In June 2008, the board of Orchestras Canada approved a strategic plan intended to guide our national association’s activities from 2008-09 to 2010-11. In the fall of 2009, OC board chair Ann Lewis-Luppino suggested that we re-visit the plan with a view to considering our progress to date, and revising the plan to reflect what we had learned since it was first written. A Strategic Planning Task Force, consisting of Ann Lewis-Luppino, Thérèse Boutin, Sophie Galaise and Caroline Miller, worked with Executive Director Katherine Carleton on the task. Their work is now done, it’s been approved by OC’s board of directors, and the end result – a strategic plan for the years 2010-11 and 2011-12 – is now posted on our website, here.

Keen readers will note revisions to Orchestras Canada’s mission, vision and strategic goals – and because of their impact on our work moving forward, we’ll quote them here:

Mission
Orchestras Canada is the united national voice of the Canadian orchestral community: furthering, enriching and celebrating the work of Canadian orchestras through programs and services in both official languages.

Vision
Orchestras Canada will be at the forefront of advocacy for Canadian orchestras, taking informed action for the benefit of orchestras and the communities they serve. We champion the accomplishments and the potential of Canadian orchestras, and help to create the conditions in which:

• Canadian orchestras are recognized as resilient, collaborative, artistically vibrant organizations that actively contribute to the vitality of their communities.
• Canadian orchestras engage with enthusiastic audiences that reflect the diversity of their communities.
• Canadians can be proud of a distinctively “Canadian” orchestral style, repertoire and social commitment philosophy.

Strategic Goals for 2010-11 and 2011-12

Orchestras Canada will

1. Improve the environment in which Canadian orchestras work, through targeted advocacy, communication and partnership development;
2. Enable stronger links and better information exchange, among and between Canadian orchestras;
3. Continue to evolve, to better serve Canadian orchestras. (see translation below – no need to translate the mission, vision and strategic goals…)

Fine, good, whatever – but how will the new plan affect members and friends of OC, and how will it guide the staff and board?

In a nutshell:

We will retain our focus on advocacy and public affairs.
We will strengthen our communications capacity, to better support our members’ efforts in spreading the good news about the remarkable work done by Canadian orchestras of all sizes and shapes.
Partnerships will take on an ever more important role at OC, as we work to strengthen our services while working within existing resources.
We’ll commit to convening our members for information and knowledge exchange.
We’ll undertake a study of the needs and current state of community and youth orchestras, to better understand what these vitally important groups need and the role a national association might play in meeting those needs.
We’ll model best practices in governance.
And we’ll work to streamline our information collection efforts, to make it easier and more meaningful for orchestras to take part in our surveys and reports.