By Rheena Suter*
No matter the size, location, or mission of your orchestra, auditions are critical for finding the best talent available to you. Not only do you gain an understanding of each prospective performer’s musical abilities, but they also get a taste of what it’ll be like to play in your orchestra, which will help them make an informed decision about joining.
However, there are a lot of moving parts to manage before, during, and after your orchestra auditions. The more prospective musicians on your schedule, the more important it is to ensure your audition days go smoothly and nothing falls through the cracks.
If you’re looking to optimize your orchestra’s audition process, you’ve come to the right place! This guide will walk through four top tips for audition management, including how to:
- Leverage Artist Recruitment Networks
- Use a Virtual or Hybrid Audition Model
- Create an Audition Day Logistics Checklist
- Cultivate a Mission-Focused Audition Environment
As you begin implementing these strategies, make sure you’re equipped with the right tools. A digital audition solution can help you coordinate application review, scheduling, adjudication, decision-making, and more so all of your operations take place in a centralized platform. That being said, let’s get started!
1. Leverage Artist Recruitment Networks
Your audition management work begins well before actual auditions do, and the first step is to find the right musicians to audition for your orchestra. Some of the best resources you can use as you go about this process are artist recruitment networks.
An artist recruitment network is an online directory in which performing artists can create profiles detailing their personal and professional backgrounds, areas of interest, and portfolios. Once a musician has completed their profile, they can search for audition opportunities that align with their experience level, needs, and wants. Organizations can also browse these profiles and directly reach out to performers they think would be a good fit for their openings.
Here are some ways to make the most of these platforms for your orchestra:
- Advertise which recruitment networks you use so interested musicians can create profiles on them (if they don’t already have one) to streamline the process of connecting with you.
- Personalize your network communications—develop templates for outreach messages, but leave spaces to include each individual performer’s name and other details from their profile to let them know you’re reaching out to them intentionally.
- Apply filters when browsing artist profiles to identify prospective orchestra members based on their location, age, instrument(s), previous experience, and other relevant factors.
Recruitment networks can help your orchestra find strong audition candidates you might not have encountered otherwise and even strengthen your inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) commitment by ensuring you reach musicians of various backgrounds.
2. Use a Virtual or Hybrid Audition Model
In 2020, many performing arts organizations moved their auditions online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although a number of orchestras have since transitioned back to an in-person model, it’s advisable to keep a virtual option open. According to Acceptd, virtual auditions are more accessible for performing artists, both physically and financially.
As you conduct online auditions, use a virtual live (synchronous) model as much as possible. Although you might begin narrowing down your list with an asynchronous round of auditions, you should have at least one round in which you directly interact with the musician and see them perform live to make an informed decision.
To avoid confusion, provide clear instructions for accessing your online audition platform to all virtual auditionees. Additionally, consider including self-tape tips to improve performers’ video and audio quality. If your orchestra uses a hybrid audition model, ask musicians to indicate their preference for a virtual or in-person audition on their initial application and schedule their sessions accordingly.
3. Create an Audition Day Logistics Checklist
The day(s) on which you hold auditions can easily become hectic for your team. To make sure you have everything in order before auditions begin, ask yourself the following questions:
- Has the audition schedule been finalized and published?
- Are the correct jury members assigned to each audition, ensuring there is no overlap between concurrent sessions?
- Have the evaluation forms been prepared and uploaded to your audition platform for easy access?
- For virtual auditions, have you set up an online waiting room that features your orchestra’s branding and relevant information for musicians to browse while they wait?
- For in-person auditions, are all of the physical audition spaces set up properly?
- Have you decided on a decision deadline that you can communicate to performers so they know when to expect a response from your orchestra?
Use these questions to create a checklist so you can see what aspects of your audition day are ready to go and which tasks still need to be completed. Additionally, meet with your team first thing on the first day of a new audition cycle to answer any questions they might have before you invite performers into your physical or virtual audition space.
4. Cultivate a Mission-Focused Audition Environment
As mentioned previously, while the primary purpose of auditions is to find musicians whose talent will be a good fit for your openings, you should also give them a sense of what it will be like to be part of your orchestra. That way, everyone can make an informed decision—both your team in extending offers and performers in accepting them.
Throughout the entire audition process, emphasize your orchestra’s mission, vision, and values. Incorporate them into your recruitment network communications, the resources you put in your waiting rooms (both physical and digital), and your decision messages.
After auditions end, ensure all of the evaluation forms have been properly filled out and saved to your audition platform so your team can easily review them. Once you’ve communicated your decisions by your stated deadline, take some time to evaluate your audition process. Take note of what went well and where you have room for improvement, and apply these critiques during your orchestra’s future audition cycles to help each one go more smoothly than the last.
*Rheena Suter is the Product Manager of Acceptd, a Togetherwork company that is the premier recruitment, application, and audition platform for the arts. In her free time, Rheena enjoys cooking for family & friends and listening to a variety of music – pop, smooth jazz, ‘80s classic, soul, R&B, and even alternative rock for hours!