This is a rapidly changing situation and recommended actions may be highly-specific to your location. Check your state and local health agencies for guidance specific to your location.
In addition to the resources below, the League has created dedicated discussion group on its League360 platform for members to exchange questions and information regarding the coronavirus outbreak. Members may sign up for the discussion group here.
Note that EDs, General Managers, and HR, PR, Marketing, and Operations staff were automatically subscribed; they may unsubscribe within the channel settings if they wish. Contact member@americanorchestras.org for help.)
To complement peer group calls among our members, the League has assembled a group of experienced leaders from a variety of types and sizes of orchestras to be available to executive directors of member orchestras for 1 on 1 consultations. These leaders, who have volunteered to help and have worked through crises before, are eager to support others in any aspect of leading an orchestra through the challenges of the pandemic. Please find details in a message from Jesse Rosen, President and CEO of the League, in your League360 discussion group.
Federal Assistance
Community by community, the impact of COVID-19 is variable and rapidly changing. The League of American Orchestras has been a leading voice as orchestras join advocates in the arts and nonprofit sectors nationwide seeking federal relief that will protect their substantial workforce and safeguard their essential service to communities in the wake of unprecedented closures and event cancellations. Forms of federal disaster relief that have traditionally been more limited are now expanded to offer opportunities for the nonprofit sector and workers in the gig economy, like many self-employed musicians, to find support amidst the COVID-19 crisis. The League provides the following resource page to help orchestras keep informed.
The League is offering members individualized technical assistance from qualified legal experts on COVID-19 relief at a steeply discounted rate. See our web page on this service.
ArtsReady Resources
ArtsReady is an online service by and for arts and culture nonprofits, and provides ongoing guidance in support of emergency preparation. The ArtsReady homepage features advice specific to the coronavirus, including consideration of how to review what is covered by insurance policies. It was recently updated to feature a number of free webinars that will be of interest to orchestras.
My own conviction that we will get through this is not just a sheer act of will. It is buttressed by seeing the enduring values in our field come in to play: the irrepressible desire of musicians to share their gifts.
BoardSource, a national nonprofit dedicated to helping other nonprofits strengthen board governance, has dedicated webpages on the board’s role in the COVID-19 crisis. They include:
