I cannot help but comment on the recent developments in Detroit, as they so painfully illustrate the enormous challenges that symphony orchestras face now, and into the future.
Let me begin by saying that these musicians, as well as their colleagues across the country are performing optimally in their jobs, “as they were trained to do.” Performance education is a lifelong pursuit of excellence. I believe I know this from various significant perspectives.
The catch is, however, that orchestras, and most especially their musicians, must change, or face painful reorganizations, and eventually extinction. There are reasons for this — and there is one chance to survival.
The reason: orchestras need contributed revenue — lots of it, and in increasing amounts. Efforts to earn additional revenue through clever programming and business-related ventures may help the bottom line some, but only to a minor percentage of bottom line expenses. Orchestras need donors: individuals, government, foundations and corporations.
These donors are being influenced heavily by pressing societal needs stemming from systemic poverty. With their foundations, Bill and Melinda Gates and Bill Clinton have focused the philanthropic community on health care and education, both at home, but also in other countries. The challenge to orchestras: how do you compete, how do you craft your message, how do you refocus your mission so that you can honestly ask for high levels of contributed revenue?
The answer: do everything, and do it fast, to make yourselves the voice of the community, the center of expression for the people where you live and work. There is still time (I hope) to make this link. Some orchestras are doing this — and appear to be having success with it. It means retooling and rethinking the role of the orchestra, and yes, of the job description of their musicians.
Do it fast, do it honestly, make mistakes and learn from them. Yes, there was a time when great orchestral performances of great works were all that was needed for success. This time is past, and is not coming back.
And what roles do unions, particularly the AFM, play in the evolution of the American orchestra? Do they facilitate or hinder the changes that orchestras need to make so they can remain relevant for decades to come?
Change is difficult under the most optimum conditions, but under extreme pressure (or crisis conditions) even more so. My sense is that the AFM understands the need for change — but in assessing that change they see reduced compensation and benefits for members, so are stymied as to how to proceed.
Don’t simply look at the AFM and how it helps or hinders. Look also to the League of American Orchestras, which often seems desperate to do far more than ‘refocus’ the mission of the orchestra. Many within the League seem determined to completely overhaul the mission of it’s orchestras and along with it, their entire business plans without truly vetting their ideas or really knowing how to change, or even how much these radical changes would cost.
The AFM is not, in and of itself, opposed to change and DOES realize that the world (and this industry) has changed quite a bit over the last 30 years. But most of us in the Federation don’t simply buy into the notion of a complete overhaul when many aspects of orchestras’ missions and business plans still do work (although less so in a recession), and may only need updating and tweaking (refocusing).
Jim is dead on. The days of Ford Foundation-inspired orchestra expansion are gone, and the days when orchestra musicians can merely show up to rehearsals and performances and demand that management pay them more money are also gone.
In order for orchestras to survive in a time when there is massive unemployment and there is huge competition for scarce donations, the orchestras must act as team: players and administration, not players vs. administration. Smart thinking will need to come from places other than the AFM or the League of American Orchestras, as they have little or no institutional knowledge in how to adapt to changing tastes and methods of music delivery (such as iTunes) in our society. Concert halls have lots of empty seats and the few attendees mostly have gray hair. That is the kiss of death.
To say that “business plans” still work, in all due respect, is naive. Last time I checked, we were down to 15 full time full year orchestras in the US. You have better odds of becoming a US Senator than getting a full time job playing the clarinet in an orchestra. The rest of the orchestras with the so called “business plans” that still work are either partial year seasons or per service. Does your garbage man work part of the year or per service? Yet the implication is that any paid work is considered success even though you can’t earn a living doing it and must do other stuff to make ends meet.
On the other hand, music is very alive in America, just not in concert halls with music of dead white European men with orchestras that can’t even break even on ticket sales. There is a HUGE amount of music sales and performances going on in our country, yet we put on blinders, or derogatorily refer to it as “pops” music – not serious. We thumb our noses at this as our orchestras continue to shrink and fold.
As Jim says, “do everything, and do it fast.” I couldn’t agree more.