Orchestras Canada’s Executive Director, Katherine Carleton, will be making a presentation to the federal Standing Committee on Finance at the opening session of its pre-budget consultation tour, in Ottawa on Tuesday, September 15.  In addition to her presentation, representatives from a number of other Orchestras Canada member groups have requested an opportunity to address the committee as it travels across the country, including:  Jeff Alexander, President and CEO of the Vancouver Symphony Society; Dorothy Dobbie, Board Chair of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra; Robert Weese, Chair of the Government Relations Committee of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Sophie Galaise, Directrice générale of the Orchestre symphonique de Québec; and Annette Campbell, General Manager of the Prince Edward Island Symphony.  We sincerely appreciate the willingness of these individuals to represent their own orchestras – and the collectivity of Canadian orchestras – in this way!

We’d also like to remind members about the new Advocacy Tool-kit on our website, an evolving resource that presently contains:

• a customizable letter to MPs, thanking them for past federal arts investments and requesting a meeting;
• a meeting tips document
• a meeting report form, which can be returned to Orchestras Canada once the meeting is done
• a customizable follow-up letter to MPs, thanking them for the meeting and inviting them to an upcoming concert
• a copy of OC’s brief to the federal Standing Committee on Finance

You can find the tool-kit here:
English
Français

As the electoral climate heats up in the coming weeks, we hope to post new resources in this area.  Watch for it!