Orchestra 2001 recognized for “Emerging Markets” neighborhood series during the pandemic

The Philadelphia-based ensemble Orchestra 2001 is one of three recipients of the city’s 2022 Arts + Business Council Awards honoring impactful collaborations between organizations and business. Orchestra 2001 received the award for its two-year “Emerging Markets” series launched in May 2020, one of the orchestra’s responses to the pandemic’s unprecedented loss of employment for local performing artists due to venue closures. “Emerging Markets” has presented informal pay-what-you-wish musical events where residents shop, work, and play, including at the 9th Street Market, featuring music by Italian, Mexican, Southeast Asian, and African American composers; the project included the Philadelphia premiere of Tan Dun’s Prayer and Blessings for the Victims of COVID-19. By the conclusion of this two-year program, Orchestra 2001 says it will have performed approximately 70 short performances reaching 5,000 Philadelphians outside the Center City cultural district. The other two award recipients are Visit Philadelphia, for its project turning the city’s empty storefronts into art installations, and the Barnes Foundation’s project connecting social-impact artists with neighborhood businesses.