We had a visit from ICSOM (International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians) President Bruce Ridge today (as part of a three-day residency), which included a presentation and Q&A session with members of the OSO. The most interesting part of his remarks was that we musicians have a very powerful positive message to send out to our communities, large and small.
The arts are not dead, or even injured, in America – on the contrary, they are doing as well as they ever have. Public perception (and among those in the industry) centers on an imminent death of classical music, but there is in fact a thriving and vibrant classical music scene in Portland.
The other interesting part of his presentation centered on the fact that we are the only industry that sees its product (music) as the problem, not the marketing of the product. It seems obvious enough, but I hadn’t thought of it that way before he pointed it out. Orchestra managers and musicians are bending over backwards to cater to different demographics, bringing in video cameras, having casual concerts, changing concert nights and times in the hopes that more people will magically appear.
The idea that we’ve got something great here in Portland (and other cities of similar size) and that we need to get the word out as loud and as proud as possible, just hasn’t been done. The Portland Youth Philharmonic has more institutional presence, as does the Portland Opera and the Portland Art Museum. This needn’t be the case: the OSO is the state’s largest arts organization, and we are the best, truly world-class.
Let’s get the word out – tell a friend.