Network

International

The AFO initiated the creation of the European Orchestras Forum and continues to lead it.
Its involvement at European level aims to place culture at the heart of the public debate from local to European level.

The European Orchestras' Forum

This network was created following the forum organised at the European Parliament in June 2005 on the initiative of the French Association of Orchestras. The European Orchestras Forum, hosted at the European Parliament in Strasbourg in June 2005, had the following objectives

To assert a strong political statement on the importance of orchestras and the music they perform, while respecting diversity;
To allow exchanges and sharing of information between participants;
To strengthen the constitution of a specific European network for orchestras.

The European Orchestras Forum (EOF2005) brought together more than 400 music professionals from 35 European countries. It concluded with the approval of the Orchestras' Manifesto in the Hemicycle.

International awards

PEARLE* Award 2018

The Association Française des Orchestres and the Syndicat des Forces Musicales were jointly awarded the European "PEARLE*2018" Diversity and Equal Opportunities Award on 22 November 2018 following the adoption of the Charter for Gender Equality in Orchestras and Opera Houses, signed by all their members.

This prize is a real encouragement for the future, as the notions of diversity and equal opportunities are now at the heart of the approaches of orchestras and operas.