Category: Help Yourself

With many arts professionals facing increased stress due to the pandemic, the Wallace Foundation has assembled information and resources from multiple organizations, including the League of American Orchestras, that help support health and wellness for people working in the arts. Resources include surveys, reports, links to support groups, addresses by experts, and more from groups including the American Federation of Musicians, Opera America, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the American Alliance of Museums, and the Actors’ Fund. The Wallace Foundation also reports on the League’s “Mental Health & Wellness” webinar, which aimed to normalize conversations about mental health and provide strategies, backed by scientific research, for League members and others. Wallace includes wellness information that the League has posted on its website, among them links to musician resources, a podcast series that focuses on self-care for artists, and a list of counseling groups. Read the Wallace report here.

Check out the latest edition of Symphony, the League’s award-winning magazine. The winter 2022 issue is online now, and print copies are on the way. What’s inside? League President and CEO Simon Woods conducts a wide-ranging conversation with pianist Lang Lang, who launched his solo career with U.S. orchestras. Throughout the issue, read our coverage of the pandemic and how it is affecting orchestras—and how orchestras are responding. A recent road trip revealed how much in-person orchestra concerts have been missed by audiences and musicians during the pandemic. To better reflect today’s society and connect with their communities, volunteer groups at orchestras are seeking younger and more diverse volunteers. Composers and creators discuss how they are responding musically to tumultuous times. What’s next for today’s young artists, who were about to make their marks at orchestras when COVID-19 hit? All this and more in the new issue of Symphony, online now at symphony.org.

The Rubin ​Institute for Music Criticism is now accepting applications for its weeklong series of workshops for emerging classical music writers, to take place at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music June 16-20, 2022. Founded in 2011 by Stephen Rubin, the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism brings together established music journalists and aspiring young music writers. Student participants (Fellows) from across the U.S. and Canada attend performances by Bay Area ensembles and submit reviews after each concert. The reviews are then discussed and workshopped by professional journalists from outlets including the San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal.  The Institute culminates with the awarding of the $10,000 Rubin Prize in Music Criticism to the Fellow who demonstrates exceptional promise in music criticism. Though the program is primarily designed for enrolled collegiate and postgraduate-level students from any major or area of study, recent graduates from an accredited college, university, or music conservatory or those with a degree and employment experience are not discouraged from applying. There is no fee to apply, and Fellowships are all-expenses paid. The deadline to apply is January 31, 2022. Learn more at https://sfcm.edu/rubin-institute-music-criticism.

Registrations are now being accepted for the League’s 2022 Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview, hosted by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra on March 16 and 17 in New Orleans, LA. Registration is free for League orchestra and institutional members. One of the orchestra field’s most prestigious events for conductors to showcase their talent, the Preview offers: two days of rehearsals; networking between the conductors and industry professionals; a meeting with Henry Fogel, an authority on the conductor search process; and a public concert featuring music by Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Jessie Montgomery, Ravel, and Stravinsky. The Preview provides orchestra search committees, artist managers, and artistic administrators with front-row access to watch and evaluate participants in rehearsal as well as live in performance. Postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic, the 2022 Preview will feature all six conductors from the original 2020 line-up. The conductors are: Bertie Baigent, assistant conductor, Colorado Symphony; Tong Chen, assistant conductor, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra; Gonzalo Farias, associate conductor, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra; Norman Huynh, associate conductor, Oregon Symphony, and music director, Bozeman Symphony Orchestra; Yuwon Kim, conducting fellow, Curtis Institute of Music; and François López-Ferrer, assistant conductor, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Cost: $95, or free for League orchestra and institutional members, including business partners.

Learn more and register for the League’s 2022 Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview here. Questions? Contact David Styers at dstyers@americanorchestas.org.

The League of American Orchestras’ ten-day professional development seminar, Essentials of Orchestra Management, will return to New York City after nearly a decade, now presented in collaboration with Juilliard Extension. Taking place July 24 to August 2, 2022, Essentials is America’s flagship program for early- and mid-career orchestra professionals; the program had taken place in Los Angeles for several years. Essentials’ new home will result in a number of value-added benefits: participants will earn a non-credit professional certificate, issued by Juilliard Extension; the cultural vibrancy of the Lincoln Center area, where students will live, study, and interact; and access to prominent arts leaders. The League and Juilliard Extension share the goal of developing a diverse and highly qualified pool of arts leaders for the 21st century, framed around excellence and creative enterprise, with equity, diversity, and inclusion woven throughout the curriculum. The objective is a high-quality learning experience that prepares participants for the challenges and opportunities of leadership, while providing an environment to envision a new future for orchestras. Early- and mid-career professionals, musicians, career changers, or graduate students are eligible to apply, as well as experienced administrators who wish to expand their knowledge of orchestras. Applications open on Tuesday, January 25, 2022 at americanorchestras.org/essentials.

Latinx ticket buyers at orchestras increased from 8.7% in 2019 to 10.6% in 2021, according to the latest report from TRG Arts and Purple Seven in partnership with the League of American Orchestras. In the 2020 Census, more than half of the total U.S. population growth in the last decade came from growth in the Hispanic or Latino population. On Tuesday, December 14, 3:00pm Eastern/Noon Pacific, the League will present “Engaging the Latinx Community,” a 60-minute webinar led by Arts Consulting Group that explores the changing demographics and opportunities with the growing Latinx community. The webinar will include case study examples from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony as well as recommendations for inclusive practices and actionable insights from the LatinXperience Study.
“Engaging the Latinx Community” takes place on Tuesday, December 14, 3:00pm Eastern/Noon Pacific. A recording will be available after the live event. The League is offering 50% off registrations to staff of NYC arts organizations, thanks to the Howard Gilman Foundation and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Learn more and register for the webinar here. Questions? Contact League Member Services at member@americanorchestras.org.

The League of American Orchestras’ 2022 Midwinter Managers Meeting, “Leadership in a Time of Change” https://americanorchestras.org/event/2022-online-midwinter-managers-meeting/, will take place virtually on January 31-February 1 and will offer two days of professional development and peer connection in a deep dive into what it means to lead during a period of rapid change. Open to League-member orchestra executive directors and administrators of youth orchestras, the Midwinter Managers Meeting will feature inspiring speakers, the opportunity to interact with other CEOs in your budget group, and an examination the roles that leaders play at their orchestras. Nancy F. Koehn, the James E. Robison Chair of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, will launch the Meeting with a keynote address. Koehn’s latest book, Forged in Crisis: The Power of Courageous Leadership in Turbulent Times, spotlights how five of history’s greatest leaders managed crisis and, in doing this, accomplished extraordinary missions. CEOs from multiple orchestras will facilitate field-wide roundtable discussions: “Audience Building” with David Snead, Handel & Hadyn Society; “Fundraising” with Giuliano Kornberg, Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera; “The Digital Future” with Jessica Satava, Johnstown Symphony Orchestra; “Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion” with Karina Bharne, Symphony Tacoma; and “Financial Planning” with Jeff Alexander, Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Register by Wednesday, December 15 to receive the early-bird discount and save up to 30%. Learn more and register at https://americanorchestras.org/event/2022-online-midwinter-managers-meeting/. Questions? Contact League Member Services at member@americanorchestras.org.

On Friday, December 3 at 1:45 p.m., the New York Philharmonic and John Jay College of Criminal Justice will co-present The Unanswered Questions: Handel and the Royal African Company, a panel discussion exploring how audiences may or may not separate a work of art from the morality of its creator. The discussion focuses on George Frideric Handel and his involvement with the transatlantic slave trade through the Royal African Company. The discussion precedes the Philharmonic’s performances of Handel’s Messiah later in December. The conversation will be livestreamed on Facebook. The panelists are Handel scholar and professor emeritus at MIT Ellen Harris; ethnomusicologist and Juilliard professor Fredara Hadley; composer, vocalist, and experimental librettist Imani Uzuri; and Philharmonic Vice President of Artistic Planning Patrick Castillo. WQXR host Terrance McKnight will moderate. The Unanswered Questions is a new series created by the New York Philharmonic in partnership with John Jay, using Philharmonic artistic initiatives to examine broader social issues. The series was launched in October with a conversation on how and why artists and institutions raise awareness of issues in the criminal justice system, complementing performances of Anthony Davis’s You Have the Right To Remain Silent.

Orchestras in Recovery: Ticket Sales and Donation Trends, 2019-2021, a newly released study created in partnership by the League of American Orchestras, TRG Arts, and Purple Seven, indicates that U.S. orchestras are showing some signs of revenue recovery as they return to live performances following two seasons of mostly online programming. The report highlights data about ticket sales and individual donations from 27, mostly larger-budget U.S. orchestras, and compares information about the 27 U.S. orchestras with findings about the 125 performing arts organizations participating in the COVID-19 Sector Benchmark, a large global arts and cultural consumer dataset by TRG Arts and Purple Seven. The Orchestras in Recovery report reveals that while ticket sales are still below pre-pandemic levels, donations have increased significantly, with 15 percent coming from first-time patrons. The report also includes findings about advance ticket sales and patron demographics, diversity, and engagement. The report compares ticket sales and donations from individual patrons for November 2020-October 2021 and November 2018-October 2019. Read the Orchestras in Recovery report and learn more here.

Since February 2021, the Audience Outlook Monitor COVID-19 Study has been tracking audience readiness to return to arts and culture venues during the pandemic. In partnership with the League of American Orchestras, this study by research consultancy WolfBrown shines a light on orchestra audiences during this period via regular surveys of concertgoers administered by fifteen League-member orchestras. On November 15, WolfBrown released the final set of findings from the study, with a particular focus on its orchestra cohort, summarizing the impact of the Delta variant and the outlook for the coming six to twelve months. Members of the League may directly access the latest survey results through a password-protected dashboard. For login instructions, see the Study Resources page on the League’s website.

WolfBrown will now move forward with a new Audience Outlook Monitor study focused on assessing audience attitudes about inclusion, diversity, equity and access. More information will be available in early 2022.

Questions? Contact the League at knowledge@americanorchestras.org.