A Michigan native, Brandon Faber is a development professional with leadership experience in the performing arts, music education, fundraising, and community engagement.
Before joining UCLA, Faber spent five years at the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in support of the orchestra’s financial sustainability, focusing on individual giving, donor stewardship, major gifts, and leading a robust series of special events.
Faber has also served as executive director of the Birmingham Bloomfield Symphony Orchestra in Michigan, where he led the turnaround of a 40-year-old semi-professional orchestra to a professional regional orchestra in southeast Michigan. From targeting the areas of audience development, communications, educational programs, board governance, and strengthening community ties, the organization established residencies in four new performance venues, achieved concert attendance growth of 200%, and repaired AFM union relations under Faber’s leadership.
At The War Memorial, a center for the arts, veteran affairs, and community programs located at the historic Alger Estate in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, Faber led the launch and development of the new department of community engagement. As its director, Faber created new concert and community programs, refined operations, and reformed the marketing and communications for more than 250 programs on a campus that welcomed over 200,000 visitors each year. Faber’s acumen for partnering with regional organizations and identifying nationally regarded performing artists from diverse mediums enabled The War Memorial to increase program attendance by upwards of 42%. That strategic program development established the institution as a leader organization at the local, state, and national levels.
Prior to focusing his career on executive leadership in the arts, Faber taught piano under the auspices of organizations including the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival where he taught at schools in Kalamazoo, Michigan, The Community House where he taught for community programs in Birmingham, Michigan, and the Leysin American School in Switzerland where the student body represented over 50 different countries.
Faber is a graduate of Kalamazoo College with a bachelor’s in music and psychology, and is a graduate of the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University Long Beach where he earned a master’s in orchestral conducting.