It’s the 12th of August. There has been no news out of the Minnesota Orchestra debacle for a couple of weeks, and I’m sure that both sides are hard at work under the watchful eye of George Mitchell with a last ditch effort to patch things back together. But at this point why bother?
Congratulations are due to the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Orchestra and their esteemed Executive Director, Mr. Henson. They have achieved their goal, and nothing that could be announced in the next couple of weeks can change that. They have effectively ripped the beating heart out of one of the best orchestras on the planet, all in the name of ……. I don’t even know what. Money? A “reset?” What does that even mean? This orchestra, an ensemble with so very much promise, has been eviscerated. The depressing thing is that the people who have led this travesty, by their own admission, will not be able to tell the difference. They don’t know music, they don’t care about music, they couldn’t tell a great orchestra from a mediocre one. But by God they can press that “reset” button and ….. POOF!!! ……. there goes the Minnesota Orchestra.
I heard from a friend of mine that he had run into Burt at an L.A Phil rehearsal. Tom has moved farther down the coast to San Diego, and his viola-in-crime Ken is up in Seattle. Sarah and Vali now reside in Portland. Peter moved all the way to Europe somewhere. Word comes today that Stephanie is off to Interlochen and Mike (AKA “El Destructo”) is off to New York. I’m not going to bother with last names. These are friends and colleagues, people I have known and worked with for 20 years. They are not the only ones. They all deserve to have been treated better than this.
The people of Minnesota deserve to have been treated better as well. My social media networks are filled by people decrying what is going on with the orchestra. They publicly trumpet their refusal to contribute to the M.O. while this madness is going on. Ironically, this makes the whole strategy of the Board self-fulfilling. They have created a scenario where people are so upset that they will no longer support the orchestra, thus giving back-handed credence to the Board’s idea that the people of Minnesota won’t support the orchestra. Two of my closest friends have gone to the point of revising their will to remove the M.O. from their legacy. I am, as always, deeply honored that they asked me to be a witness for this critical life document. I am also appalled that these two wonderful men, both great lovers of music, have been driven to this extreme.
The worst of it is that these vision-less, cold-hearted, unsagacious Neo-Cons were somehow put in charge of one of the great performing ensembles on the whole planet and they did not have the foresight to realize how much damage their course of action was going to inflict on it. If this was a for-profit company the stockholders would be up in arms demanding the director’s heads on a platter. But this is the non-profit world. This is a public trust, and we trust that the people put in charge will act in the best interests of the institution and the public. When that is clearly not the case there is no recourse.
The Foundation for Critical Thinking defines ethics as “a set of concepts and principles that guide us in determining what behavior helps or harms sentient creatures.” It is time to call the actions of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Board and Administration for what they are – unethical. Unfortunately, what they sow we shall reap, and right now the Minnesota Orchestra is becoming just so much chaff in the wind.
It is worth bothering because this is an institution that, in spite of the neo-cons scheming, this community does love and support deeply. Yes, we have been desperately outmaneuvered and ineffectual in our response, but these ashes are worth fighting for, because I believe that if this community can wrest control from the Banksters, then with patience and perseverance we will have a chance to see a phoenix arise – it may take years and years to restore, but let’s have the optimism and hope that our forbears did 100 years ago! I AIN’T GIVIN’ UP YET!!!
Somehow Henson spent $13.7 million last year ($400,000 went into his pocket). He is extremely lucky this is not 18th century France.
The 990 probably won’t be out until next spring.
Actually, they haven’t even begun the negotiations. Per the StarTrib article on the most recent departure:
The two sides are engaging in quiet talks to see if they can agree on ground rules for mediated negotiations with George Mitchell, the former U.S. Senate leader and diplomat.
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/blogs/219280571.html
Bill, you are completely right that if they tried to use this sort of “business expertise” at their day job they would be out on their butts. Nonprofits seem to be the last refuge of scoundrels these days. This needs to be investigated on a wider scale:
http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/management/21259-nonprofit-accountability-and-ethics-rotting-from-the-head-down.html
Sad to say that this is not the case. These shenanigans are what pass for expertise in the business world.
My years in the corporate world have taught me this: business is rife with waste, panic, and ego-driven disaster. There’s just enough money sloshing around that it goes unnoticed most of the time. The bigger the company, the worse the problem. Well-run businesses are rare indeed.
When people talk about how the business world is a model of efficiency, I just laugh. I so often want to ask, “Have you ever actually seen a real business?”
You want decent efficiency? Look at a small business. Yes, but you want STUNNING efficiency? Look at a musical ensemble. They run their whole operations on budgets most big corps wouldn’t consider fit to find out the time of day.
Your last paragraph – BINGO!!
I am a member of the Detroit Symphony. I have heard rumors that both sides in the MOA dispute have criticized both sides in our labor dispute two years ago for “caving”. We were out 6 months. We’re still trying to recover. For the last two years we’ve been auditioning at every possible chance and still have many positions open. We’ve been fortunate to be able to find some wonderful young players to join our orchestra – many from other orchestras that have had problems of their own. However it’s the orchestra leadership that leaves first. Those positions are not filled easily. To date we have a reasonable living wage, our orchestra is technically very competent and growing artistically, plans are in place to rebuild our orchestra’s endowment and things are starting to heal among the different elements that make up the organization known as the Detroit Symphony. We are rebuilding but it will take years. We have every hope that we ultimately will come out stronger. Time will tell! I grew up in Mpls. and my teachers came from the MOA. I grieve for my “home” orchestra. Your article says it straight. In our situation, the conflict was unnecessary. A lot of very nasty things were said and people were hurt in so many ways on both sides. It is much worse at MOA. I fear it will never be healed and that it’ll be a long road back for the orchestra, if ever!!
Even more than before, this is personal. My stepson is one of Mike’s horn students at the U, having turned down a scholarship elsewhere because that’s who he wanted to study under. Those rapacious, duplicitous and ethically challenged philistines masquerading as an orchestra board of directors have even more to answer for, as if gutting a phenomenal ensemble was not enough. They are also driving out of the area the idols and mentors of the next generation of performers.