I noticed this story about the Charlotte Symphony a few days ago, and just got around to reading it today. It presents a scenario that is chilling in that it shows a path which the Oregon Symphony might find itself if the right corrective measures aren’t taken. Here is a link to the article from the Charlotte Observer, dated 4/17/07. There are a few passages that stand out in my mind – read those after the jump.
A day in the life of the Charlotte Symphony, as described by its conductor:
“We’re just afraid of the financial situation, from morning to evening.”
Christof Perick was explaining his decision to step down in 2009.
Constrained by four years of six-figure deficits, he figured he had done all he could with the job he was hired for: improving the orchestra.
Since those comments last fall, the orchestra has launched a turnaround effort. Board members have kicked in more money. Players have agreed to a pay cut next season.
The deficits that have plagued the OSO for years are continuing to mount, and there does not yet seem to be a long-range plan in place to handle the situation (with the realization that such plans take time to formulate, especially with a new leader coming in), though the board has mandated a balanced budget for the upcoming season in the strongest possible terms. Certainly, we share with Charlotte that $$ are job one – finding new ones and keeping current ones.
Carlos Kalmar was brought in with a clear mandate of taking the orchestra to the next level, and this he has largely accomplished in a remarkably short time. There are a quite a few orchestras at the higher levels looking for music director candidates, and Carlos has been on a few short lists in the last couple seasons. While in town, he is worked around the clock to go after donor prospects and close some new deals – he’s game to do it and he works tremendously hard – how long can he continue to do this along with the increased load of high-profile guest conducting engagements as long as the financial situation remains in such flux?
A seven-year streak of balanced budgets ended with the orchestra’s 2002-03 season. Hit by the post-9-11 economic downturn and surging health care costs, the orchestra ran up a $653,000 deficit that season. As years passed, annual salary increases called for in the players’ contract added to expenses. Cost-cutting couldn’t close the gap.
The orchestra expects the 2006-2007 season to end with the smallest deficit since the troubles began: “north of $125,000” on a budget of nearly $7.9 million, president Richard Early said.
But next season’s budget is projected to be $200,000 higher, at $8.1 million. The following season: $8.5 million.
This situation is very similar to that which we face here, though our annual budget is around $14 million, close to double that of Charlotte. The OSO players took a pay cut back in 2003, which we had only just begun to recoup in our last contract for the 2005-2006 season, which has since expired.
The Charlotte endowment is just $4 million, as opposed to the OSO’s which is around $24 million, but we lost nearly half our our endowment’s value in the stock bubble crash due to horrible mismanagement from some now-departed members of the foundation board. The endowment isn’t a magic bullet, however, the Boston Symphony has a near $350 million endowment, and they’re having budget problems of their own.
“It’s hard to understand,” Perick said, “that in a place with so much wealth and so much money, (paying for the orchestra) seems to be a big problem.”
Tapping into that money is the challenge, members of Charlotte’s philanthropic scene say. It’s an issue that goes beyond the orchestra, which counts on donors for about a third of its revenues.
The city doesn’t have as deep a tradition of donating money to causes — be they the arts or social services — as cities that have been big for longer. There are fewer charitable foundations to provide hefty grants. There are fewer individuals who write sizeable checks. There are fewer businesses providing six-figure donations or sponsorships.
This strikes a huge chord for me – it’s something that I’ve wondered about ever since I moved to Portland eleven years ago. I hope that a new development director will help the situation – maybe starting a drive to build a new hall might help us more than we’d care to admit?
What’s the good news? Carlos Kalmar still has several years left in his current contract, and he hasn’t made any noises about moving on – he remains committed to this orchestra and this community. Ticket sales seem to be building: this is just anecdotal, but the view from the stage has shown some pretty strong sales and less swaths of empty seats. The most recent pops series was a bit better than those earlier in the year, even in Salem. The Miller Match campaign seems to be very successful – and though we have a bit more to go, it appears that we may be able to avail ourselves of the entire sum possible under the terms of the grant (funds matched up to $2 million)!