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labor issues music the orchestra world

more columbus opinion

Sam Bergman, violist with the Minnesota Orchestra, has written an insightful and compelling post about the current situation in Columbus.

Here’s the crux of his argument against the draconian cuts proposed by the CSO board and management:

Consider it from another angle: let’s say that the Minnesota Timberwolves, plagued for years by slumping ticket sales, underperforming teams, and a deeply unpopular general manager, decided that they just could no longer compete in the hockey-mad winter sports marketplace of Minneapolis/St. Paul. But rather than move the team, or fold completely, or sell to a new local owner who could try to succeed where others had failed, let’s say that the team announced that it would be laying off five of its twelve players, and playing only 65 games per season, rather than the customary 82. (They’ll keep the unpopular GM on, of course, just like in real life.)

Read the complete post here.

So, what’s my take on this?

I can’t bring myself to believe that any self-respecting orchestra manager (Tony Beadle, the CSO’s executive director, was once the operations manager of the Oregon Symphony) would undertake these kinds of cuts on their own initiative.

Since the management runs the organization on behalf of the board, clearly there is some serious delusional thinking on the part of the board about what will result from these cuts.

Or perhaps not – maybe they intended all along to decimate the orchestra, disband it, and start all over with a new wage structure, new musicians, and the same dysfunctional, ineffective management leadership.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense to me [visualize dripping sarcasm here].

Columbus is not by any stretch of the imagination a small town – it’s a major city. The metro area has a population of 1.72 million people.

It has Ohio State University, one of the largest universities in the country, with upwards of 50,000 students.

It is home to one Fortune 500 company, Cardinal Health, as well as five major insurance companies: Nationwide and four others have their headquarters located in the city.

Limited Brands is headquartered in the city, which runs Victoria’s Secret, Bath and Body Works, Lane Bryant, Structure, The Limited, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Express.

In short, there is major corporate and higher educational presence in Columbus that surpass what one might expect in a city of its size.

I can imagine that the Oregon Symphony’s development department would be salivating over the prospect of having such major corporate interest located in Portland, where there is not nearly such a large concentration of locally headquartered major corporations.

One could almost wish that the board would just say that they cannot afford the orchestra anymore and would like to disband it.

At least that would give the musicians and minority position board members the opportunity to take over what is left and start over with new blood and a reinvigorated leadership.

Sadly, it would seem that there is a much more selfish, self-righteous, and petulant group of “supporters” involved here. They would rather mutilate a proud and artistically vital institution than seek new ways to fund what they already have.

I’m sure that the musicians, who have already given substantial concessions in contracts negotiated up to this point, would be willing to be partners in such a process.

It doesn’t look good for the Columbus Symphony right now, and I wish that I could say otherwise.

My thoughts are with them.