Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra Releases Long-Range Strategic Plan

    KALAMAZOO, MI, March 25, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- All around the world, symphony orchestras are under pressure to find the key to operating in challenging and changing times. Traditional symphony audiences are aging. New technologies are providing easily accessible alternatives to live performances in the concert hall. Communities are grappling with persistent social issues, making support and funding for the arts all the more difficult to obtain. Orchestras everywhere are struggling to prove their relevance to their communities.

The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra (KSO) is more fortunate than many of their peer organizations. The KSO enjoys the long-standing support and generosity of their community, a consistent subscriber base, and the security that a strong endowment provides. Thanks to strong community support, artistic excellence, committed musicians, staff and board, and strong education and community programs, the KSO has been able to weather the storms of a shifting arts environment. Still, the organization must be ready to adapt, reinvent, and improve in a dynamic and accelerating environment.

In 2014, the KSO was at an important organizational crossroads. With President & CEO, Peter H. Gistelinck, as the new leader at the helm, and on the cusp of their upcoming 100th anniversary season in 2020-21, the KSO knew the time was right to evaluate all facets of the organization and carefully plan for their future. For more than a full year, in partnership with Arts Consulting Group (ACG), the KSO embarked upon the most wide-ranging and inclusive strategic planning process - including an in-depth community survey - in the organization's 95-year history.

Through this thorough process, the KSO identified the following key findings:
- The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra is highly valued by its community, recognized as a well-managed and stable community tradition, and praised for its contribution in helping to create a desirable place to live.
- The community is calling on the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra to grow a more demographically diverse audience by expanding access, creating fresh program options, and collaborating with other area organizations.
- Eager for informal social opportunities to engage with the KSO and other music lovers, the community is seeking more meaningful concert experiences and deeper connections.
- The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra's educational initiatives remain a highly-valued and important cornerstone of the organization, enhancing learning experiences and fostering a love of music for students, and providing greater access to underserved audiences.

These findings informed the creation of a strategic plan, unanimously approved by the Board of Directors, which will serve as a roadmap to lead the KSO into their next century. During the next three to five years, the KSO will be guided by the following initiatives:
- Optimize the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra concert experience for audiences and artists alike by cultivating artistic excellence, offering a diverse array of concert options, and producing musical performances at the highest level.
- Enhance the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra's Education Programs and Community Partnerships to provide meaningful ongoing musical experiences and effective entry points for the community for all ages - from preschool to adult.
- Strengthen and sustain the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra by growing the audience, increasing financial support, building awareness of KSO programs, and developing an engaged board and volunteer base.
- Create a more resilient organization by strengthening the workforce, improving stakeholder reporting, and communications.
- Celebrate the KSO's 100th Anniversary Season (2020-2021) with a wide-array of events and initiatives that deepen the community's connection with the orchestra and assure financial stability for the future of the organization.

The KSO takes their mission seriously: To serve our community through outstanding musical listening and learning experiences. The KSO values and is committed to providing musical excellence and outstanding musicians, unique artistic collaborations, sustainability and organizational excellence, innovative orchestral music experiences and educational programs, and concerts and programs targeting the diverse Kalamazoo population.

ABOUT THE KALAMAZOO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The history of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra (KSO) begins with its founder, Mrs. Leta G. Snow, local civic leader and future founder of the national American Symphony Orchestra League. Mrs. Snow felt that a local symphony orchestra was essential for developing a community with an attractive quality of life. The KSO's first concert, featuring an all-volunteer orchestra, was on December 19, 1921 at the Masonic Temple under conductor Chester Z. Bronson. Now, ninety-five years later, the KSO is achieving artistic and institutional growth and excitement with eighty professional musicians under the leadership of Music Director, Raymond Harvey (appointed in 1999).

The KSO is the state's third largest orchestra with an operating budget of nearly $3 million and more than eighty musicians and professionals employed full or part time. Serving Michigan's fourth largest metropolitan area, the KSO provides more than thirty concert performances each year, reaching more than 40,000 music lovers.

The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra receives major support from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra also receives generous support from other local, state and national foundations, as well as private and corporate support. For more information, visit www.kalamazoosymphony.com.

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