We’d like to salute the Thomas Sill Foundation, which has generously agreed to support the June 22 presentation on Alternative Dispute Resolution by Francis J. Handy at the National Orchestras Meeting.  We are grateful for their support!

On-line registration is now open for Orchestras Canada’s National Orchestras Meeting in Winnipeg, June 20-23.  You can learn more – and register on-line – here.

Cultural Careers Council Ontario has announced the launch of a career self-management course entitled The Business of Art, a course designed to provide creative workers with the business skills to plan for success and take control of their careers.  This intensive program helps creative workers from any field transfer their artistic planning skills to career and business.  The program begins on April 12, it’s being presented in Toronto, and it costs $299.00 plus $14.95 GST. Registration includes 6 workshops, one group coaching session, a manual/workbook, review of business plans and a final presentation.  To register, visit here.

The Center for Arts Management and Technology at Carnegie Mellon University is presenting a webinar entitled The Arts & Social Media, Part II: Turning Strategy Into Results, on March 23 from 2:00pm – 3:30pm Eastern.  The cost is $25 USD.  Here’s how they’re describing the session, led by Rebecca Krause-Hardie of Audienceworks:

“You’ve dabbled with social media. You’ve got a general sense of how to think about it strategically. Now what? In this session, we’ll go beyond the jargon into the nitty-gritty and practical details of executing a successful social media plan. This is a highly interactive session. As the starting point, we’ll explore your goals, questions and your projects and clarify the steps needed to turn them into reality.

In this engaging 90-minute session, you will:
Learn how to create a step by step action plan to get you going;
Look at some great case studies from other arts organizations;
Identify and define 5 practical steps you can take now to have your project soar.”

To register, you can visit the Technology in the Arts website here.

On-line registration is now open for Orchestras Canada’s National Orchestras Meeting, scheduled to take place in Winnipeg June 20-23, 2010, and co-hosted by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and the Winnipeg Symphony.  The meetings feature workshops and presentations led by experts, music, peer meetings and updates from across the country – and all but the pre-conference session will feature simultaneous interpretation, thanks to the support of Great West Life.  We may be biased, but we think it’s a rich and wonderful program!  To learn more, please visit the Winnipeg 2010 pages on our website here.

Orchestras Canada’s donors are at the heart of our work on behalf of Canadian orchestras.  We are grateful to everyone who has made a gift to Orchestras Canada this year, and – thanks to their generosity – we are only $2142 short of our individual fundraising target for the year ending March 31.  With just over three weeks left to go, we know we can reach our goal:  but we need your help. To make a gift to Orchestras Canada, you can:

1.  Visit our giving page at CanadaHelps.org here.
2.  Call Jennifer Caines at the OC office, to make a gift by credit card: 416-366-8834 x221
3.  Mail a cheque to

Orchestras Canada/Orchestres Canada
203-460 rue College Street
Toronto, ON M6G 1A1

March 15 marks the deadline for participation in a new survey of Canadian orchestras’ community engagement programs – and we’ve already been amazed and impressed by the level of participation you’ve shown!  Many thanks to all OC members who have taken the time and contributed to this report.  At the end of January, Jennifer Caines emailed the survey to 71 orchestras; as of earlier this week, 35 orchestras have responded.  We look forward to sharing the results with you later this spring.  If you’d like more information, please get in touch with Jennifer at jennifer[at]oc[dot]ca.

Orchestra News will not be published next week, March 12.  We’ll be back with a blockbuster issue on March 19.

Orchestras Canada’s National Meeting Task Force and the OC staff team have been hard at work, finalizing plans for this year’s National Orchestras Meeting, scheduled to take place in Winnipeg June 20-23.  We are happy to let you know that:

• Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life have agreed to sponsor simultaneous interpretation at this year’s conference.  Thank you!
• We’ve submitted many, many applications to foundations, corporations and our favourite arms-length federal arts agency for travel scholarships that we can re-grant to individuals who otherwise couldn’t afford to attend the meetings.  Our fingers (and toes) are crossed, and we will let you know as soon as we know the fate of these requests.
• To facilitate your travel, we’ve negotiated group travel discounts with both Air Canada and WestJet.  You can find the OC discount codes here.
• To ensure that you’re comfortably housed during your time in Winnipeg, we’ve negotiated a great room rate ($129/night, single or double) at the historic and lovely Fort Garry Hotel – and the rate includes a sumptuous breakfast.  For information on how to book your room, please click here.
• OC has established a partnership with Arts and Cultural Industries Manitoba, through which students at the UWinnipeg Arts & Cultural Management program will be volunteering at the meetings.  As well, ACI clients will be able to register to attend certain learning sessions – helping to build our earned revenue!
• To maximize your learning and networking experience, we continue to fine-tune the meeting program.  There will be lots of time for peer-to-peer exchange, and a concert or two, along with expert (and interactive) presentations on such topics as Working Better With Your Data, Collaborations with First Nations Communities, Turning First Timers into Life Timers, Alternative Dispute Resolution and Strengthening Board-CEO Relationships.  Check out presenter biographies and session descriptions here.
• We have uploaded a google map of Winnipeg onto the Winnipeg 2010 section of our website, highlighting key meeting locations.  You can find it here.
• On-line registration will open the first week of March.

The Canada Revenue Agency is continuing to offer webinars on topics of interest to registered charities, including
• T3010B: Line by Line Review;
• Fundraising, Gifting and Receipting (level I);
• Gifting and Receipting (level II);
• Payroll;
• Registered Charity Information Return Summary, Disbursement Quota and Capital Gain;
• Financial Statements, Books and Records and Foreign Activities; and
• Fundraising Guidance.
Registration is free, and you can learn more and sign up on-line here.

The Toronto-based Maytree Foundation has just announced topics for its winter/spring series of Five Good Ideas free lunch and learn lectures.  Upcoming topics include Employment and Labour Law, Impacting Public Policy, Talking to the Media, and Copyright & Intellectual Property Law.  To learn more and to register, please visit the Maytree Foundation’s on-line registration portal here.

Regular visitors to OC’s website may have noted a brand new tab on our homepage this week.  It’s called “Conference”, and we have posted the first of many updates on the National Orchestras Meeting, scheduled to take place in Winnipeg MB from June 21-23, with a pre-session scheduled for June 20.  You’ll find information about the program, our host hotel, and the arrangements we’ve made for discounted air travel.  Online registration will be up and running by February 28:  check it out, and watch for regular updates, too!

www.orchestrascanada.org