As regular readers of Orchestra News may recall, OC was fortunate to receive grant support from both the Canada Council’s Flying Squad program and the Ontario Arts Council’s Compass program last fall to commission a report from consultants Angela Birdsell and Cathy Smalley on the professional and leadership development needs of current and future Canadian orchestra management personnel. Their study is posted on our website, here.

The study helped to inform the work of an OC member task force, chaired by Jeff Alexander of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and populated by Dawn Leite, Lethbridge Symphony; Trudy Schroeder, Winnipeg Symphony; David Leighton, former chair of the board of the National Arts Centre and a current member of the board of Orchestras Canada; Annelisa Pedersen, Hamilton Philharmonic; Luce Moreau, Orchestre Métropolitain; and Wendy Reid, Distinguished Visiting Professor, HEC Montreal. The group met a number of times from January to June, and ultimately created an action plan for OC’s future work in this area, and a set of recommendations to Canadian orchestras as well. You can view the task force’s report here.

We are sincerely grateful to many people for their commitment to this process – and we can’t wait to start implementing the action plan! In particular, we thank: our funders, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council; Angela Birdsell and Cathy Smalley, who whole-heartedly engaged with the people and the issues, and brought us a clear and compelling report; the Task Force, whose perspectives brought us great value; and the many people who shared their insights with the consultants, through key informant interviews and an electronic survey.