The in-depth conversations at Conference 2021 were guided by our five emcees, each focusing on critical question that framed the day’s sessions. Blake-Anthony Johnson, CEO of Chicago Sinfonietta, lead the theme Showing Up for Racial Equity.
The rise of anti-Asian American violence in the spring of 2021 led to a watershed moment for the Asian American Pacific Islander community, and AAPI musicians, staff, board members and supporters in our field found themselves confronting issues on many fronts. Among those issues is the centering of AAPI voices in programming. In this session, a composer, an academic, and an artistic administrator discussed how these voices can be celebrated with equity and how we can overcome obstacles to achieving that goal.
During the summer of 2020, in the wake of global protests against anti-Black racism, artistic leaders were once again confronted with the realities of racism in our society.
During the pandemic, orchestras forged forward, with creativity and innovation unseen before, to respond artistically to the uncertainty of the pandemic. In this session, we heard from three artistic leaders who rose to the challenge. We investigated the responses their organizations made and how sustainable those responses were in the long term as they balanced a return to the concert hall.
The in-depth conversations at Conference 2021 were guided by our five emcees, each focusing on critical question that framed the day’s sessions. Anwar Nasir, Chief Revenue & Advancement Officer of Omaha Symphony, lead the theme Concert Hall vs Digital.
The in-depth conversations at Conference 2021 were guided by our five emcees, each focusing on critical question that framed the day’s sessions. Laura Reynolds, Executive Director of Boise Philharmonic Association, lead the theme Better Together.
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We’ve learned many things over 2020-2021. From the importance of relationships (organizations that entered into 2020 with higher proportions of active audience members in their databases experienced greater resiliency during COVID) to the power of messaging (donors in 2020 were motivated by community impact stories). As we began to welcome audiences back in our venues, knowing which key performance indicators (KPIs) to follow fueled our success.
The pandemic brought extraordinary challenges and changes for the arts and culture industry. We all learned how to work together remotely during quarantine. Many organizations pivoted from physical to digital audience engagement with livestreams, web series, and archival content. Others reopened with new protocols and digital tools to reduce contact points and create a safer environment for returning audiences.