Thunder Bay, ON, October 19th, 2026 – An exciting week ahead for the Executive Director of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra (TBSO). Brittany Moat is one of 20 participants, and only the Canadian, taking part the League of American Orchestras Artistic Administration Intensive being held in New York City.
Moat joins artistic administrators, operations managers and artistic planning specialists from more than a dozen U.S. states and Brazil. For an orchestra that sits roughly 1,400 kilometres from the nearest major city with a professional symphony, the chance to learn alongside peers is hard to come by.
“As an orchestra in Thunder Bay, we’re pretty isolated,” says Moat. “This is a chance to learn from the best people in the industry and build a network I can bounce ideas off of. It’s not only the big city orchestras in the room, but also people from regional orchestras like ours, dealing with a lot of the same experiences.”
The Intensive is the second in a series built around specific roles in orchestra administration and is being presented at the League’s offices October 19th to 22nd. Sessions cover artistic planning systems and budgeting, working with artists and other artistic stakeholders, new concert formats and cross-genre projects, and building diverse and inclusive programming.
Time is also set aside for peer exchange, leadership development and guided reflection.
Moat explains the breadth of the program is what makes it valuable.”It covers so much of orchestra management, from the budget to artistic programming, which is a piece I haven’t been directly involved in before,” she said. “It also gets into managing relationships inside the organization. I’ll be bringing a lot of this home.”
The League of American Orchestras is the leading professional body for orchestras in North America. Founded in 1942, it counts roughly 1,600 member organizations, from world-renowned symphonies to community and youth orchestras, and connects close to 25,000 musicians, conductors, staff and board members. Its leadership programs are known across the field as a training ground for the people who run orchestras.
The TBSO launched its 66th season this past Friday. This week brings the return of the Northern Lights series opening with flamenco guitarist, Matt Sellick, performing his album “Watching the Sky”, recorded last year with the TBSO alongside other original works. Tickets are available at tbso.ca.
