By musicians, for musicians to better serve the community

Symphony’s own Penny Brill, viola, has become well known for her work in the symphony’s music and wellness program. In fact, Penny was one of the first recipients of the Ford Musician Award for Excellence in Community Service last year. (Regular readers of this blog have seen her name quite often!)

Brill, a member of the viola section since 1980, helped to implement and supports the Pittsburgh Symphony Music and Wellness program, she advises and provides resources for orchestras and orchestral musicians throughout the country who wish to play in medical settings or work with special needs children, veterans or refugees. She has given a number of workshop presentations at national conferences on how to design and implement programs in cities with extremely varied demographics, needs and music preferences.

Last fall, she made many of those design ideas and resources available on a new website, Musacor (“Musicians as a Community Resource”). The is designed for musicians who are looking to create programming that strengthens and enriches their communities in areas that the community considers important. If you’re looking for ideas and resources to support the development of effective, in-depth, sustainable music programs that can be customized to your community’s needs, check out Musacor today!