You’d be hard-pressed to name an art form that Joye Levy hasn’t lived, loved, or administered in some way. From theaters to galleries to working studios, Levy has been immersed in the Pikes Peak region’s art scene for over a decade.
“My life has revolved around art, but I never dreamed I’d work for a symphony orchestra,” Levy says, laughing. The Iowa native was hired last year as the Philharmonic’s first Director for the Center of Future Audiences (CFA). “I’m thrilled to help add to the vitality of the Philharmonic and establish structures that will ensure its relevance in this community for decades to come.”
CFA is “a hub of creativity and innovation offering a myriad ways to bring art, culture, and a renewed sense of energy.” CFA is designed to send the Philharmonic’s roots even deeper into the local community through three foundational pillars: Creative Discovery; Amateur Artistry; and Artistic Ventures. Its mission is to engage with a broader spectrum of community members and broaden access for a wider demographic range than ever before.
To command this effort required a leader with a unique set of attributes … not only a deep-seated passion for arts, but also an understanding of the potential pathways for art to outreach and positively change a community. This new leader would also have to have the high level of dynamism and personal magnetism needed to bring others on board with CFA projects. A candidate search committee was set to the task in the summer of 2024. As fate would have it, one of the committee members – Joye Levy – emerged as an ideal fit for the position.
Levy’s passion for the arts has played out in several roles over the years. Besides working as an actor and director in local theater, Levy held traditional roles in education as a theater and English teacher, assistant principal, grants writer, and Director of Arts Integration and Wellness for the Manitou Springs School District. After a lengthy career in arts education, she pivoted her formidable capabilities to the nonprofit sector as director of education for the Ent Center for the Arts. There, she was responsible for creating and administering programming for the Center’s theater department, music artist series, and Gallery of Contemporary Art. If all that wasn’t enough, she has continued to organize Green Mountain Falls’ Green Box Arts Festival Summer Camps, an annual 20-day arts-centered activity for elementary and middle school children.
This education-centric and community-facing arts experience underlies Levy’s extra-carbonated enthusiasm and energetic spark – highly serviceable qualities for her new role. “Taking on this position has been like jumping on a flying airplane,” Levy states with amusement. “There are so many lanes to pursue: performance, education, mental health and non-profit collaborations. During the first year of operation, I focused on successful existing programs. The idea was to expand on these first … scaling up what we already do to
reach more people.”
Some of these templates include established, youth-targeted programs like Phil Kids and Free for Kids, both of which seek to introduce children to live performances. In addition to growing these, Levy is working on strategies to get musicians into classrooms on a more frequent basis.
“Our emphasis on engaging youth is ultimately to build future audiences,” explains Levy. “But as much as we want to inspire potential future patrons, I believe the way you cultivate a patron is to help them create a relationship with art. You do that first by showing them how they are an artist.”
Collaboration will be another go-to tool in the CFA toolbox under Levy’s leadership. “We want to develop artistic audiences not just for the Philharmonic, but across the spectrum of our community. We want to partner with organizations that can enhance and drive music participation in traditional and nontraditional ways,” Levy says.
This philosophy has been central to co-planning recent projects with local arts groups such as Ormao Dance Company, the Colorado Springs Conservatory, the Fine Arts Center, the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony, the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region (COPPR), and others. For example, Ormao dancers and Conservatory actors will help bring the Philharmonic’s Peter and the Wolf performances to life for the Phil Kids audiences.
But Levy wants to take collaboration even further to integrate music with organizations that are outside the customary scope of the arts world. Last year, she partnered with the Olympic Museum, bringing athletes and Olympians to the Philharmonic stage and integrating their narratives with musical themes. Levy is also connecting with the US Air Force Academy community to bring in USAFA students and professors for conversations about aerodynamics in conjunction
with the Philharmonic’s upcoming Top Gun movie night.
Looking ahead to plans for the CFA’s second year of operation, Levy will continue to expand existing formats and create even more touchpoints with groups and individuals.
“Our new Nightcap programs are a perfect example of this,” reveals Levy. “We created our after-concert Nightcap performances as a way of extending a musical evening with the Philharmonic, integrating community, and involving local musicians. Last year we did just one Nightcap performance featuring Harrison School District students. Next year we’ll do four.”
Levy anticipates building the Harrison School District alliance in the future, as well as its connection with Academy District 20, with whom the Philharmonic has hosted an all-district choir festival in conjunction with USAFA. Other future cooperative efforts include side-by-side performances with Colorado Springs Youth Symphony and a D11 All District Choir Concert.
Like companies and institutions everywhere, the Philharmonic thrives by keeping pace with sweeping cultural impacts and staying attuned to the many unique communities that comprise our town. That means continuously adapting to increasing diversity, technological advances in entertainment access, pandemic-related self-isolation, and diminishing public budgets for the arts. Levy believes that thinking differently about these challenges will be vital for success.
“My education experience and my theater experience have deeply shaped my perspective about what it takes to connect with individuals and diverse communities,” Levy says. “I have a lot of relationship-building to do, a lot of trust-building. But I am confident my unique point-of-view is an essential element in the effort to reach and grow new audiences for the Philharmonic.”
