Our Vision

GMCLA sings for a future free from homophobia and all other discrimination.

Our Mission

To create musical experiences that strengthen our role as a leader among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and performing arts organizations, enrich our member-artists, support LGBT youth, challenge homophobia, and expose new communities to our message of equality.

Our Values

• LEGACY Over 30 years of success and survival as a community united in song
• COMMUNITY Creating and nurturing our community of artists, the LGBT community, and the Los Angeles community
• CREATIVITY Embracing risk, innovation and passionate performances that communicate with our modern world
• EXCELLENCE Performance, musicianship, artistry, and outreach
• TRANSFORMATION Changing hearts and minds through our compelling performances and the power of music
• EQUALITY Bringing people together and serving as a voice for equality for all people

Strategic Plan: 2010-13

Between June 2008 and September 2009, Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA) undertook the most extensive strategic planning exercise in its 31 year history. For the first time, the Chorus—one of the largest men’s ensembles in the United States—engaged the services of outside experts to help gather ideas, comments and data from as large a cross-section of the Los Angeles community as possible.

As we passed thirty, we knew that we were entering a critical period of our history, one in which, as a LGBT arts advocacy organization, we would need to examine the state of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) movement as well as the changing relationship between the public and live performance. However, we could not have known that the national economy would enter a severe recession, nor could we predict the effect this would have on the United States and particularly on California. These additional elements made our planning process a little longer than was first intended, but all the more timely.

In this document, GMCLA is proud to present a plan for our future. In this plan, we honor our traditions and our art by supporting our singers, protecting our young people and sustaining our institution so that in the years ahead, more people will experience the healing power of voices raised in song.

Five strategic initiatives emerged through this process. They are:

1. Continue to produce choral performances that exemplify the highest standards of musicianship, artistry and entertainment while developing the unique style characteristic of the GMCLA brand
2. Increase local and national awareness of the GMCLA brand
3. Support and enrich our members, volunteers and Board of Directors
4. Strengthen organizational sustainability by building audiences and cultivating funders
5. Expand GMCLA’s Alive Music Project (AMP) throughout Southern California and create a model that can be replicated and marketed by GMCLA

Read more about GMCLA's Strategic Plan by downloading the following PDFs:

Download GMCLA's Strategic Plan (Full Version) here

Download GMCLA's Strategic Plan (Short Version) here