Inspire Arts & Music Acquires Great East Festivals

Inspire Arts & Music, the parent organization of the Boston Crusaders, announces the acquisition of Great East Festivals, the largest operator of scholastic music festivals in New England.

The acquisition of Great East Festivals is a key component of Inspire Arts & Music’s plan to expand programs and services to music education programs throughout New England and expand its reach. In 2013, Great East hosted 35 festival events attended by more than 17,000 students from 425 school music ensembles. Long recognized as the leading music festival provider in New England, Great East provides non-competitive educational performance opportunities for elementary, middle, and high school music ensembles of all sizes, grades, and ability levels. These include concert bands, wind ensembles, orchestras, concert choirs, show choirs, jazz bands, and small ensembles. Great East’s operations will continue to be based in southern New Hampshire and run by its existing staff. “I am excited to join forces with Inspire Arts & Music to deliver quality performance opportunities for youth well into the future. The entire Great East team will remain, and looks forward to pursuing opportunities to leverage new relationships and resources as a benefit to our clients, participants and the music community,” states Bill Elwell, President of Great East Festivals.

According to Inspire Arts & Music Board President, Jim Cronin, Inspire Arts & Music intends to align its existing Mass Bay Music Festivals with Great East, and leverage strategic opportunities for ongoing expansion and development across the entire Inspire portfolio. Jim states, “Today is an amazing moment in the history of our organization. The acquisition of Great East increases our reach across New York and New England. This new endeavor will provide the size and scale for the Boston Crusaders to compete at a championship level; to introduce new city-based programs that align to the original mission of the corps, and enhance our relationships with music educators; and to create a sustainable base for the next 75 years of the organization, all while establishing a prominent footprint in our home territory.”