- The Director will grow a major gifts and project support program, manage a donor portfolio of high-capacity prospects, and activate proper cultivation and stewardship activities across all channels.
- The Director will oversee a team that manages an annual goal of just more than $5 million, seeking to strategically increase this level of support through active communication, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
- The Director will provide leadership across the organization and represent the Symphony within the community, building meaningful relationships and making connections.
- The Director will communicate across all departments to maintain a clear and comprehensive understanding of current and upcoming activities, programs, and sponsorship opportunities.
Founded in 1957, the Richmond Symphony is an innovator, known for forward thinking in musical presentation and in demonstrating the future potential of orchestral performance. Now the largest performing arts organization in central Virginia, the Richmond Symphony consists of an orchestra of 69 professional musicians, 30 administrative staff, a 150-voice chorus, and more than 150 students in its Youth Orchestra programs.
Prioritizing the high caliber of its programming has led to truly remarkable experiences for its audiences in Richmond. This development allowed the Richmond Symphony to expand the number of core positions within its own orchestra while also attracting world-renowned guest artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Jennifer Koh, Maria Dueñas, James Ehnes, and Gladys Knight to its stage, to share unforgettable performances of canonical music with audiences, and to begin to intentionally invest in the crucial resources the orchestra needs to establish itself as one of the best symphonies in the country. Honoring its vision of “changing lives through the power of music,” the Symphony has purposely worked to reimagine the music experience to find new ways to deeply engage the Richmond community and to bring the power and enrichment of music to participants of all ages, regardless of prior knowledge of or interest in classical music or traditional symphony performance. Recognizing the need not only to be an artistic leader in Virginia, but also to be a community catalyst, the Symphony has built a strategy that enhances its mission in new ways to connect audiences, communities, artists, and the music they create, recognizing the unique crossroads of history and social movements at this time and in this city.
The Richmond Symphony is committed to reflecting the communities it seeks to serve. The Symphony is deepening its geographic footprint in Virginia in ways that are strengthening its visibility and its connections with new constituencies, enabling new collaborations, and positioning it for long-term audience growth and more broad-based community support. The Symphony continues its longstanding commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging throughout all programs, programming, artists, and initiatives and through every facet of the organization. This includes a commitment to commissioning Virginia voices, telling Virginia stories, and dedicating resources to actively seek opportunities to listen to and learn from Black and historically underrepresented voices, artistically and otherwise, and to work in collaboration to provide opportunities that enrich and celebrate both historic and current Richmond neighborhoods.
"Valentina Peleggi and I have such an abundant vision for the future of this organization that it’s hard not to be excited by all this momentum. Investing in this vision, means we must continue to raise significant funds to sustain that momentum. To reach our goals, we need an experienced, committed, and methodical fundraiser who is truly passionate about the work we do. Are you that person? We need you to be ready to connect to our donors, to engage the Board in stewardship and identification, to build systems, and continue to train and mentor our devoted fundraising team—building a culture of philanthropy in our staff, our musicians, and our Board." — Lacey Huszcza, Executive Director