Victoria Buchy is someone you might call an administrator’s administrator. “I’m passionate about the people who work in the arts, who serve the artistic vision and mission that cultural organizations bring to life,” says the Toronto Children’s Chorus executive director.

An expert in audience development and diversification, Donna Walker-Kuhne has devoted her professional career to increasing access to the arts. In advance of her keynote plenary on “Dynamic Community Engagement” at Chorus America’s Conference in Cincinnati, she spoke with president and CEO Catherine Dehoney about how the conversation around community engagement has changed—and the opportunities this creates for choruses to “roll up their sleeves and dig in.” 

The people who would love to come to your next concert are out there. But it will require more than just more advertising or deeper discounts to find them and bring them into the fold. Arts consultant Matt Lehrman explains. 

I am not an expert at fundraising in the traditional sense. As a recovering choral conductor who became a recording engineer, I’ve never held a fundraising position for any arts nonprofit organization. I did, however, spend 10 years working for two symphonic choruses with budgets of over $1 million and administrative staffs of less than five people. Like many of us, I’ve gotten an on-the-job crash course in fundraising and patron cultivation.