Facilitator(s): Roger Sametz, Chief Executive Officer, Sametz Blackstone Associates and Charlie Wade, Consultant, Duke Ellington Orchestra

One of the few positive after-effects of the pandemic is that we’ve “broken the fourth wall” and brought our audiences into our organizations in an unvarnished, genuine manner we might not have considered before. We’ve continued to learn critical lessons about justice, equity, and systemic marginalization in our communities, and to face tough questions: who doesn't feel welcome in our (virtual and physical) spaces? How can we make our orchestras more inviting to more audiences? How can our storytelling find more diverse eyes, ears, hearts, and minds, and be relevant to those who may not think we are?

Your orchestra’s brand can play a powerful role in extending an authentic welcome to diverse audiences in your community — culturally, racially, economically, demographically — if you craft and manage your brand in an intentional and thoughtful way. Through this interactive and case study-filled session, join us to discuss the process of building a compelling, welcoming brand that meets your constituents where they are.

Facilitator(s): Elizabeth Blaufox, Director of Promotion, Boosey & Hawkes; Alecia Lawyer, Founder, Artistic Director, and Principal Oboist, ROCO; Vanessa Rose, Executive Director, American Composers Forum; Nina Shekhar, Composer, Mannes School of Music (The New School), Princeton University; and Curtis Stewart, Artistic Director, American Composers Orchestra

On July 4, 2026, our nation will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. Orchestras are thinking about how they and their communities are commemorating and analyzing this historic milestone in their programming.

Join this conversation to discuss programming ideas and share your thoughts as we look ahead toward that year and the future we want to create for the next generation and beyond.

Facilitator(s): Jackson Cooper, Adjunct Professor, Arts Leadership, Seattle University, UNC-Greensboro

Building authentic partnerships that drive mission and revenue is critical to all American orchestras. By centering relationships within our fundraising practices for staff, executive directors, music directors, and board leadership, we can maintain focus and momentum while crafting a community-centric model of inclusion.

Through case studies of sustainable and inclusive fundraising strategies, discuss the evolving challenges and opportunities you and your leaders are facing in fundraising.

Facilitator(s): Albert Martínez-Fernández, Budget Manager, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Explore how you can use design thinking to effectively promote EDI in your orchestra’s community engagement programs. Participants will discuss the common approaches used in designing and executing community engagement programs in arts organizations, assess their limitations in achieving EDI progress, and examine how design thinking can help address these shortcomings.

Through a "Community Co-Designed Approach," a new framework that leverages design thinking and user-centered methodologies, you will better understand and address the unique needs and values of diverse communities. This innovative approach will help you integrate EDI principles into your community engagement initiatives more effectively.

Join colleagues for a conversation that inspires change and guides orchestras towards inclusive, impactful, and meaningful community engagement work.

Facilitator(s): Alan Brown, Managing Principal, WolfBrown and Christina Bellevue, Senior Marketing Manager, National Arts Centre

At the 2023 League Conference, many orchestra managers expressed the view that different approaches to creating value for customers are needed to foster affinity for the art and loyalty to the organization. New research from the National Arts Centre of Canada and other organizations suggests important opportunities to diversify the types of relationships that orchestras have with their customers.

This session will delve into research on taste, affinity, and loyalty, and summarize a recent scan of experiments with new types of products, relationships, and sales platforms. For example, younger consumers tend to express affinity for artists, formats, and spaces, and older consumers are more likely to hold feelings of loyalty towards institutions. While the subscription model will continue to be a desirable product for the foreseeable future, it is unable to capture the considerable passion for music that circulates amongst those who aren’t interested in subscribing.

Our conversation will establish the logic and argument for innovative new models for educational, social, and other types of relationships, and allow participants to share approaches that are promising in their own environments.

Facilitator(s): Mark Bailes, Marketing Revenue Manager, Houston Symphony ; Carrie Brandsberg-Dahl, Young Associates Council Vice Chair, Houston Symphony ; Kirby Lodholz, Chair, Young Associates Council, Houston Symphony; Sherry Rodriguez, Corporate Relations Manager and Board Liaison, Houston Symphony Orchestra; and Katie Salvatore, Development Officer, Houston Symphony

The Gen X, X-ennial, Millennial, and Gen Z generations are vital to the future of symphony orchestras. Join us to learn about the data behind giving trends and share the ways you and your teams are forming or expanding your young professionals program.

The session will also feature a case study on the Houston Symphony’s Young Associates Council, a philanthropic membership group with over 100 members that is actively engaged in all areas affecting the Houston Symphony from fundraising, subscription sales, board service, education and community engagement initiatives, and more.

Facilitator(s): Bob Swaney, Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, RSC Associates and Morgan Walker, Executive Director, Shreveport Symphony Orchestra

Orchestras require a robust planned giving program that makes a lasting impact, yet they don’t always commit the attention and resources necessary for a sustained effort. Other organizational priorities compete for attention, and the stamina necessary for success slowly diminishes.

Explore a simple, repeatable, and effective approach that will not only help you successfully launch a planned giving program, but also sustain it in the months and years ahead. And come ready to share your own examples of challenges and successes in your orchestra’s planned giving program.

Facilitator(s): Lorin Green, Community Relations Manager, Seattle Symphony; Julia Jacobsen, Creative Marketing Manager, Boulanger Initiative; Max Stephenson, Operations Manager, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra Youth Orchestra; and Lauren Zwonik, Graduate Assistantship in Arts Administration, Las Vegas Philharmonic

We all know that younger generations are consuming information and your marketing efforts in ways that we are still trying to understand. Learn from members of the League’s Student Leadership Council about how the next generation is consuming your marketing efforts through examples of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Bring your own samples or pull out your laptop in the roundtable second part of the session to see what suggestions Student Leadership Council members have for your website or marketing campaign in real time.

Facilitator(s): Brian Baxter, Executive Director, Quad City Symphony Orchestra; Caitlin Lingle Bishop, Director of Marketing, Quad City Symphony Orchestra and Chelsea Sammons, Director of Education and Community Engagement, Quad City Symphony Orchestra

Explore how orchestras can evolve to be more inclusive, youth-focused, and community-centric, all while ensuring financial sustainability. Through a multi-pronged approach to audience development, emphasizing inclusivity, youth engagement, and robust community partnerships, discuss how orchestral music can be accessible to all, especially underserved and diverse populations.

Highlighting the Quad City Symphony Orchestra’s youth-centric initiatives, from Students @ Symphony, which invites school music groups to Masterworks performances, to the formation of the Quad City Symphony Youth Ensembles Concert Club, discover how to nurture the next generation of orchestra enthusiasts and reinforce your community-centric entity, bringing people together through music. Discuss strategies that can help you deepen community ties, cultivate future subscribers, and ensure enduring relevance and growth.

Facilitator(s): Jay Gilman, Assistant Vice President, CCS Fundraising and Jacob Tudor, Patron Engagement and Crescendo Club Manager, Nashville Symphony

Millennials and Gen Z have the potential to become your orchestra’s greatest champions, and the work of engaging them in governance can and should start now. In this session, discover a 5-factor framework informed by lessons from the Nashville Symphony's highly successful associate board and young professionals' club.

Discuss how you can effectively involve younger generations in your board and share your own experiences in this critical work with those who are just getting started.

Facilitator(s): Vanessa Gardner, Vice President of Marketing & Operations, Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts; Jamie Leigh Sampson, Co-Owner and Composer, ADJ•ective New Music; Merwin Siu, Artistic Administrator, Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts; Andrew Martin Smith, Co-Owner and Composer, ADJ•ective New Music; and Zak Vassar, President and CEO, Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts

Orchestras can expand impact and communities through multi-composer commissions. The Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) and ADJ•ective New Music have an artistic partnership that has developed over the past 14 seasons of music making in Toledo and beyond. Their collaborations have included marathon concerts at the Toledo Museum of Art and contemporary music festivals across the Northwest Ohio city.

Come discuss the logistics and benefits of working with composers’ collectives and where to look for such communities.

Facilitator(s): Michelle Cann, Piano

The ethnocultural diversity of our nation is among our greatest strengths, but representation among performers, composers, and audience members of classical music has not reflected that diversity. The programming of works by underrepresented composers can educate all of us and empower our next generation.

Discover the rich repertoire by composers whose extraordinary music was either neglected in their lifetimes or abandoned after their deaths — and come prepared to share your own repertoire ideas to help the whole orchestra field continue to enrich its programming.

Made possible by a generous grant from The Aaron Copland Fund for Music.