Orchestras Canada

It’s the season for annual convenings of arts service organizations – and, earlier this month, the League of American Orchestras hosted its annual conference in Atlanta, GA. To prepare constituents for the conference, to engage a broad audience of non-attenders, and to document the discussions at the conference, the League is hosting a highly interactive website here, where you can read blog postings, check out a lively twitter feed, and post your own comments as well.

Hats off the the Association of British Orchestras ,which has just posted a new briefing document that “highlights the extensive range of education work our orchestras deliver in schools and in the community”. “Unlocking Potential: Education and the Orchestra” is “the latest in a series of briefings being produced by the ABO to raise the profile of British orchestras” – and it tells an inspiring story. You can download the document here.

The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants publishes a terrific series of due diligence documents for directors of not-for-profit organizations, and we’ve recently been directed to one that’s particularly germane:  Pandemic Preparation and Response – Questions for Directors to Ask. You can download this document and others in CICA’s 20 Questions series for free here.

On a cheerier note, the Association of British Orchestras has just published a document called Orchestras into the Future – an inventory of innovative practices in new technology, audience engagement and musician involvement by and with British orchestras.  If you’re looking for inspiration – or if you’d simply like to benchmark your own orchestra’s innovative offerings – we highly recommend Orchestras into the Future to you!  You can find it – as a free download – on the ABO’s website here.

The Association of British Orchestras has recently released the results of a survey entitled “Live the Experience:  Concerts Given by ABO Orchestras in England for School Children and Young People.”  The survey, prepared by consultant Fiona Harvey, follows up on a ten-year commitment made by all eight Arts Council England-funded symphony orchestras in 2007 to “perform live for every child during their time at school…working with government and education providers [to] open our orchestras to all children in England.”  

This commitment is not only inspiring in its own right, it has also proven contagious:  in November 2008, the ABO adopted this mission statement as part of its own strategic plan.  The first step?  To map the programming currently taking place, and to identify barriers to access.

We’re excited about this initiative, and we strongly recommend the report to you.  It’s posted on the ABO’s website here.