All eyes are locked onto the dark-haired French woman seated at the podium in the Coronado High School auditorium.

It’s not every day high school students get trained under the baton of an award-winning, world-class conductor, who happens to be Chloe Dufresne, the newest music director of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic.

“I started playing viola in kindergarten,” she tells Coronado’s advanced orchestra. “Playing an instrument is a great mental exercise. It makes your IQ higher.”

“You learn how to do one hand doing this and one hand doing this,” she says, demonstrating playing a stringed instrument. “It’s a skill not many people can do.”

Dufresne is here courtesy of the Center for Future Audiences, a 1-year-old nonprofit division of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic that seeks to nurture new generations of music lovers and Philharmonic patrons through educational and community programs, such as today’s Conductor in the Classroom program.

“I would be here to show this is possible to do, but also that it’s a life,” Dufresne said. “It’s also a very fun life. It needs to be a commitment and every day standing for the music and improving oneself. There are so many ways to be a musician and so many ways to be an artist.”

In addition to directing the rehearsal for their winter concert, Dufresne also did a post-class Q&A about music as a vocational pathway. To make it an even richer experience for the kids, the school’s foreign language students translated the students’ questions into French for Dufresne.

“I loved having Chloe Dufresne conduct us for a day,” one student later wrote to the CFA. “Her style was new and interesting, which was a nice challenge. (She) gave some helpful feedback on articulation and dynamics for Baroque style. I’m grateful for her reminding me I belong in orchestra, and that it’s not silly and naïve to pursue music as a career choice.”

CFA has three components to its programming: Creative Discovery, which introduces people of all ages to the Philharmonic; Amateur Artistry, which supports amateur musicians and provides others with opportunities to get involved in some level of making art, like playing music; and Artistic Ventures, which takes on big projects, such as next year’s “Gershwin: Porgy and Bess” concert.

“It’s (CFA) meant to be more than an educational or community outreach department,” said Philharmonic President and CEO Nathan Newbrough. “This division is about taking on big projects and reframing how we can make connections with educators and families and those who haven’t experienced what we do before. It’s an umbrella over multiple different projects and programs.”

Nutcracker for a Day, which took place over Thanksgiving weekend, is one such creative discovery program. This year, the Philharmonic worked with Centro de la Familia, an organization that offers behavioral health and advocacy services to the Hispanic and Latino communities in Southern Colorado, and Atlas Prep Community School, a public charter school in Harrison School District 2.

Five Spanish-speaking kids, ages 7 to 9, who had never been to a Philharmonic concert or to the theater, each got to perform in one of the five “Nutcracker” performances by the Philharmonic at Pikes Peak Center.

“One child in particular – you can tell when someone is on stage for the first time, and they grow 2 inches – it was one of those moments,” said CFA Director Joye Levy. “This little gal jumped in and did everything the other kids did. It was so satisfying to watch her discover that.”

Because of the girl’s interest and aptitude, CFA will grant her a scholarship to dance weekly at Ormao Dance Company. It’s one of the ways CFA intends to grow interest in the arts and support its arts organization partners, like the longtime dance company.

“The big dream for this girl is that she’ll take ballet at Ormao, and she can audition to be in the show next year,” Levy said.

Free for Kids, another Creative Discovery program, offers free tickets for up to two kids, ages 7 to 17, with the purchase of one full-price adult ticket for select concerts, including the Brahms and Tchaikovsky concert on Jan. 25 and “Gershwin: Porgy and Bess” on May 17.

“You’re talking $16 a ticket,” Levy said. “It’s less than going to a movie these days. At those concerts, we’ll have a children’s program. We want them to feel included and special and know they belong there.”

In its inaugural season, the CFA did about 25 events. During this season, the orchestra’s 99th, that number will soar to about 40.

That includes the recent launch of Seatmates, an intergenerational program that pairs an older Philharmonic patron with a younger student from the Community-Based Arts and Education class Levy that teaches at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs and sends them to a concert together.

The next Seatmates event is scheduled for the Van Cliburn Champions: Mozart concert at Ent Center for the Arts on Feb. 1.

“I got them to talk before the concert about music and why it’s important to them,” Levy said. “My students’ papers on this were beautiful, like you can just be friends with an older person. Three-fourths of the class had never been to the symphony before, but our older patrons loved being able to share everything they knew about loving the Philharmonic. When you give two groups of people the opportunity to serve one another, that’s really magical.”

To participate in CFA, school groups can go online to csphilharmonic.org, email Levy at JLevy@csphilharmonic.org, or call 719-575-9632.

Launching the CFA was timely, as the Philharmonic will enter its 100th season next year.

“They know that for this to be here for another 100 years, you have to keep developing your audience,” Levy said. “That’s the secret sauce for all arts nonprofits – how do you get a greater diversity of ages? When you ask our patrons why they’re there, it often was an early musical experience in their life. They had someone take them to the Philharmonic once, or they played violin once. Their childhood experiences made them patrons. We want to get out to as many young people as possible in this region to develop the next 100 years.”