Community Drives Our Mission

By Elizabeth Schurgin, Executive Director

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Any plan for future success requires knowing what has made our successes to date possible. So when renown arts management expert and former president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Michael Kaiser called DCYOP a “model for growth” and one of the “best managed” arts organizations in all of Washington, we had to ask ourselves “why?”

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DCYOP has had some notable successes over the past few years. We have an outstanding pedagogy and artistic offerings. We have a diverse and talented student body. And we have a strong and growing organization: since 2014, we’ve expanded enrollment by 50%, doubled our budget and tripled our operating reserves. We know this because we recently completed a strategic planning process with Michael Kaiser himself. Yes, “The Turnaround King” called DCYOP one of the “most exciting arts organizations in Washington.” 

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And why is this? Our community! Our greatest strength is our community—DCYOP’s musical family. We know that every member of our family is essential to our success: our students, families, faculty, staff, board, partners, supporters, alumni, and volunteers make this organization unique. This community stayed together during the pandemic. It ensured that our students could continue their musical journeys together during a truly challenging time. And this community shows that it values the success of every student, beyond musical skill alone.

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So when we started our strategic planning process, it was important to us that our community weigh in on the plan. We received feedback from all different members of our community through surveys and interviews. They talked about our welcoming staff, dedicated faculty and wonderful families. This feedback was essential in guiding our path forward and it showed us that something critical was missing from our mission statement: the word “community.”  It also made clear that it was time to update DCYOP’s mission statement and to write down our core beliefs to reflect what we heard was important to our musical family.

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A mission statement is not a plan. And it doesn’t include the roadmap we are laying out for the coming years. It is a grounding statement that constantly reminds us why we exist, and it should guide our plan-making: do our plans help us achieve our mission? If not, or not as much as they should, how can we improve our plans?

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Our belief statements also guide our work. They remind us of who we are and want to be as an organization. As with the mission statement, we continuously ask ourselves if a plan, a program, a piece of writing is reflective of who we say we are and, if not, set about adjusting them. Plans change. Core beliefs, in general, do not.

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I hope that this mission and these beliefs reflect the DC Youth Orchestra Program you are a part of. And I hope that you will feel empowered to reach out to us when you think we are straying from them. After all, community is at the core of DCYOP and we are all responsible for making it what it is.

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OUR MISSION

To empower young people to transform their lives through music and community.

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WE BELIEVE 

• All young people should have access to the transformative power of music education.
• Excellence is fostered through diversity, inclusion, and community.
• Students are supported in their personal journeys by meeting them where they are.
• Youth orchestras can model change and shape the future of the orchestral music world.