Program areas at ACO
Concert performances featuring American composersaco's 22-23 nyc season featuring its ensemble included 12 works by American Composers. 50% of the featured Composers were female or nonbinary, and 67% were bipoc. In addition, aco presented 12 events as part of its sonic festival in nyc. In-person concerts served over 2300 live audience in new york city. Aco's direct presentations included two concerts at zankel hall at carnegie hall in october 2022 and march 2023, as well as a colaboratory showcase in june 2023, which featured three works developed via aco's earshot colaboratory residency program.
Music education program in the 2022-23 season, aco directly served 350 students through in-school, after-school, and distance-learning programs for middle and high school students. Programs included sonic spark ensembles, middle and high school direct instrumental and voice instruction; compose yourself, high school composition classes; sonic spark lab, middle and high school composition and creativity classes. Programs included weekly school-based classes and project-based creative capacity building led by teaching artists, and direct music composition instruction with aco's education director. Aco's classes served seven public nyc schools with a population of 74% alaana/bipoc, 21% with a disability, 6% english language learner, 85% low income.
Earshot: opportunities for emerging Composers American Composers Orchestra's composer advancement initiatives, earshot is the first ongoing, systematic program for developing relationships between Composers and orchestras on the national level. Through orchestral readings, colaboratory fellowships, consortium commissions, and professional development, earshot ensures a vibrant musical future by investing in creativity today. Aco produced eight virtual professional development webinars on topics including networking, self-publishing, commissioning agreements and consortia, orchestration, fundraising, public speaking, and more, serving 1,127 individuals. Aco's earshot readings served 20 featured artists via its own june readings in nyc, and four others in partnership with symphony orchestras in dallas, tx, atlanta, ga, and naples, fl, as well as the next festival of emerging artists in nyc. Colaboratory provided commissions and workshops to six artists creating five works.