Quarter Notes

Spring 2025

BSAV Executive Committee Meeting Highlights – December 4, 2024 

BSO Updates by Lauren Budding, Chief Development Officer. Lauren shared the following: 

• Strategic Planning. After months of strategic planning activities, three priorities have emerged focused around: 1) Places, including the preservation and renovation of Symphony Hall and the physical assets that we own, as well as addressing deferred maintenance at Tanglewood; 2) Programming across all the brands; 3) Community engagement and education. 
• Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). There have been many important conversations internally and externally to ensure all constituencies feel welcomed and valued. The BSO’s values will be informed by EDI as we move forward in the strategic planning work. 
• Fundraising. Fundraising efforts are going very well. The BSO was recently named a recipient of a grant for $15M dedicated to deferred maintenance for both campuses. 
• Annual Fund. At the end of November 2024, the BSO was at about $4.2M towards the overall goal of $26M. Volunteer contributions are over $200,000 so far, and the BSO is very grateful for that. 
• Partnership and Collaboration. Chad Smith continues to bring an increased focus on thinking about ‘radical collaboration’ with other institutions in the community. 

BSAV Survey Results Summary: 

• Boston/Symphony Hall: 77 responses were received from 120 active volunteers – a good response rate. Half of respondents were from Hosts. In general, volunteers felt well trained; there was improvement in the communication from Project Leads; and a continued desire for more social opportunities. There was also high praise for the new format of the BSAV Recognition night and the more informal environment for this event. 
• Tanglewood: 227 responses were received, which was a lower response rate from last year’s survey. Results indicate there was a general improvement in trainings. Discussions for further training enhancements followed, with a new “Training for New Volunteers” proposed for next year. Other survey result feedback clustered around food options and information distribution. Tyler Rand, the new Chief of Staff, will help determine what is working and what can be improved in these 2 key areas. 

Highlights of Upcoming Boston Symphony Season Events and Activities: 

• The BSAV Named Concert is scheduled for March 16th. This will be an afternoon concert followed by an informal gathering at a nearby restaurant.  
• The date for the Boston Recognition event is still TBD.  
• A new format for the Quarter Notes newsletter has met with positive feedback. The goal was to make it easier to read with fewer clicks, and fewer articles to keep the focus on timely/relevant topics.   
• The Social Engagement Committee is busy planning upcoming events for 2025 including tours of the Harvard Art Museum, the MFA, Trinity Church. Outreach will be made to the Boston Ballet, Gardner Museum, and the Peabody Essex Museum for possible tours/visits.  

Tanglewood 2024 Summary Stats: 

• Peter Geller, Vice Chair, Tanglewood shared that Tanglewood volunteers worked 18,000 hours this past summer. In addition, about 36 volunteers worked more than 100 hours each! 

Fall 2024

BSAV Executive Committee Meeting Highlights – August 21, 2024

Jesse Needleman, Vice President, Marketing, Sales, and Communications shared that the BSO FY24 revenue is expected to surpass budget collectively. Specifically:

• Fall Pops was very successful at 198% of budget (+$527K vs goal)
• Holiday Pops was also strong coming in at 108% of budget (+$687K vs goal)
• BSO season was a 109% of budget (+$700K vs goal)
• Spring Pops was just a little shy of budget at 95% of budget (-$122K vs goal)
• Tanglewood – sales through last week were 84.8% of budget (projected to be -$904 vs goal), primarily due to the weather challenges, and lower sales of popular artists concerts. 

Nancy Finn, Vice Chair, Tanglewood provided a summary of the 2024 Tanglewood season to date:

• There were 485 active Tanglewood volunteers who, have welcomed over 300,000 Tanglewood patrons who joined us for approximately 45 scheduled concerts in the Koussevitzky Shed and 49 concerts in Ozawa Hall.
• A total of 316 ushers worked at these performances.
• 147 tours of the Tanglewood grounds were provided by 19 knowledgeable tour guides.
• 148 volunteer general hosts staffed the marketing table, worked in the parking lots, and gave out programs at the gates.
• Over 40 exhibit docents greeted patrons at the Tappan House and provided tours there
• 50 volunteers helped with various children’s programs.
• 8 volunteer photographers recorded events over the summer. 

Upcoming events for Symphony season in Boston include:

• The Welcome Back meeting will be September 16th.
• Zoom Events with new interviews with musicians will be scheduled, as well as more Music 101s.
• Erin asked that volunteers to share their ideas for other events/topics for both the Zoom and Music 101 events.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Bob Braun thanked everyone on the Executive Committee for their hard work, initiative, creativity, and dedication over the course of his term as Chair, giving special thanks to Erin. He welcomed the new Executive Committee members, and new Chair Howie Arkans who thanked Bob for his leadership over the last 3 years.

Summer 2024

Upcoming Events:

• The BSAV Named Concert at Tanglewood and BSAV Boston Bus Trip will take place Sunday, August 11.
• The Tanglewood BSAV Recognition Event will take place Wednesday, August 21

..........

Ellen Mayo, Co-Chair of the Nominating Committee, presented the Nominating Committee’s recommendations for the four open positions on the BSAV Executive Committee.

• Vice-Chair, Tanglewood – Peter Geller
• Usher Liaison, Tanglewood – Norma D’Oliveria
• Co-Chair Patron Experience, Tanglewood – Margot Lee

• Co-Chair Volunteer and Community Engagement, Boston – Giovanna Franchi

  The Executive Committee unanimously approved this slate of candidates. The candidates will assume their roles beginning September 1.

BSAV Tour Guides have given 150 tours to 1,500+ patrons from last week of September 2023 through first week of May 2024.

The Social Engagement Committee in Boston has organized several events this year, including a Historical Instrument Tour at Symphony Hall led by Pat Stanton on March 11, and an Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum meetup on April 11. The Committee is planning a summer event for the ‘under 40’ volunteer group, as there are approximately 15-20 volunteers under the age of 40.

A record 67 new Tanglewood volunteers have been accepted for 2024. 

The new Social Engagement Committee at Tanglewood, led by Project Lead Joanne Dreher, has sent out its first survey to volunteers to determine activities of interest. There have been 266+ responses so far. 

Blandine Van de Velde, Senior Director of Individual Giving, Development shared that the Development team is poised to meet its FY24 goal at the end of August, currently at $19.75M towards the $20.25M goal, trending ahead of last year.