Appearing At The American Orchestras Summit

From January 26-28, 2010 the University of Michigan is hosting an American Orchestras Summit. Titled Enlarging the Circle: Creating Partnerships in Research and Performance, the organizers describe their goals as “bring[ing] together arts presenters, orchestra leaders, and academics to explore potential partnerships and strategies for confronting the many challenges that face the American orchestra today.” I’ll be participating as a panelist on the 1/27/2010 11:40 a.m. session, Thinking Outside the Box: Organizational Structures and Strategies…

Also on the panel are PhD student in Musicology at the University of Michigan and co-organizer of the conference, Michael Mauskapf; UM Ross School of Business Associate Professor of Strategy, Michael Jensen; Coordination of performance researcher and PhD in Organizational Psychology, John Paul Stephens, and Pittsburgh Symphony President, Larry Tamburri.

The summit is sponsored by the Ann Arbor Symphony, Arts Enterprise @ UM, UM American Music Institute, UM Interdisciplinary Committee on Organizational Studies, UM School of Music, Theatre & Dance, and the University Musical Society. Consequently, the considerable academic presence should provide a refreshing environment to examine some of the most pressing issues facing the field today. In addition to the Organizational Structure and Strategies session, other items of considerable interest include Re-Conceptualizing the Symphony and Leveraging History: Lessons from the Past (full event schedule).

As the date approaches, you can be certain that I’ll post more info and make any materials I’m bringing along available here via download. I’ll also spend time doing some live blogging and tweeting from other sessions and events.

Registration & Remote Participation

The event registration fee is only $25.00 (free for students) and given the cost of similar events conducted elsewhere, this is a pleasantly reasonable and appropriate amount to encourage participation. This is doubly so if you live and/or work anywhere within a few hour’s drive of Ann Arbor, MI (event map). Registration Is Available Online or via the more conventional snail-mail route.

For those unable to attend, I’ve been informed that as of the time this piece was published, the organizers will not be able to stream any of the events live, but they will be posting videos and making other materials available here shortly after the Summit concludes. Questions about the event can be directed via email to orchestrasummit@umich.edu.