Causes: Arts & Culture, Symphony Orchestras

Mission: The milwaukee symphony orchestra, inc. ("mso") reaches out to diverse audiences through concert performances and nationally recognized education and outreach programs. All programs are guided by the mso family shared vision which states that the mso exists for three purposes: to comfort, educate, entertain and exhilarate the human soul through events of cultural significance, relevance and artistic challenge; to embrace, preserve and foster our musical heritage; and to enhance the vibrancy of our community.

Programs: The milwaukee symphony orchestra is among the finest orchestras in the nation and the largest cultural organization in wisconsin. Since its inception in 1959, the mso has received critical acclaim for artistic excellence. The 68 full-time professional musicians in the symphony perform more than 135 concerts each season for over 200,000 patrons. Education is integral to the mission of the milwaukee symphony orchestra and comprises two main components: k-12 in-school and education programs that address the need for integrated, high-quality arts education in the public schools and training of young professional musicians through programs such as stars of tomorrow concerts and side-by-side competition, mso reading, wisconsin youth piano competition and milwaukee high school of the arts residency program. The k-12 education programs of the mso not only provide access to the arts for underserved students and families, they also address the need for integrated high-quality arts exposure and education in the public schools as required by the wisconsin department of education. These initiatives currently serve more than 29,000 students and hundreds of teachers statewide, and are developed in conformity with the national standards for arts education and the wisconsin common core standards. The mso continues to adapt its existing programs and develop new ones that support education reform in wisconsin. This effort has become even more critical as programs in the arts have been decimated by deep cuts to the education budget of the state. The mso offered a total of 31 youth and family concerts in the 2013-2014 season.