Brent Assink, Interim President & CEO, Minnesota Orchestra

In an interview with Invest:, Brent Assink, interim president and CEO of the Minnesota Orchestra, said that under new Music Director Thomas S¸nderg¥rd the orchestra has strengthened its artistic and community ties, while also noting the orchestra’s role in boosting the region’s visibility. “We are truly an organization that not only brings people into Downtown Minneapolis but also heightens the visibility of the Twin Cities locally, regionally, nationally, and certainly internationally,” he said.

What have been the main highlights and key milestones for the Minnesota Orchestra over the last 12 months?

Over the last 12 months, we have solidified our partnership with our new music director, Thomas S¸nderg¥rd. He is the 11th artistic leader of our organization, which is now over 120 years old. We are seeing a strong connection developing not only between him and the musicians but also between him and the audiences, which is one of the biggest highlights of the last 12 months. This does not happen often in the history of an orchestra, so it is a big deal when it does. It is indicative, I think, of the affection by which he is held and by which the Minnesota Orchestra is held in the community.

For instance, he led a two-week Nordic music festival in Downtown Minneapolis in early January 2025. That is a cold time of the year, of course, yet the concerts were sold out. What I especially appreciated was the fact that people came early, hung out in the lobbies, and participated in a true Nordic experience in the lobbies. The concerts were reviewed both by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, with positive reviews.

We also expanded our digital programming and digital outreach to reach many more people, not only across the state of Minnesota but globally. I was struck by the high quality of the production and the partnerships that have developed through the digital outreach, including with Twin Cities Public Television and other entities. 

Additionally, our school partnerships have enabled us to bring in 30,000 students to Orchestra Hall in Downtown Minneapolis for concerts specifically tailored to elementary school aged students. 

What roles does the Minnesota Orchestra play in bringing arts and entertainment culture to the Twin Cities?

The Minnesota Orchestra takes its role as the largest performing arts organization in the state seriously. Minnesota has always been known for its devotion to the arts and its enthusiastic embrace of the arts, not only in the Twin Cities but also throughout the entire state. The orchestra brings in about 225,000 people annually to Downtown Minneapolis for our concerts. With our streaming capabilities, we expand that number to 2.3 million. We have 14,000 individual donors. We are truly an organization that not only brings people into Downtown Minneapolis but also heightens the visibility of the Twin Cities locally, regionally, nationally, and certainly internationally.

An important point that sometimes we forget is that the individuals who experience life in the Twin Cities momentarily because of the orchestra go back home and talk about the impact of their visit on their understanding of Minnesota. By extension, they encourage other people to visit the Twin Cities as well. 

From a broader perspective, what makes Minneapolis-St. Paul a vibrant environment for arts and culture? 

I have not lived in the Twin Cities for the last 25 years, but I lived here for many years before moving away. Now I am back, and it has been interesting for me to see what has happened in those intervening 25 years. When I was here in the 1980s and 1990s, it was already a cultural hotbed of activity. That goes back generations and decades because, as Minneapolis-St. Paul grew and became a manufacturing hub, tech hub, engineering hub, and agricultural hub, business leaders found it a little hard to attract people to come and work here, partly because of the weather and partly because it was feared that it might be a bit of a backwater. These leaders wisely invested in various sectors that would draw people here, including education, especially higher education. Secondly, they thought about what else would attract people, and arts and culture became a high priority for those leaders in helping to draw people to the Twin Cities. That has been instilled in the culture at large in the Twin Cities and Minnesota for generations.

What has happened in more recent years has been the astonishing diversity, ethnic and otherwise, of people moving into the Twin Cities. You have the established arts groups that have been around for decades, in Minnesota Orchestra’s case, over a century, and the incredibly energetic infusion and vibrancy of other types of artistic expression coming into the Twin Cities. Those two things could, in theory, be isolated from each other, but in fact, what is happening is an amalgamation of multiple cultures coming together and celebrating the differences and the alignment that people have in artistic expression.

How is the Minnesota Orchestra addressing yearly deficits and other primary challenges that affect the entertainment industry?

The primary challenge is, of course, COVID-19. It is taking a while for people to recover economically from it. The Minnesota Orchestra is thankfully leading the charge in the field by building back our audiences. Our audiences are roughly back to pre-pandemic levels, but this has been an almost five-year deep valley. While the numbers are back, we lost the opportunity to build momentum over those years in terms of audience growth. We are delighted that they are back, and we are blessed with an enthusiastic and supportive audience, but it has definitely taken a while.

The other area of focus is philanthropy. The Twin Cities have a remarkably generous community. We have almost 14,000 individual donors, which is quite extraordinary, and they are continuing to be supportive. Early trends in this fiscal year are positive, and trending in the right direction in both of those key markets. Any organization, either nonprofit or for-profit, whose business model depends on the ability to gather people together inside a building to share a community experience like this, faced an existential crisis with COVID. It is a sign, I would say, of great resilience among our arts organizations across the country that we are doing as well as we are, but it temporarily took the wind out of our sails.

What is the outlook for the Minnesota Orchestra over the next two to three years in terms of top goals and priorities?

We are looking at raising the global profile of the Minnesota Orchestra with Thomas S¸nderg¥rd. This is a relatively new relationship, so we would like to make audiences aware of this on a global basis. One way to do that is with our digital content, so we will be focusing and expanding in that area. Building a more sustainable financial future will certainly be a high priority on our to-do list.

The other priority is that we carry the name Minnesota, not Minneapolis, but Minnesota. We are the Minnesota Orchestra, and I have been so struck by the level of music-making and deep engagement by music-makers across the state of Minnesota since the years I was away. The Twin Cities have expanded significantly geographically, like many cities. It has crept out into other counties that, when I was here before, were primarily rural. The effect of that has been that the entire state feels vibrant. There is no longer a sense that the Twin Cities is the only place where significant economic impact is happening. It is much more diffuse than that, much more widespread throughout the entire state. We believe that we, as an organization that carries the state’s name, really ought to be focused on serving the entire state. It is a big state, huge in fact, with lots of people and lots of territory to cover, but it is exciting for us to think through and develop how to do that and how to develop partnerships with people who are similarly engaged in serving our populace with great music across the state.