Scott Freck, Principal of Freck & Co. Arts Consulting, is a seasoned nonprofit arts administrator with 32 years of experience planning and producing a wide array of performances incorporating multiple genres and disciplines. He was Executive Director of Eugene Symphony Association (ESA) in Eugene, OR from June 2012 to June 2023. Highlights of Freck’s 11-year tenure, the longest for an Executive Director in ESA history, include the appointment of Francesco Lecce-Chong as the orchestra’s eighth Music Director in 2017. This partnership yielded memorable and artistically significant performances such as The Four Seasons of the McKenzie River in 2018, The Color of Sound in 2018, and a groundbreaking series of concerts titled C3: Creativity, Connection, Community in 2022. He also produced and directed Soundwaves during the COVID-19 pandemic, a series of virtual concerts that provided employment opportunities for musicians and a way for audience members to stay connected with their orchestra during a time of physical separation.

Also while at ESA, Freck helped forge or strengthen community partnerships with a broad range of organizations such as the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, and McKenzie River Trust, among many others. In all, ESA’s education and community engagement programming grew exponentially over Freck’s 11 years, reaching at its pre-pandemic peak more than 25,000 children, youth, and adults annually across a five-county service area.

Freck also helped to diversify and activate ESA’s 35-member Board of Directors, transition its long-term assets to a non-profit corporation, the Eugene Symphony Foundation, grow corporate sponsorship support by more than 50%, and represented ESA on the boards of Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon and Travel Lane County.

Prior to returning to his home state of Oregon, Freck was Vice President for Artistic Operations & General Manager of North Carolina Symphony Society based in Raleigh, NC from November 2000 to June 2012. There he oversaw all content for a statewide organization that presents more than 170 performances in over 30 venues per season, working closely with Music Director Grant Llewellyn and Resident Conductor William Henry Curry to develop meaningful programs such as Blue Skies and Red Earth, a tribute to the rich musical history of North Carolina, and Amadeus, with Mozart’s music enveloping a theatrical production of Sir Peter Shaffer’s play in partnership with director Joe Haj and PlayMakers Repertory Company.

Freck began his career in arts management at Oregon Symphony Association in his hometown of Portland, OR, serving in four roles including Artistic Administrator and Director of Orchestra Operations. During his tenure he was a key partner to Music Director James DePreist and Resident Conductor Murry Sidlin, with whom Freck produced a series of genre-defying performances called “Nerve Endings” as well as a production of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS.