The Grand Rapids Symphony recently received a four-year, $1.1 million grant from the Wege Foundation to weave diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives into all of the orchestra's activities, with the goal of engaging a broader audience and sharing live orchestral music with everyone in the community.
Content adapted and excerpted from an MLive article.
The Grand Rapids Symphony recently received a four-year, $1.1 million grant from the Wege Foundation to weave diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives into all of the orchestra's activities, with the goal of engaging a broader audience and sharing live orchestral music with everyone in the community.
Marcelo Lehninger, music director, Grand Rapids Symphony, told MLive, "Sometime people feel they don't belong, but I have a passion and a mission to reach the hearts and souls of everyone in this community. We're trying to show them that, yes, they do belong. Hopefully, they'll understand that it's their orchestra, too."
Mark Van Putten, president of the Wege Foundation, shares, "By transforming itself, the Symphony can help transform West Michigan in enduring ways that reach beyond the performing arts."
Officials say the grant will be used in part to support the Neighborhood Concert Series, a slate of concerts and engagement events designed to foster authentic artistic and cultural expression that will happen in venues beyond the concert hall. The first such event was a free, outdoor concert held in July near John Ball Zoo.
The grant will also create new positions in the organization. Funds will establish:
A Community Engagement position on staff to develop, manage and coordinate all Grand Rapids Symphony activities to serve the increasingly diverse audience.
A Music Fellow who will perform with the Grand Rapids Symphony. During the two-year fellowship, the musician will be mentored by GRS musicians and gain practical experience toward launching a career as a professional musician.
MLive reports that the new Wege grant will also allow for the expansion of the symphony's Mosaic Scholarship program, a mentoring program for African-American and Latino music students, created with funding by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Teens ages 13 to 18 are provided with musical instruments and private lessons with symphony musicians along with opportunities to perform and to attend concerts.
The program will be expanded through Mosaic Music Majors, a collaboration with music students of color in local universities and colleges to mentor, advise and develop the skills and talents of musicians of color seeking to become professional musicians.
The Wege Foundation has shared that Peter Wege’s ties to the Grand Rapids Symphony date back decades. Wege was a longtime season subscriber and a major donor. When the organization moved to new offices in 2004, the former chairman of Steelcase, Inc., helped Steelcase provide all new office furniture. He was the primary sponsor for the Grand Rapids Symphony’s “Piano Pops 2” compact disc, the foundation underwrote the Grand Rapids Symphony’s associate conductor chair, and Wege previously contributed to the orchestra’s Legacy of Excellence Campaign, along with other CMF members.
“Peter was passionate about making sure the arts are truly for everyone,” John Varineau, associate conductor, has said.
"In the past, a symphony orchestra's goal was to perform great works of classical music. Today, the Grand Rapids Symphony aspires, not just to play music for the community, but to make music together with its community," said Peter M. Perez, president, Grand Rapids Symphony. "Truly serving our entire community means we have to genuinely and faithfully be a reflection of everyone in the community."
Want more?
Read the full story on the Wege Foundation’s grant.
Learn more about the foundation’s support of arts and culture.
