This article is related to a recently completed custom research project conducted on behalf of an ABA member. Our research team is always delighted to speak with members about tailoring research projects to your organization. To learn more or submit a custom research request, simply contact your member advisor or email us at info@advisoryarts.com.

Prompted by an ABA member’s interest, we investigated whether music education organizations would benefit from an alumni management platform. To gain a well-rounded view, we looked at the question from three angles, speaking with music education organizations, artists, and other stakeholders - such as a European cultural and educational network. We also took a brief look outside the industry by evaluating a successful alumni management platform.

Key insights include:

Organizations’ Perspective:

• Maintaining alumni contact and addressing missing contact information are among the most frequently reported challenges for organizations.

• Alumni data management and communication are still largely manual, with tasks such as finding alumni, updating contact details, and tracking activity being time-consuming.

• Opportunities lie in improving data systems to make alumni management more efficient and sustainable.

• Alumni engagement often occurs in the context of job opportunities.

Artists’ Perspective:

• Alumni use different channels and platforms strategically, aligning them with their specific needs and purposes.

• Interviewed artists perceive that alumni networks don’t always offer high quality of job offers.

• Alumni networks tend to promote a career path that now is an exception, like being a soloist or an orchestra player, and therefore miss the opportunity to track their alumni.

• Interviewed artists perceive that alumni networks bring value if they have: a) quality job opportunities b) network opportunities c) learning opportunities

• They feel that introducing an additional platform would be overwhelming and unlikely to gain traction.

Additional Insights:

• Institutions face growing pressure to show the impact of education on alumni careers.

• Research aims to better align artistic education with labor market needs.

• Pilot initiatives are testing tools for alumni engagement and networking and working groups are developing practical resources based on leading practices.

• There’s strong interest in improved long-term alumni data management tools.

• Successful alumni platforms foster a lasting sense of community, providing relevant benefits at different career and life stages, and offering access to a trustworthy, quality-checked network.

The full report is available to ABA members by clicking below.

To read these and more findings, download the report below: