Julia Diamond, Senior Vice President, TMC Arts, The Music Center (Los Angeles, U.S.A)

As senior vice president of TMC Arts, Julia Diamond leads the vision and strategic direction for The Music Center’s programming. The Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles is the second largest performing arts center in America, engaging audiences through innovative, relevant and responsive multi-disciplinary arts programs that deepen individual, cultural and civic life.

Diamond and her team create and produce public arts programs that include concert and participatory dance and music events, arts learning programs that excite participants of all ages, immersive arts experiences exploring new technologies, and celebrations of L.A.’s many cultures, reaching hundreds of thousands of Angelenos and visitors each year.

With over 20 years spent working passionately at the intersection of art and civic life, Diamond has also served at The Music Center as vice president of TMC Arts and the director of Gloria Molina Grand Park. Prior to her tenure with The Music Center, she held positions at LA Opera, LA Dance Project and the Komische Oper Berlin. She holds a master’s degree in arts administration from Columbia University and a BA from Georgetown University. A strong voice in the Los Angeles’ arts ecosystem, Diamond has served on the Los Angeles County Arts Commission Advisory Committee for the Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative, the Program Advisory Committee for Arts for LA and the Ford Theatres Connectors Council. She is an alumnus of the Southern California Leadership Network's Leadership LA program and the Los Angeles Jewish Federation's Rautenberg New Leadership Program.

Measuring Impact beyond Attendance: The Theory of Change at the Music Center

The Music Center, Los Angeles’ performing arts center, activates its four theaters, outdoor spaces, schools, and neighborhoods with more than 1,000 free and low-cost events annually and reaches more than 400,000 participants across schools and public programs.

In 2019, the organization embarked on the development of a first-of-its-kind proprietary process to measure the impact of its programs on Los Angeles County residents. Using a Theory of Change framework developed specifically by and for The Music Center, the organization connects programming activities to key outcomes. This report asks three guiding questions:

• How well are we deepening the cultural lives of Angelenos (which is part of the organization’s vision)?

• Are we reaching geographically and demographically diverse communities across Los Angeles County?

• To what extent are our programs welcoming to new participants?

2025 marked the first year in which The Music Center applied this new process to all its programs, including both paid ticketed and free experiences, and the results are compelling.

This presentation will share insights into the rationale behind the creation of this assessment tool and the powerful outcomes—published for the first time in spring 2025—that not only inform data-driven, responsive programming decisions but also educate and motivate stakeholders about the true value of The Music Center’s work and progress against its aspirational vision.