new emerging talent entering the field to satisfy orchestras’ needs. This program seeks to address that.  Orchestra Intensives will deepen and broaden the rank of professionals with the necessary backgrounds to take on these roles that are so vital to orchestras putting great music on stage and executing their missions.”

About the Orchestra Personnel Management Intensive

The Orchestra Personnel Management Intensive will introduce participants to the real-life opportunities and challenges that orchestra personnel managers face today and highlight the creative, adaptive, and community-oriented skills that they need to nurture and support their creative workforce and build artistic capacity. Curriculum topics will include musician management and hiring, collective bargaining agreements, the audition and tenure process, building inclusive cultures, conflict resolution, employment law, and more. The program provides participants with the opportunity to learn key skills and gain expertise in orchestra personnel management, build leadership capacity to strengthen their orchestra’s personnel operations, and join a dynamic network of professionals. The course includes individual reflection and sharing with peer groups as well as open discussion and practical scenario exercises.

The Faculty Leaders are Shana Bey, Director of Orchestra Management at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Beth Paine, Director of Orchestra Personnel at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Further guest faculty will be announced later. This Intensive will be held in Bloomington, IN, March 16-19, 2026, in collaboration with Arts Administration programs at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University.

“The Arts Administration programs at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs are excited to host the League’s inaugural Orchestra Personnel Management Intensives,” says Karen Gahl-Mills, Director of Arts Administration Programs at the O’Neill School. “We are pleased to connect our leadership education expertise and our facilities, familiar to so many orchestral musicians who studied at our renowned Jacobs School of Music, with this important training initiative.”

Key Dates:

• Orchestra Personnel Management Intensive: March 16-19, 2026
• Applications for the 20 available spots are open now. Scholarships are available for qualifying individuals.
• Application deadline: Tuesday, December 2, 2025
• Accepted participants will be notified by Thursday, December 18, 2025
• Welcome Zoom meeting for accepted participants: Tuesday, March 10, 2026

The League’s Orchestra Personnel Management Intensive is made possible by a generous grant from The Dr. M. Lee Pearce Foundation, Inc.