Houston Symphony Society
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Community-Embedded Musicians Program
Now in its seventh year, our Community-Embedded Musicians initiative, which serves over 16,000 people annually, continues to expand on our ability to create meaningful, personal relationships with people throughout our community. The first program of its kind for a 52-week full-time orchestra, the CEM initiative expands our Education and Community Engagement team to include two full-time teaching artists who spend 80% of their working hours engaged in 800 education and community activities in schools, neighborhood centers, hospitals and other venues throughout Greater Houston. In addition to their work as teaching artists and musical ambassadors, CEMs have performance opportunities with the orchestra over the course of a season, including Student Concerts, where they are often familiar faces to children who have met them during pre-concert visits to their schools.
The Student Concert Series
This program features a series of concerts for students in lower elementary (grades 2-3), upper elementary (grades 4-5), middle school (grades 6-8), and high school (grades 9-12) that are designed to spark students' imagination and provide motivation to learn and become engaged with playing a musical instrument. Each concert utilizes content from grade-level Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) requirements to help students grasp a deeper understanding of their core educational subjects, while also relating TEKS-aligned curriculum to music education.
Neighborhood Concerts
A summer tradition, the Houston Symphony’s Neighborhood Concerts provide free, family-oriented concerts in churches, schools, and community centers across Greater Houston. For many, this annual concert series offers live classical music performances to audiences that may not have had a chance to experience them before.
ENGIE Community Connections
The Houston Symphony’s ENGIE Community Connections program offers Symphony musicians opportunities to volunteer their time to perform and serve the community in a wide variety of venues outside of Jones Hall. At over 200 concerts and demonstrations, in informal and intimate settings, Houstonians experience firsthand how musicians interact with each other and with the music they play. Musicians also interact with their audiences, answering questions about the music, their instruments, and life in the orchestra. Eighty percent of the orchestra—70 musicians—participate in the program, a high rate of participation for a major orchestra.
Free/Low-Cost Community Concerts
We continued to serve our community by offering the most free and low-cost performances (52) of any area arts organization. These concerts, which take place at venues throughout the Greater Houston area, traditionally serve more than 200,000 including more than 94,000 children. Our Community Concerts, which include performances at Jones Hall, Miller Outdoor Theatre, and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion allow the Symphony to provide access to individuals from across Greater Houston regardless of geographic or socioeconomic barriers.
Where we work
Awards
Best Opera Recording 2018
Grammy Awards
Affiliations & memberships
League of American Orchestras 1962
Videos
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The Houston Symphony's Strategic Plan, Vision 2025, which was unanimously approved in December 2014, is to be America's most relevant and accessible top-ten orchestra in 2025. We endeavor to be a symphony that welcomes and encourages people to learn more about music and engage with music in different ways. Our concerts will matter more to more people. We will offer a wide variety of musical styles, concert programs, educational offerings and community engagement activities. The Houston Symphony will be financially and geographically accessible. Our concerts and programs will be available for everyone, regardless of economic means or location. We will be one of America's top-ten orchestras, measured by artistic and organizational benchmarks of excellence, as well as by our local, national and international reputation. Achieving this vision will ensure that we are an invaluable cultural resource to Greater Houston and an artistic ambassador for our city throughout the nation and the world.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The Houston Symphony plans to implement the following strategies to achieve Vision 2025.
Institutional Strategy 1: Strengthen artistic, staff and board quality
Institutional Strategy 2: Improve the quality of education in Greater Houston through the arts
Institutional Strategy 3: Grow our reach, relevance and profile in Greater Houston and beyond
Institutional Strategy 4: Secure a large, engaged and loyal audience
Institutional Strategy 5: Implement a strong and sustainable financial structure
Institutional Strategy 6: Secure and improved performance space solution that facilitates transformational artistic, programmatic and financial growth
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Excellence: We commit to the highest level of artistic, administrative, board and volunteer quality and performance, as reflected in our programs and concerts.
Community Engagement: We foster meaningful, respectful and collaborative relationships with our patrons and community members from all walks of life in our large, diverse city.
Education: We provide learning opportunities for listeners and students of all ages throughout our community.
Innovation/Entrepreneurial Spirit: We are the first to pioneer and implement new and creative ideas in our work, both on and off the stage.
Relevance: We provide musical performances and resources that enhance the lives of our stakeholders and community members.
Financial Sustainability: We responsibly invest in our present, dutifully plan for our future, and mindfully steward our community's investment in our institution.
Inclusivity: We intentionally embrace and promote diversity across all levels of the organization, including its people, its programs and its audience, to reflect our city, the most diverse in America.
Collaboration: We approach internal and external relationships with a spirit of respect and interconnectedness.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Houston Symphony Society
Board of directorsas of 06/20/2023
Ms. Barbara Burger
Civic/Cultural Leader
Term: 2023 - 2026
Gary Beauchamp
Civic/Cultural Leader
Ralph Burch
ConocoPhillips
Barbara Burger
Chevron Technology Ventures
John Cater
Compass Bank
Janet Clark
Marathon Oil Corporation
Michael Clark
Power Diamond Tools, Inc.
Viviana Denechaud
Civic/Cultural Leader
Michael Doherty
Frost Bank
Julia Frankel
Civic/Cultural Leader
Ronald Franklin
McGuire Woods, LLP
Rochelle Levit
Clinical Psychology
Cora Sue Mach
Mach Industrial Group
Steven Mach
Mach Industrial Group
Paul Mann
Mann Eye Institute
Jay Marks
Civic/Cultural Leader
Mary Lynn Marks
Civic/Cultural Leader
Billy McCartney
Vitol Capital Management
Barbara McCelvey
Thomson-Barrow Corporation
Alexander McLanahan
Civic/Cultural Leader
Paul Morico
Baker Botts L.L.P.
David Pruner
Wood Mackenzie Ltd.
John Rydman
Spec's Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods
Manolo Sánchez
Fannie Mae
Helen Shaffer
Civic/Cultural Leader
Miles Smith
Jim Smith
Jim R. Smith & Co.
Mike Stude
Stude Investment Partners, LP
William Toomey
BB&T Bank
Bobby Tudor
Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities
Betty Tutor
Civic/Cultural Leader
Jesse Tutor
Accenture (Retired)
David Wuthrich
JPMorgan Chase
Marcia Backus
Occidental Petroleum Corporation
Brad Corson
ExxonMobil
Sippi Khurana
Texas A&M Health Science Center
Rodney Margolis
Margolis Interests
Robert Orr
Oliver Wyman
Michael Adler
BBVA
James Bell
Viking Cold Solutions Inc.
Nancy Shellton Bratic
Civic/Cultural Leader
Terry Brown
Civic/Cultural Leader
Dougal Cameron
Cameron Management
Evan Collins
Houston Methodist
Andrew Davis, Ph.D
Moores School of Music
Tracy Dieterich
USI Insurance Services
Jeffrey Firestone
Jeffrey B. Firestone Company
Eugene Fong
Energy Transfer
Evan Glick
Evan B. Glick, P.C.
Gary Hollingsworth
Brown & Assoc. Medical Labs
Brian James
Sapient Global Markets
I. Ray Kirk
Greater Houston Radiology Assoc.
Ulyesse LeGrange
Civic/Cultural Leader
Carlos López
Mexican Institute of Greater Houston
Michael Mann
Mann Eye Institute
Jack Matzer
Stage Stores
Jackie Wolens Mazow
Civic/Cultural Leader
Scott Nyquist
McKinsey & Company, Inc.
Edward Osterburg Jr.
Mayer Brown, LLP
Gloria Pryzant
Civic/Cultural Leader
Miwa Sakashita
Miwa Fashions
Michael Shannon
MEShannon & Associates
Robert Sloan, Ph.D.
Houston Baptist University
Ishwaria Subbiah
M.D. Anderson
L. Proctor (Terry) Thomas
Baker Botts L.L.P.
Shirley Toomim
Star Furniture (Retired)
Margaret Waisman
Affiliated Dermatologists of Houston
Fredric (Rick) Weber
Norton Rose Fulbright LLP
Ellen Yarrell
Attorney at Law
Janice Barrow
Thomson-Barrow Corporation
Devinder Bhatia
Southeast Texas Cardiovascular
Ed Schneider
Own Resources
Vicki West
Civic/Cultural Leader
S. Conrad Weil
Robert (Bob) Weiner
Civic/Cultural Leader
Steven Williams
United Airlines
Frank Wilson
Houston First Corporation
Robert Yekovich
Rice University
Bill Bullock
ConocoPhillips
Rodney Margolis
Margolis Interests
Mary Lynn Marks
Civic/Cultural Leader
Adam Dinitz
Houston Symphony
Mark Hughes
Houston Symphony
Mark Nuccio
Houston Symphony
Jonathan Ayre
Orrick
Virginia Clark
Civic/Cultural Leader
Aggie Foster
Civic/Cultural Leader
Marilyn Miles
Edro Investments
Shane Miller
Chevron
Leslie Nossaman
Nassaman LLP
S. Conrad Weil
Civic/Cultural Leader
Jessie Woods
Burrus Elementary
John Mangum
Houston Symphony
Andrés Orozco-Estrada
Houston Symphony
Kusum Patel
Soleo Health
Andrew Lee
Houston Methodist
David Krieger
Warburg Pincuss LLC
Anthony Speier
Kirkland & Ellis
Denise Davis
PNC Bank
Anthony Speier
Kirkland & Ellis
Denise Davis
PNC Bank
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 06/17/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.