It’s about Artistic excellence, We want to be the best orchestra this side of the…(insert iconic river or Great Lake here!), We’ve practiced, practiced, practiced…now we want to go to Carnegie Hall. How many times do you hear how great an Executive and/or Music Director wants their orchestra to be, but what does great actually mean. I contend that for an organization to be great it is others that need to bestow that adjective upon us, not ourselves. After all Olympians never judge themselves. I contend that the goal should always be Organizational Excellence, I want to share a stat…you be the judge….
It is both very helpful and gratifying when there is data to back something up. It might not always tell the full story but it is a great barometer and proof of progress. Take community outreach for example (I wrote recently about the misuse of that term). We always hear how important it is, how much it means, how much we do it, but is there a stat, a piece of data that can show that? In the case of the Springfield Symphony there is! In the 04/05 season the symphony had 24 events including Young People’s Concerts and small ensemble visits and 12 of them were ticketed, so 50% were free of charge and could be considered as community outreach/educational events. Fast forward to last season in which we had 84 events, 13 ticketed and 71 free of charge. Over 80% of what we presented was free of charge for our community!
We recently went to Jefferson City as part of a statewide arts lobbying day. Meeting with our district representatives, this one stat meant more to them than anything else we told them. To a person, they each reacted viscerally. With all the talk that day of how the arts are special, that they feed the soul, they create jobs, they edify, educate, provide quality of life etc… what was left wanting was hard data. It seems that the general feeling is that politicians respond to “what have you done for me or my constituents lately”. Yet even knowing this we will sit in front of those who don’t value the arts that highly and try to convince them that they should for arts sake! With no numbers they will only see our self interest in asking for support for the arts as a means to keep our own jobs! Well they also want to protect their jobs by being re-elected. Showing numbers and data that demonstrates a deep reach into their constituent base might just give them that appreciation for the arts!
I believe in some way we all want to be seen as community service organizations, and yet that is still somehow secondary or even way behind wanting artistic excellence. All I am contending is that those goals should be equal with stats to prove it so that there is Organizational Excellence (there are many parts to that) that can be easily be seen not just on stage but also in the community and on paper!
Tomorrow Part 2 – REVEALED!!!! You wont believe who our largest donor is!