Category: Help Yourself

1 in 5 Americans don’t know where their next meal is coming from—last year it was 1 in 8. With more than 250 orchestras representing all 50 states, Orchestras Feeding America 2009 was the single largest orchestra project serving communities nationwide, collecting over 200,000 pounds of food for local communities.  This year, we hope to do even better!

Here are just a few ideas from orchestras who participated last year:

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra made arrangements for concertgoers and members of the public to bring non-perishable canned and packaged food to bins located throughout the Woodruff Arts Center campus, clinics, and libraries. There were approximately 10 collection sites across the City of Atlanta!

The Central Ohio Symphony included ideas for their drive in a blog. You can check it out here! The Symphony now has very close relationship with People in Need who are completing a capital campaign which has resulted in big improvements to those they serve!

The Oklahoma City Philharmonic partnered with the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma who suggested setting a goal before starting their drive.  They also coordinated their drive with other orchestras in their area including their university, youth, and community orchestras. In the end, the Oklahoma City Phil successfully brought in over 22,000 pounds of food!

The Orchestra of Southern Utah offered free tickets to families who came with food items and advertised the drive on their concert poster.

We’ll be sending more ideas from other orchestras throughout the food drive. If you have ideas for this year or ideas that worked for your orchestra last year, please send them to Margaret at fooddrive@americanorchestras.org.

Sign up here to be officially added to our list of participating orchestras! 
If you have any questions about this year’s drive, please contact Margaret at fooddrive@americanorchestras.org.

Posted January 14, 2010

With the accelerating pace of technological change, the League’s Electronic Media Services collects monthly summaries of relevant news and information regarding changes, trends and developments that may affect the electronic media activities your orchestra uses to achieve its institutional mission. You’ll find these monthly summaries, and other important legal and technological information as it relates to electronic media, in the League’s Knowledge Center. (Read this month’s update )  

Posted January 13, 2010

Helen M. Thompson Award
Deadline for nominations: February 1, 2010

In 1981, an award was created to celebrate the life and work of Helen M. Thompson, the person who, more than any other, developed and promoted the cause of the symphony orchestra in the United States. This annual award is given to orchestra managers/executive directors and music directors in alternate years.

The 2010 Helen M. Thompson Award will be given to an outstanding early-career music director. A cash prize of $2,500 will be presented to the individual winner at the League’s 2010 National Conference in Atlanta.

Click here for nomination procedures and deadlines.

Posted January 11, 2010

Special rate ends January 8, 2010 – be sure to reserve your room now!

This year’s meetings will take place January 30-February 1, 2010 (for EDs groups 1-8) in New York City at the InterContinental The Barclay New York hotel. League members will receive the special rate of $149 per night at this same hotel. For reservations, please call 800 782 8021 and ask for the League of American Orchestras preferred rate or register online here.

Gather with executive directors from across the country who confront the same issues that you do. All of you strive to balance staff, an unstable economy, and the day-to-day challenges of managing an orchestra.

Don’t miss this opportunity to be with those who understand you best. Register now for the 2010 Mid-Winter Managers Meeting and Orchestra be part of the conversation.

To register for Mid-Winter Managers Weekend including Orchestra Leadership Academy, please click here.

Posted January 7, 2010

This year better your finance skills by taking advantage of these free webinars developed in association with the Nonprofit Finance Fund, available now through July. For more information about these and other opportunities to learn online, visit americanorchestras.org. 

These webinars are available on-demand – watch them at your convenience, day or night. All you need is an internet connection.

Critical Elements in Nonprofit Financial Statements
The purpose of this webinar is to increase the comfort of nonprofit managers and board members in reading and interpreting nonprofit financial statements. You will receive a crash course on interpreting your financial statements to reveal the business underpinning your programs; follow a real-life nonprofit case study, with financial information drawn to demonstrate how the choices you make impact your organization’s financial health and viability; and review the use of financials in articulating your resource needs to stakeholders.

Cash Flow Planning
This timely, practical webinar provides participants with tips and tools to understand how to appropriately plan and monitor cash needs by analyzing your incoming and outgoing cash, including learning to use a monthly cash flow projection.

Sound Financial Planning
This very important webinar provides participants with tips and tools to lead their organizations during challenging times and beyond. NFF will offer guidance to enhance staff’s understanding of the interplay between financial risk, revenue reliability and fixed costs. We will also discuss how this information can be used to inform planning and decision-making organization-wide.

To access any of these webinars, click here. You will need the password “metlife”.

Posted January 7, 2010

Missed the deadline for reserving your ad in SymphonyOnline’s March/April issue?  Not to worry. The deadline for placing an ad in the online version of the magazine has been extended to next Thursday, December 10th.  Reserve your ad now and all new advertisers receive a 33% discount on any ad placed in the March/April issue of SymphonyOnline.  Contact Steve Alter, director of advertising, by phone at 646 822 4051 or by email at salter@americanorchestras.org for more information.

December 4, 2009

Members of League of American Orchestras are entitled to as much as $160 in discounts to the National Arts Marketing and Development Conference, Saturday, March 13 – Tuesday, March 16, 2010.

In addition to the $160 in discounts, you can get the best savings if you register by the December 22 Early Bird Deadline.  Also, by registering by December 22, you can bring a colleague to the conference for free.

Presented by Arts Reach at the Kimmel Center on the NYU campus in New York City,  the overall theme for the conference is "Coming Together, Setting the Course: Reinvent Your Future with the New Marketing and Fundraising Strategies of the Next Decade."  See conference details, including registration and lodging, at artsreach.com/conference.

Posted December 4, 2009

The League’s highly competitive Grants to Outstanding Women Conductors are designed to contribute to the career development of women conductors at the highest levels of potential.  They are intended for those who are primed for national and international recognition and are ready for candidacy for top conducting posts.

Four grants for $10,000 will be awarded to female conductors of outstanding ability during the 2010-11 cycle.

Eligibility:

• Applicants must have at least 3 years as paid professionals with orchestras
• Grants are for post-graduate professional development, and are not intended to support higher education/academic study
• This program is limited to women conductors who are current members of the League of American Orchestras, and who are committed to a career with American orchestras

For more information on this and other opportunities for women conductors, please visit americanorchestras.org.

Photo of Alondra de la Parra by Kfir Ziv

Posted December 2, 2009

The Corporation for National and Community Service launched a new United We Serve initiative, Feed A Neighbor, in collaboration with the White House and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
 
A recent hunger report issued by the USDA revealed that 17 million households, or 14.6% of all households in America, were food insecure in 2008 and had difficulty putting enough food on the table at times during the year. In the midst of our great national abundance, this statistic is incredibly sobering.
 
The purpose of the Feed A Neighbor initiative is to raise public awareness of hunger issues and ask Americans to help ensure that their neighbors have access to nutritional food this winter and throughout the year. By focusing the national spotlight on hunger this holiday season, the Corporation and the USDA continue their year-round commitment to support anti-hunger programs in communities across the country.
 
We are directing people to Serve.gov and encouraging those participating in the Orchestras Feeding America national food drive to register their efforts.
 
If you have any questions, please contact us at serviceinitiative@cns.gov. Thank you.

Posted December 1, 2009