Flint Institute of Music Appoints Ilana Barker as Senior Manager, Audience Insights
Tom O’Connor Consulting Group is pleased to announce that Ilana Barker has been appointed Senior Manager, Audience Insights by the Flint Institute of Music, a multi-disciplinary performing arts organization located in Flint, Michigan. The Flint Institute of Music (“FIM”) is home to a broad array of organizations, including the Flint Symphony Orchestra, the Flint School of the Performing Arts, and the Flint Repertory Theatre. Read more about the FIM below.
Barker joins the FIM following her tenure as Senior Manager of Data Analytics at Boston Ballet, and as a Marketing Data Analytics Consultant for performing arts organizations in Massachusetts. She previously held several roles in the technology industry and is a graduate of the Boston University School of Management. In this newly created role, she will work to unify all marketing and development data streams and analytics, craft strategy, and work toward goals of building customer loyalty within all venues and for all resident programs. Barker will remain in her home city of Boston, Massachusetts, and will work fully remotely in this position—the first of its kind for the Flint Institute of Music. She joined the FIM on March 8, 2021.
“The team at Tom O’Connor Consulting Group congratulates the Flint Institute of Music on the creation of this vital role and the exciting hire of Ilana following our extensive search,” said President Tom O’Connor. “We have been impressed by both Ilana and the team at the FIM since the moment we met them, and know that they will achieve great success together.”
About the Flint Institute of Music
The Flint Institute of Music (the FIM) in Flint, Michigan is home to a multi-disciplinary array of performing arts programs, including the Flint Symphony Orchestra, the Flint School of Performing Arts, and the Flint Repertory Theatre. As an anchor cultural institution in its community, the FIM collaborates with a variety of local arts and culture entities, providing a range of community engagement programs aimed at changing lives through a lifelong continuum of music, dance, and theatre. With a total annual operating budget of $6.4 million, the FIM welcomes a total audience and student population of 29,000 in a typical year.
The history of the FIM began in 1917 with the founding of the Flint Community Music Association (FCMA) through the vision and generosity of automotive pioneer and philanthropist, J Dallas Dort. As early as 1920, the Flint Symphony Orchestra was performing stand-alone classical concerts. The Orchestra also performed alongside The Community Chorus in seasonal festivals and the annual production of the Messiah. The FCMA deepened its community engagement with the formation of the Flint Youth Symphony Orchestra in 1946. In 1965 the orchestra professionalized as the Musical Performing Arts Association (MPAA). Seizing the opportunity to circumnavigate their respective financial challenges, the organizations merged, becoming The Flint Institute of Music in 1971.
With the support of the community, this move led to significant programmatic growth, including the formation of the FIM Community Music School, later renamed the Flint School of Performing Arts (1986). Once a member of the Flint Cultural Center Corporation, The Flint Youth Theatre (founded 1957) joined the FIM in 2009, where FYT continues on as the education department within the Flint Repertory Theatre, which was founded in 2018, dedicated to providing innovative professional theatre to the city and surrounding region. Since January of 2020, the FIM has managed the Whiting Auditorium and the historic Capitol Theatre. Consistent with its history of fostering organizational connectivity, the FIM is proceeding through a due diligence process to determine a potential permanent consolidation as early as January of 2021, with the continued mission of delivering performing arts excellence to students and audiences.
About Tom O’Connor Consulting Group
Tom O’Connor Consulting Group is a New York City-based arts and culture consultancy offering strategic advisory, recruiting, and leadership coaching services to organizations across the US—all with a focus on the teams responsible for revenue generation.
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