Five orchestras are among the 26 performing arts institutions “that will receive grants to help them build new audiences as part of a six-year, $52 million Wallace Foundation initiative that was announced on Wednesday,” reports Michael Cooper in Wednesday’s (4/15) New York Times. The orchestras being funded in Wallace’s Building Audiences for Sustainability effort are: the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (to launch a new concert series attracting younger, more diverse audiences), Los Angeles Philharmonic (to establish stronger relationships with infrequent attendees), New York Philharmonic (expand its reach to younger audiences), Oakland East Bay Symphony (to deepen and sustain relationships with new audiences from the area’s increasingly diverse population), and Seattle Symphony (build on bold programming targeting a growing young, urban population). “The idea is to help dance companies, opera troupes, orchestras and theaters develop new audience-building programs and study the results. The Wallace Foundation, which has been doing case studies on audience growth, plans to examine these groups’ experiences in a series of public reports aimed at helping other institutions replicate what works…. Roughly $10.2 million was awarded in the first round of grants, which ranged in size from $60,000 to $770,000 and went to organizations around the country.”
A complete list of grant recipients can be found at the Wallace Foundation website.
Posted April 16, 2015
