• Programming
• Leader of the Arts

Carla Fackler

October 2005

When Carla Fackler and her husband were in Vietnam in 1994, a newspaper reporter in Hanoi asked where she worked. When she responded that she volunteered for the symphony, the reporter wanted to know what she did as a volunteer and couldn’t comprehend that there were a thousand other symphony volunteers like her! However, Carla’s extraordinary dedication and efforts to the advancement of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra make her stand out among the ranks of many other volunteers.

Carla’s sense of volunteerism was established long before she and her husband relocated to Atlanta from Boston in January 1977. With a B.A. and M.A. in journalism from the University of Iowa, her professional career includes the University of Iowa’s Office of Public Information, where she edited the faculty newsletter, the Iowa Dad magazine and other publications, followed by several years as an editor for The Trident, a national special interest magazine. Her writing and editing skills were also in demand by various newsletter and public relations efforts for volunteer and school organizations around the country.

Her work as a volunteer with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) began in 1987 when she was recruited by the President and President-Elect of the Atlanta Symphony Associates (ASA), the volunteer arm of the ASO, to revamp ASA’s newsletter, Take Note. Since that initial step nearly18 years ago, Carla has served as Vice President of Publications, Vice President of Adult Education and President, 1994-96, where she lead a fundraising campaign that raised over $1 million for the first time and continues to do so today.

While serving as ASA President, she took on the reorganization of the Decorator’s Show House - Atlanta’s longest running arts fundraiser; helped to launch the ASO’s Symphony Celebration, a musical open house for thousands of all ages, which received an American Symphony Orchestra League outstanding education award; and worked with Past ASO Board Chairman Jay Levine to establish an endowed ASA Chair (first chair, second violins), recognizing ASA’s 50th anniversary and its many contributions to the ASO.

Other aspects of the ASO affected by Carla’s efforts include the ASO Board, where she has been a member since 1993 and has served as Vice Chair, 1994-1996, Cultivation Co-Chair, 2001-2003, and since 1998 as a member of the Partners In Performance Task Force, ASO’s community engagement program accessing over 14,000 annually. In 2000 she chaired the Atlanta Symphony Ball, HARMONY, a joint project of the ASO Board/ASA, which received an American Symphony Orchestra League outstanding fundraising project award.

Volunteering with the symphony has opened not only a world of music, but a world of friends as well.

Carla and her husband Carl, an orthopedic surgeon, have three grown sons and two grandsons. The Facklers live just a mile from the Woodruff Arts Center in a neighborhood with a healthy sense of volunteering. So healthy that not long ago, 3 of the 4 volunteer organization presidents at the Woodruff Arts Center lived in their small neighborhood!

Items of Note:

The ASO will hold its 4th Symphony Celebration on Saturday, October 8, 2005 at the Woodruff Arts Center; featuring a free, all-day musical open house with hands-on activities and music for all ages!

The 18th annual Atlanta Symphony Ball on Saturday, November 19, 2005 will feature the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Last season ASO musicians donated 1,100 hours with the Partners in Performance community engagement project with 76% participation. They presented more than 100 programs, performances and workshops to over 14,000 metro-Atlantans in venues ranging from neighborhood libraries and community centers to Boys and Girls Clubs to All-State Orchestra mentoring and coaching programs.