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Audrey Baird, arts advocate and director of audience relations and group sales for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, has been named the 1999 Arts Leadership Award recipient by the String Academy of Wisconsin at UWM. Baird was honored at a benefit concert and buffet reception May 2 at Plymouth Church.
Baird has been deeply involved in the performing arts community in Milwaukee for more than 40 years. Trained as a music teacher, she chaired her first ticket drive for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in 1958. Since that time she has helped create many concert series for the MSO, including the Kinderkonzerts and Senior Citizen Concerts.
She also helped start the Friends of the Milwaukee Ballet and Friends of the Florentine Opera. She has served on the MSO board of directors, is past chair of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra League, and is a member of the American Symphony Orchestra League Board of Directors.
Baird has received many awards during her long and distinguished career. She was honored by the American Symphony Orchestra League for her distinguished service to symphony orchestras, and received the league's highest honor, the Gold Baton, in 1996. She also has received the Wisconsin Conservatory's Distinguished Service Music Award and the Civic Music Association's Distinguished Citizen Award. The Association of Wisconsin Symphony Orchestras recently presented Baird with its award for outstanding service to music; in May, Opera Guilds International presented Baird with their Partners in Excellence Award.
An expert in the field of audience development for nonprofit arts organizations, Baird is in demand as a consultant all over the United States. Her work in marketing, fund-raising, and volunteer management has left a lasting mark on orchestra fund-raising and ticket sales, and her irresistible enthusiasm and legendary ability to train and inspire volunteers makes her a popular lecturer and teacher.
Past recipients of the Arts Leadership Award include the Fine Arts Quartet, Artist Series at the Pabst, Joan Lounsberry, the late Margaret Hawkins, T. Michael Bolger, Edward Mumm, Gerald Reiser, and, most recently, Sara O'Connor.
The concert, sponsored by State Financial Bank, featured String Academy students, including winners of the 1999 String Academy Concerto Competition.
The String Academy provides comprehensive musical study for young violinists, violists, and cellists age 4 through 18. Founded in 1990, the academy currently serves a diverse body of nearly 200 students.
Proceeds from the reception will benefit the String Academy Scholarship Fund and the String Academy Inner City Music Program.