Education and Community Engagement and Youth Orchestra Survey 2025

Open through December 12, 2025

For the first time in over a decade, we are excited to hold the Education and Community Engagement (EdCE) and Youth Orchestra Survey. This survey is open from November 13 through December 12, 2025.

Your participation strengthens the field’s shared knowledge while also being critical to the League’s advocacy work and its ability to convey the field’s vibrancy and relevance in the national press.

Open to adult and youth orchestra CEOs/executive directors and EdCE and youth orchestra leadership personnel from League member orchestras, this survey will provide the data for a 2026 report on community impact, supported by Volgenau Foundation. Building on the 2017 publication, “Of and For the Community,” the 2026 report will analyze the scope, scale, and impact of EdCE and youth orchestra activity across the country.

The survey has been carefully designed to take no more than 30 minutes to complete, with reference to documents and information we hope participants already have close at hand. Survey questions will dynamically adapt to your position and responsibilities.

The data you share becomes the evidence funders, policymakers, and peers rely on to show that EdCE and youth orchestra activities are central to orchestras’ missions, not side projects. Your orchestra’s voice makes the case stronger for everyone.

Make sure your story is part of the picture.

You can also download a preview of the survey.

Glossary

We’ve included the glossary below for easy reference, as several definitions can be interpreted differently across organizations and program models:

• Activity: Any interaction (rehearsal, event, lesson, etc.) organized as part of your EdCE and/or youth orchestra work, including any repeats of the same event or program but for a different audience.
• Community partner: A partner organization who shares some aspect of the burden of programming work such as recruitment, logistics, evaluation, program design, staffing, etc.
• Diversity: We invite you to define “diversity” along whatever parameters make sense within the scope of your organization’s EdCE and/or youth orchestra work and goals.
• Participants: The individuals for whom the primary benefit is participation, and for whose benefit the EdCE and/or youth orchestra program is being organized.
• Program: A recurring or one-off offering with a defined goal, audience, and content.
• Youth orchestra: an educational organization providing a quality musical experience primarily for the study of the symphonic repertoire for young musicians.

As a thank you, anyone who completes the survey by end of day December 12 can enter a drawing to win one of three $50 Amazon Gift Cards.*

Questions?

Please feel free to reach out to the authors of the upcoming community impact report, Elaine Sandoval, PhD and Theodore Wiprud, at echangsandoval@americanorchestras.org.

*Participation in the survey is not required to enter the prize drawing. To enter without completing the survey, please email your name and contact information to knowledge@americanorchestras.org with the subject line ‘Survey Drawing Entry’ by December 12, 2025.