I’m pleased to be here in Chicago at the 2009 Conference of the League of American Orchestras, and to once again blog Conference for Polyphonic readers. (Note: The League’s conference is just “Conference” — we are “at Conference” — I will “blog Conference” — no article necessary or desired!)
I arrived late Tuesday afternoon — lots of weather delays for everyone — and checked into the Hilton Palmer House, a lovely older hotel 1 block from Orchestra Hall and the Chicago Institute of Art. My room is quite small but very elegant. I took a walk over to the parks after I’d settled in a bit and to my delight, the Grant Park Orchestra was rehearsing in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millenium Park. What an amazing outdoor sound system they have set up over the park — arching metal poles over the field with speakers everywhere. The sound was just wonderful. And a curved metal walkway over the highway cuts off the sound of the traffic while looking quite elegant.
The new addition to the art museum is also something worth exploring — the Tune Up party after tomorrow night’s Chicago Symphony concert is in the new wing. And I noticed that there’s free admission from 5 to 9 Thursday night — you’ll know where to find me then!
The conference officially starts at 1:00 this afternoon. Yesterday and this morning the League holds OLA (Orchestra Leadership Academy) seminars, for an additional fee, on a variety of topics such as financial management, developing a public relations strategy, and guidance for governance leaders. I’d signed up for a diversity seminar but it got canceled, so I’m going to have lunch with Alice Brandfonbrener this morning. She’s America’s pre-eminent expert on music medicine, and teaches at Northwestern University, though she tells me she’s vainly trying to retire. She has written for Polyphonic (http://www.polyphonic.org/article.php?id=44) and we’ve emailed each other many times, but have never actually met. Should be fun — she lives right on the lake.
Here’s a brief overview of Conference: this afternoon we have a constituent meeting and then a “Toolbox” session – 5 0r 6 sessions offered simultaneously. Often hard to pick just one! The official Opening Session is at 4:15 with a kenote speech by Alberto Ibarguen, President and CEO of the Knight Foundation and music by the CSO Percussion Scholarship Group. The CSO concert (all Dvorak) and the Tune Up party are later tonight.
Thursday is the annual meeting and award ceremonies (ASCAP, Gold Baton to Henry Fogle, etc.) in the morning followed by a Chicago Civic Orchestra concert, then more constituent meetings, Peer to Peer Roundables where about 20 orchestras or organizations offer a solution they’ve discovered or developed to some problem (more tomorrow about this), and then an all delegate reception. Thursday night I’m off to the museum!
Friday starts with a concert by the Chicago Youth Orchestra, another Toolbox session, and constituent meetings all afternoon. The Grant Park Festival Orchestra and Chorus have a concert Friday night in the Pavilion.
The exhibit hall opens today at noon — lots of vendors: arts management companies, Pops acts, music publishers, acousticians, lots of consultants (marketing, fund-raising, education, management, etc.), and services (telemarketing, ticketing, travel, etc.). It’s fun to wander around. I remember being a bit amazed at my first conference (many years ago) at all the services I’d never really thought about that are necessary for our “industry” to function. Several people are here from my orchestra, Hartford Symphony, including Terry Gellin, our new Development Director. She came to us from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art recently, so this is her first conference and first glimpse into the orchestra world as an industry — I’m eager to hear her perceptions.
