Former ASOL and Chicago Symphony president Henry Fogel weighs in on the Flanagan Report.
What I have learned, in four years of visiting and spending a day with 125 different American symphony orchestras, is that it is impossible to generalize – but that a great many of them have been very smart, very flexible, and dynamic in dealing with different economic conditions. Orchestras that are attentive to changing demands and the very nature of their audiences are not only maintaining but increasing attendance. Orchestras attentive to their entire communities (beyond just their subscribers) are also raising more money, and operating in fiscally balanced ways. As I said earlier, Prof. Flanagan’s report is a valuable addition to the research that has been done about orchestras, and will provide the field with useful information that will be of use in continuing to adapt to our environment as it changes. But anyone who draws from it the conclusion that orchestras are in peril runs the risk of subjecting themselves to Mark Twain’s famous quote: “The report of my death was an exaggeration.”