The speaker was Aaron Doty, the President/CEO of the Reno Philharmonic Association, known as the Reno Phil. Although Aaron joined the Reno Phil about 2 years ago, he and Music Director Laura Jackson have known each other for over 20 years.
Aaron talked about the community outreach and education programs of the Reno Phil. The Reno Phil is the largest non-profit performing arts organization in Nevada. 20% of their budget goes to support the community and education programs. (Aaron said that typically a performing arts group budgets up to 5% for community programs.)
A few examples of these programs are: 1) the partnership with the Washoe County Library System 2) the Young Peoples Concerts at the Pioneer Center which lets about 2,800 students experience classical music 3) The Reno Phil has partnered with three Title 1 elementary schools to bring music instruction to the school, and provides the instruments.