University orchestras: a call for action

Several professional orchestras represented at the Summit (including Reno, Pittsburgh, Memphis and Louisville) have in fact already taken significant steps toward adapting to the current economic and cultural landscape, in their efforts to remain vital and relevant. These orchestras have created meaningful local partnerships, found innovative ways to connect with their communities, and developed successful ongoing educational programs.
I’d like to summarize how these initiatives can apply to the academic setting, and what we can do as educators to adapt them for our use and prepare students for a future in the performance, administration and support of orchestral music. Perhaps [...]

Jan 31, 2010 | 4 comments | View Post

Moving Forward

First, thanks to all the summit participants who traveled from around the country to be here and make the summit such a special event. There was a lot of enthusiasm in the air on Wednesday and Thursday, and I’m grateful that important conversations could be started (or continued) and developed. I know in many cases participants wanted to hear more on topic X or have idea N pushed further than it was. Such reactions are inevitable; there’s still a lot more to do.
Overall, I think our expectations of what an orchestra does (give concerts) and what orchestral musicians do (practice and give [...]

Jan 30, 2010 | 1 comment | View Post

On Relevance, and Means vs. Ends

In the first session of the orchestra summit, Ryan Fleur of the Memphis Symphony talked about how in the 19th century, orchestras were more relevant to their communities, and about how music and art were ways of connecting people with each other.  He emphasized that music has gone from being a means to being an end and encouraged us to revisit that assumption.
It’s a powerful idea for reframing how we consider our roles.  The means — the artistic experience — is what keeps us all in this business, whether we’re artists or administrators.  But we must connect to our audiences [...]

Jan 29, 2010 | 1 comment | View Post

Service Exchange for Orchestras is the Future

Well, over the past day-and-a-half at the Summit, it appears we have enlarged the circle.  We have discussed almost every major issue symphony orchestras face in today’s economic and cultural climate.  And almost every type of stakeholder- musicians, conductors, board members, and staff- has been represented and heard.  For me, one message cut through all of the twists and turns of the discussion, and that message is that we must embrace the service exchange model.
The service exchange model hires musicians for a type of service that is not approved under the musicians’ collective bargaining agreement,  such as teaching or mentoring,  [...]

Jan 28, 2010 | 2 comments | View Post

Refresh my memory

The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. These words came to mind as I listened to comments from Barbara Haws, a self-described “born-again New Yorker” who serves as the New York Philharmonic’s chief archivist. During yesterday’s lunch she set aside her own sandwich to discuss with students the Philharmonic’s archive: Leonard Bernstein’s personal score library (with his annotations), Erich Leinsdorf’s scores, extensive broadcast, commercial, and unreleased live recordings, minute books and annual reports stretching back to the orchestra’s founding in 1842, concert programs, publicity materials, correspondences, etc.
Good news: much of it is going online. The archive is currently [...]

Jan 28, 2010 | 2 comments | View Post

Reflections on Sustainable Partnerships

I have been listening to this morning’s conversation on partnerships with interest and often awe.  Being a professional fundraiser before moving into academia, I have always thought the word Development (as it pertains to fundraising) was such a perfect description for the act of raising contributed dollars.  It is all about creating relationships and yes in the best cases “partnerships.”
Years ago I was at a panel discussion of family foundation board members.  What has stuck in my mind for some 15+ years later is a question posed to Helen McMaster of the Harold & Helen McMaster Foundation.  She was asked, [...]

Jan 28, 2010 | 2 comments | View Post

The Portfolio Career

In my previous blogs I focused on ways that our orchestras could be more innovative as a way to sustain our ensembles.  Of course the idea is that a healthy orchestra means that we musicians can continue to create great music. But what can musicians do to help themselves in light of the latest round of salary/ per-service cuts?  How do musicians performing in ROPA orchestras and many of our ICSOM ensembles survive financially when they find their wages being frozen or slashed.  I’m not speaking about the $100k+ salaries my colleagues at the Cleavland Symphony make, rather, I’m speaking [...]

Jan 28, 2010 | 1 comment | View Post

The Elephant in the Room

An interesting first day of the orchestra summit.  Kudos to Mark Clague and Michael Mauskapf for their work putting together a series of interesting and provocative panels.
Many interesting things were said over the course of the day, but a lot was left unsaid, which I found unsettling.  Perhaps I’m asking for the moon, but I wish there had been a session that tried to deal with the elephant in the room, instead of dodging it.  When Mark Stryker, a cultural reporter for the Detroit Free Press, asked the question of one panel about dealing with the fixed cost issue, admittedly [...]

Jan 28, 2010 | 4 comments | View Post

Henry Fogel on survival

As other bloggers here have already mentioned in detail, the activities today focused on what orchestras are doing and can do more of to remain relevant in today’s society. Of the many valuable discussions, I was particularly struck by Henry Fogel’s forceful words on community engagement:
- If orchestras are going to survive, they will have to matter (a hell of a lot) to people who will never go to a subscription concert.
- The community must be involved in shaping the orchestra.
- The word “outreach” is a negative and condescending term that describes a one-way street. “Engagement” means get the community [...]

Jan 28, 2010 | 17 comments | View Post

Lessons Learned from Washtenaw County.

Welcome to Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County!   It is so wonderful to have visitors from such a broad geographic region here at the Orchestra Summit.  I wanted to take some time to boast about some of our inspirational music education programs, and ponder on why they have grown to such size and quality.
During the fall of 2007 I began working on a major research project that would become the Washtenaw County Cultural Master Plan.
( http://www.a2artsalliance.org/initiatives_culturalplan.asp)  The plan took shape during an 18-month process where we listened to the voices of county residents as they described why they valued arts and [...]

Jan 28, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post
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