St. Louis Symphony Orchestra receives grant to continue equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts

(July 20, 2020, St. Louis, MO) – The League of American Orchestras has awarded a nearly $19,000 grant to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra to strengthen its understanding of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) and to help transform organizational culture. Given to 28 orchestras nationwide, the one-year grant comprises the second round of The Catalyst Fund, the League’s three-year, $2.1 million grant-making program, made possible by a generous grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation with additional support from the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation.

“Recent events have underscored the deep racial disparities existing in our country, already amplified by the pandemic’s unequal impact on communities of color,” said Jesse Rosen, President and CEO of the League of American Orchestras. “The work orchestras are undertaking with support from the League’s Catalyst Fund highlights the urgency of addressing EDI as orchestras attempt to confront decades of inequity within our field. We must understand and address our personal and organizational roles in systems of inequity.”The grant will support the SLSO’s ongoing EDI work, including anti-bias and anti-racism training done in collaboration with Rebeccah Bennett and Dr. Kira Banks of Emerging Wisdom, LLC, and Crossroad Antiracism Organizing & Training. In 2015, SLSO President and CEO Marie-Hélène Bernard led work to create a roadmap for the SLSO to become more invested in EDI work. EDI was included as a key component in the SLSO’s 2016-2021 strategic plan that has since seen the creation of an EDI taskforce and listening sessions.Catalyst Fund grants support orchestras’ use of EDI practitioners who help implement a range of organizational development activities involving musicians, staff, board, and, in some cases, volunteers and community leaders. These include anti-bias trainings, institutional audits, the creation of formal EDI plans, and work to build consensus and integrate EDI into mission statements and culture. Community building is a key component of the program; The Catalyst Fund Learning Cohort, made possible by the generous support of the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, enables past and present grantees to interact with colleagues through remote and (post-pandemic) in-person convenings as well as dedicated online forum.League member orchestras were eligible to apply for Catalyst Fund grants; applications were reviewed by an independent panel of experts.