Resources Archive - Orchestras Canada/Orchestres Canada

Comparative Report 2024-25

For nearly 50 years, Orchestras Canada has gathered financial and audience data, culminating in the annual Comparative Report. This vital resource, summarized by budget and region, offers a clear picture of the Canadian orchestra landscape.

Over the past few months, we gratefully accepted data from 69 participating orchestras out of Orchestras Canada’s 146 members, providing a wide range of financial and statistical information. The summaries on this page group this past year’s data by budget size and regions, and includes interesting historical data.

Comparative Report Summaries

Click on the buttons below to download this year’s Comparative Report summaries:

If you are interested in taking part in the Comparative Report in upcoming years and would like to have access to the full power of the OBOE/HAUTBOIS dashboard, please reach out to the OC team at [email protected], and we will make sure you get the official invitation when the time comes.

Learn more about OBOE

Snapshots from OBOE

General disclaimer

We produce these Reports using straightforward information and commonly accepted definitions, avoiding subjective judgments as much as possible. The accuracy of the Reports are dependent primarily on the accuracy of information provided by the participating orchestras.

Respectfully submitted
The Data Team, Orchestras Canada
March 2026

The OBOE/HAUTBOIS dashboard project was made possible thanks to the following generous funders:

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Orchestra Benchmark Webinar: What Holiday 2025 Tells Us About the Year Ahead

On 26 February 2026, and in partnership with TRG Arts, we hosted a webinar titled Orchestra Benchmark Webinar: What Holiday 2025 Tells Us About the Year Ahead. The session took a clear, data-led look back at holiday season performance in 2025, examining what happened across ticket sales, donations, and audience behaviour, and what those results suggest for the year ahead.

Drawing on benchmark data from more than 40 orchestras, representing a wide range of budget sizes and North American geographies, the session explored:

How holiday ticket sales and contributed revenue performed across the cohort
Where the audience and donor behaviour shifted over the past year
Updated results on subscription sales for the 2025-26 season
Where orchestras may want to focus to strengthen revenue and audience relationships in 2026

Presenter: Brad Carlin, Senior Consultant, TRG Arts

Brad Carlin is a Senior Consultant for TRG Arts based in the UK and works with organizations of all sizes and disciplines in the US, Canada, and the UK. Prior to joining TRG, had 15 years of experience in general management and fundraising for arts organizations in the US. He received a Master’s Degree in Arts Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

Local Advocacy Toolkit

Welcome to the OC Local Advocacy Toolkit

Advocacy is essential for the long-term health and vibrancy of Canadian orchestras. Whether you are seeking funding, building community connections, or ensuring your musicians and members are part of important conversations, strategic advocacy activity ensures that decision-makers see your orchestra as relevant, resilient, and impactful.

Decisions made at the municipal level about funding, cultural priorities, zoning, infrastructure, and more, can directly shape your ability to share your music with your community. By developing strong relationships with local decision-makers, you can help ensure that your orchestra’s voice is part of the conversation from the start.

Why OC created this toolkit

As the saying goes, all politics is local. In other words, while the examples here focus on local advocacy, the principles can be scaled up to provincial or federal contexts. The tools and exercises in this resource are designed to help orchestras of all sizes advocate in meaningful, effective ways. Our goal is to equip your orchestra with practical, adaptable strategies to:

Tell compelling stories about your impact;
Build relationships with decision-makers;
Connect your work to community and government priorities;
Play an active role in shaping policies and decisions that affect your musicians, members, and the sector as a whole.

By using this toolkit, you’re taking a step toward building a stronger future, not only for your orchestra, but for the communities you serve. The more our orchestras are present in civic conversations, the more we can demonstrate the essential role live orchestral music plays in Canada’s cultural life.

Click through the sections below to navigate the toolkit:

Also, you can download the whole toolkit in PDF format here.

Loyalty Labs: A facilitated learning community

As part of the Re-imagining Customer Relationships project, Orchestras Canada (OC), CAPACOA, the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT), and the Association for Opera in Canada (AOC) are pleased to partner with WolfBrown, a U.S.-based research and consulting firm, to offer free participation in the new Loyalty Labs program to all organizational members of these arts service organizations.

Loyalty Labs is a facilitated learning community designed to help arts organizations in Canada and the U.S. strengthen customer loyalty through innovative marketing and programming strategies.

The program features five virtual “Labs,” each focused on a distinct approach to audience engagement:

Membership & Affiliations
Social Initiators
Taste Communities (adult learning opportunities)
Programming Frames
Presentation Formats

STEP-BY-STEP REGISTRATION INSTRUCTIONS

Navigate to https://www.loyaltylabs.org/choose-your-plan
Scroll down to the section titled “Canadian Service Organizations” and select the CAPACOA plan.
Follow the prompts to create a site account and “purchase” the free plan.
Submit the required information to finalize your membership.
You will then receive two automated emails: one confirming your account setup, and another with detailed instructions on customizing your site experience.

IMPORTANT: To avoid receiving unwanted emails, please follow the instructions for customizing your notification settings.

Once this process is complete, you’ll have access to the members-only section of the website and all five Labs. From the main “Labs” page, you can join any Labs you wish to follow. Explore the resources, browse case studies, and feel free to join the conversation!

*This opportunity is available exclusively to organizational members of CAPACOA, OC, PACT, and AOC

For More Information

Overview of Loyalty Labs and How to Register

For all questions and inquiries, please contact Julia Felgner at [email protected].

Green Orchestras Guide & Charter for Canada

Orchestras Canada, in partnership with Julie’s Bicycle, has released two essential resources designed to support environmental sustainability within the Canadian orchestral sector: the Environmental Sustainability Guide for Canadian Orchestras: Practical Action Guide and the Environmental Sustainability Charter for Canadian Orchestras. You can watch a recording of the launch webinar here.

These resources, available in English and in French and developed in consultation with member orchestras, are designed to empower orchestras of all sizes, from those with multi-million dollar budgets to smaller volunteer-led organizations, to take meaningful action toward reducing their environmental impact, and to embrace sustainability as a source of innovation, community engagement, and artistic vitality.

Download the Guide & Charter now! Fill out the form below and we’ll email you a download link:

Name(Required)

First Last

Organization/Orchestra

Job Title

Email(Required)

Happy Reading!

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada.

North American Orchestral Sector Benchmark Insights: 2024-25 Season

On 9 October 2025, this webinar, hosted by TRG Arts, revisited the 2024-25 season using data from over 40 North American orchestras and insights into single tickets, subscriptions, and individual donations. It explored the state of recovery since the start of the pandemic and analyzed the impacts of inflation in recent years. Through the data and discussions, participants left with a sense of how their orchestra compared to our benchmarking cohort, trends in audience behavior over the past 12 months, and areas to focus on for future revenue and audience development. The session featured numerous charts and graphs, along with time dedicated to questions and conversations.

Presenter: Brad Carlin, Senior Consultant, TRG Arts

Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance: 2025 Pre-Budget Consultation

Each year, Orchestras Canada’s federal budget submission reflects our unwavering commitment to advocating for Canadian orchestras, putting a spotlight on your contributions, potential, and challenges, and recommending actions and investments by government that will help unlock the creative, social and economic value that orchestras bring to our communities.

In 2025, the Government of Canada has made clear that new investments must be focused, coordinated, and outcomes-driven—advancing national unity, productivity, and Canadian cultural identity.

Accordingly, we’ve worked in close collaboration with members and colleagues across the arts and culture sector to advocate for 1% of federal spending to be dedicated to arts and culture. If acted on in Fiscal 2025-26, this would result in a $140 million increase to the Canada Council for the Arts, and a $190 million increase to the Department of Canadian Heritage.

You can read the complete brief here.

Our friends at the Canadian Arts Coalition have developed New/Mode, a program that gives you an email template automatically and allows you to fill in your postal code. Then, the letter automatically goes where you need it – to your MP as well as to the Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry of Canada, and the Minister of Heritage. Simple! We’ve tested it out, and it will literally take you 1 minute to send a letter!

Connecting with your audience: bringing concertgoers into your eco-sustainability story

Audiences are increasingly looking for organizations to demonstrate environmental values. At the same time, concertgoers themselves can play a crucial role in creating positive change. In this third free webinar, which took place on 8 July 2025, our guest expert on sustainability in the cultural sector, Tenaya King from Julie’s Bicycle, explored the tips and best practices to communicate and engage your audience on environmental topics successfully. The practical guidance will help your orchestra deepen its connection with the community, bringing you closer to your audience as you work together to meet the challenge of reducing environmental impacts.

Additional Resources: Looking for repertoire related to the climate emergency? Check this resource from Music Declares Emergency: https://www.musicdeclares.net/gb/classical-declares/repertoire

You can watch webinar one of this series, covering the unique role orchestras can play in environmental issues and the financial benefits of taking action here.
You can watch webinar two of this series, discussing reducing the environmental impact of rehearsals and concerts, here.

Presenter: Tenaya King

Tenaya joined Julie’s Bicycle in 2024 as a Climate Change and Sustainability Specialist, and supports the Creative Green programme. She brings six years of experience in the environment and sustainability sector, and is passionate about using connection and community to enable climate resilience and justice.

She previously worked for Green Music Australia, focusing on the sustainability of the Australian music scene, and for a management consultancy firm in their sustainability and decarbonisation sector, where she was also responsible for the firm’s carbon footprinting and emissions reduction strategy.

Tenaya has a range of experience including modelling pathways to net zero across the entirety of Australia; developing Australia’s first resource on climate action and justice in the music sector; sustainable travel management for large events; strategy and evaluation for major public sector environmental programs; research on the social impacts of climate change and natural disasters; and communications and media.

She has a Bachelor of Environment and Sustainability and a Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the Australian National University.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Government of Canada logo

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada.

Letter Template: MP Congratulations 2025

In the lead-up to April’s federal election, Orchestras Canada kept our Government Relations Advisor, Eric Dubeau, busy analyzing policy commitments relevant to the arts and culture sector from the various political parties. If you’d like a refresher on what he learned and shared, you can find it here: https://oc.ca/en/resource/election-2025/

Now that the election results are known, Orchestras Canada has written to Prime Minister Mark Carney and Minister of Canadian Culture and Identity Steven Guilbeault, congratulating them, reminding them of the long-standing relationship between Canadian orchestras and various federal departments and programs, and sharing some powerful statistics on orchestras’ reach and impact.

We urge you to take up the cause of orchestras in your communications with your MPs. To help, we’ve prepared a customizable template letter that you can use to introduce yourself and your favourite orchestra to your Member of Parliament. You can find it here:

As we wait for the expected fall budget, we will continue to work on our own and in collaboration with the Canadian Arts Coalition to make the case for the impact of the arts in Canadian communities.

Reducing the Environmental Impact of Rehearsals and Concerts

What can orchestras practically do to have a positive impact on environmental challenges? In this second of three free webinars, which took place on 29 April 2025, our guest expert, Danielle Pipe of Julie’s Bicycle – a prominent nonprofit dedicated to mobilizing climate action in the cultural sector – delves into the practical steps orchestras can take to directly reduce the environmental impacts within their control and also positively influence audiences.

You can watch webinar one, covering the unique role orchestras can play in environmental issues and the financial benefits of taking action here.

Presenter: Danielle Pipe

A Sustainability Coordinator within the Creative Green Consultancy and Partnerships team at Julie’s Bicycle. Danielle works with organizations and individuals across all disciplines of the creative sector, from museums, galleries and theatre to festivals and cinema, supporting collective climate action. She’s passionate about the power of the creative community to inspire and drive change to address the climate crisis.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Government of Canada logo

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada.