Orchestras depend on support from the public and must operate ethically and effectively to maintain the public’s trust. As nonprofit organizations around the country are shoring up their administrative and governance practices, orchestras must develop a transparent culture on issues ranging from employee and volunteer human resource policies to financial record-keeping.
When we gather to convey a message through music, both audiences and artists crave the full breadth of sound. As we return to live performances in our concert halls, we must balance the need to create a safe space for performers and audiences with artistic expression and acoustics.
Orchestra Facts: 2006-2014 is the first in what will become a regularly published and publicly available series of longitudinal reports commissioned by the League of American Orchestras. Drawing on multiple data sources, Orchestra Facts looks back over a nine-year period from 2006 to 2014 to tell the story of orchestra finances and operations through the recession years and beyond.
Keep the League informed of your advocacy efforts! As the League continues to advocate for arts education at the national level, it will be helpful to know about your efforts to build support for music education at the state and local levels.
Dear Friends, This has been an extraordinary, stressful, and transformative time in the life of the country, bringing relief for many and disappointment for others. At the League of American Orchestras we hope for a future that is rooted in decency, respect, and humanity…
The passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) marks an important, new opportunity to ensure that every student has access to arts and music education. Now, even more of the decisions about how the arts are supported in education will be made at the state and local levels. The highest poverty schools currently have the …
Forty Years of Fellowships: A Study of Orchestras’ Efforts to Include African American and Latino Musicians, commissioned by the League with research and analysis by Nick Rabkin and Monica Hairston O’Connell, is an in-depth examination of orchestras’ past efforts to diversify their musician ranks with fellowships for African American and Latino musicians. The report presents program and impact data about diversity fellowships from 1976 to the present day, and explores the perspectives of fellowship program alumni.
Racial/Ethnic and Gender Diversity in the Orchestra Field, commissioned by the League with research and data analysis by Dr. James Doeser, reports on gender and ethnic/racial diversity in orchestras among musicians, conductors, staff, executives, and board members.
How we engage with colleagues serves as one of our biggest assets for success and directly influences our ability to accomplish our work. But what happens when, behind the scenes and off the stage, establishing and sustaining harmonious connections between people feels difficult, or even impossible?
Orchestras Support In-School Music Education Signatories (as of September 3, 2024) “Orchestras Support In-School Music Education” (PDF) reflects a collective opportunity for all orchestras to take individual, community-specific action to improve access to music education in schools nationwide. The process of signing onto the statement is ongoing, and all orchestras are invited to add their names. To …