Orchestral administrator-to-the-stars Michael Kaiser has a new mini-essay up on the Huffington Post, in which he outlines the reasons he believes that orchestras are having a tougher time than ever making ends meet. It would be great to have a New Yorker style 30,000 word article on the topic, but this is what we’ve got so far. Let me know what you think about his conclusions in the comment thread.
1. Supply of orchestral performances in most communities expanded as management and labor agreed on expanded contracts over the past 20 years.
2. But demand has fallen for many reasons: Ticket prices have become too high for many, programming has not met the interests of a new generation, arts education has been neglected for most, and new, inexpensive substitute forms of entertainment are available with the touch of a button, or mouse.
3. The high fixed costs of producing symphonic performances means that orchestras are less flexible than theater or dance ensembles. A theater company can perform smaller works when things get tough, orchestras contract for a fixed number of musicians.
4. The death of the recording industry has led to the loss of our major marketing partner. We no longer have celebrity soloists and conductors being created for us to exploit in our ticket sales and fundraising campaigns.
5. Fewer people are able to commit to subscriptions, the continuation of a 40-year trend. This means that every program has to sell itself which is expensive and which discourages adventuresome programming.