MISSION
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra exists to connect, enrich, inspire and advance Arkansas through the power of music. ASO is excited to share that the new $10.775 million Stella Boyle Smith Music Center will provide ASO the capacity to fulfill and further its mission to serve the state through music.
ASO’s educational programs are bursting at the seams and have full potential to grow, which is impossible in the current facility. ASO performs for and provides music education to over 30,000 Arkansas children each year. Every week more than 500 students from over 37 communities across Arkansas gather in ASO’s current space for instrument lessons, youth and adult community orchestra rehearsals, and program planning. ASO’s statewide music engagement programs, which include in-school violin lessons and quartet demos, depend on the current space for developing, training, and planning.
With the new facility, ASO will serve more children, seniors, and adults by providing music and education programs to the entire state through a new streaming studio, eliminating barriers like travel costs, distance, and scheduling conflicts in order to access ASO’s programs.
This new music center will afford Arkansans of all ages the chance to pick up an instrument and learn from professional musicians in a safe, welcoming space.
GIVING OPPORTUNITIES
• Annual Fund Donations: Donations ensure ASO’s continued programming and operating support for everything it does.
• Opus Ball: Funds provide students with music education through lessons, school performances, and youth scholarships.
• Concert Sponsorship: Underwriting of specific concerts by corporations or individuals.
• Windgate Foundation’s $1.5 Million Challenge Grant: Donations go further to fund construction of the ASO Stella Boyle Smith Music Center.
FUNDRAISERS AND EVENTS
• ASO’s Crescendo: Building for the Future Campaign will allow the ASO to construct the Stella Boyle Smith Music Center to serve all of Arkansas.
• The annual Opus Ball, Saturday, November 5th, 2022. Funds raised through the Opus Ball Education Challenge are crucial for the ongoing growth and success of ASO’s education programs.
• ASO Giving Day, April 20th, 2023. ASO Giving Day is a chance to celebrate and support what ASO does through matching gift challenges and access to exclusive ASO content.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
• Volunteer with the ASO Guild.
• Volunteer at concerts or Opus Ball! Contact: info@arkansassymphony.org for more information.
OUR IMPACT
150,000+ Arkansans
ASO performs more than 60 concerts each season around the state, reaching over 150,000 Arkansans with live music.
100,000+ children
Over 100,000 Arkansas children have learned discipline, teamwork, and self-confidence through ASO.
32,000+ students
ASO currently serves over 32,000 students in Title 1 schools across 55 school districts in Arkansas.
11,000
This year, over 11,000 Arkansas students viewed the ASO Children’s Concert.
$3.5 million
Thirteen years of balanced budgets, with an annual budget of $3.5 million.
FUNDING SOURCES
Donations: 54%
Ticket Sales: 23%
Endowment: 12%
Community Engagement: 7%
Education Revenue: 4%
2417 N. Tyler St.
Little Rock, AR 72207
501.666.1761 | arkansassymphony.org
Established: 1966
Employees: 79
Service Area: Music Education and Performance
Young Professionals Group: Sharp
Chair, Board of Directors: Jan Hundley
BOARD OF DIRECTORS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Richard Wheeler, M.D., Immediate Past Chair
Rick Adkins, Governance Committee Chair
Dr. Jan Shorey, Personnel Committee Chair
Mary Frances Cotham and Ernie Skyrme, Co-Finance Committee Chairs
Bob Roberts, Development Committee Chair
Susan Marsh, Education Committee Chair
T. Martin Davis, Joint Committee on Orchestra Affairs Committee Chair
Denise Compton, Music Director Search Committee Chair
Debi Barnes and Elizabeth Stinnett, Opus Ball Committee Co-Chairs
Brigita Gardner, Crescendo Campaign Committee Chair
Meredith Catlett, EDI Task Force Chair
Phil Peters, At Large
Erick Saoud, ASO Player’s Association President
The 2022/2023 Arkansas Giving Guide is presented by Wright Lindsey Jennings. Click here to read a letter from our sponsors.
