Community Relationships

Orchestras are uniquely poised to engage with their community, and this chapter focuses on defining and encouraging meaningful community engagement. Following a definition and framework for community engagement, the chapter explores the orchestra as a community unto itself, which suggests that the musicians of the orchestra can play a critical role as community builders. Educational programming of various types is then outlined and explained, as are types of community engagement initiatives. The chapter concludes with a discussion about terminology—that is, “education,” “engagement,” and “outreach”—and also outlines a variety of mini case studies of success in community engagement and education initiatives.