THSO Receives Community Organization of the Year Award

The Wabash Valley Chapter of the Southern Indiana Area Labor Federation (commonly known as the Wabash Valley Labor Council) has selected the Terre Haute Symphony Association as its 2024 Community Organization of the Year.

Left, Artistic Director David Bowden; Right, THSO Board Member Janet Clark

 The award honors the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra (THSO) for a robust Community Engagement focus that has resulted in more than 75 events for Terre Haute and for other regional communities during the THSO’s recent 2023-24 season.

Sixty-two (62) of these events were TOTALLY FREE to participants and attendees.  Among these are musical and educational events at the LAB at Locust Street in the Ryves neighborhood, 13 elementary school tours in Vigo County, 19 virtual question and answer sessions with regional elementary school students, and performances and master classes at the facilities of all four higher education institutions in Terre Haute.

In addition, the THSO hosted eight (8) free Westminster Symphony Sundays recitals and four (4) Osher Lifelong Learning Institute presentations.

However, the most significant, influential, and long-term program is the THSO’s Adventure Concerts for regional fourth graders which are offered FREE to the community. Every year, approximately three thousand (3,000) elementary students attend these concerts which encourage them to consider making music a part of their lives. The THSO believes that making music changes lives and that students who do so will experience a transformation in their view of themselves and of their relationships with others.

The community engagement focus of the THSO is bearing fruit for the organization in terms of grants and concert attendance. This year, the THSO has exceeded 900 season ticket sales, and the organization is THRIVING.

The American Federation of Musicians, Local 25, in many ways has come full circle in presenting this award to the Symphony. Ninety-nine (99) years ago, Local 25 played the primary role in the origin of the THSO, working with the Woman’s Department Club.

The new organization was founded in 1926 by members of Local 25 as a collaboration between professional and community performers, providing opportunities for musicians to play and for audiences to hear great music LIVE. They hoped Terre Haute’s citizens might take special pride both in the orchestra and in their hometown as a city of note.

This “Community Organization of the Year” award presented by our local labor council recognizes the enduring success of that effort over the last century! We continue to provide “Great Music! Close to Home.”