More feedback
Thanks for all of your great comments to the question, below. Here's what two of Cincinnati's arts leaders had to say:
"Wow. I am not being facetious when I ask the following question: how important is it for Cincinnati to have Fortune 500 companies? Why not Fortune 1000? That should be good enough for us, right? Hope this adds to the discussion." - Ed Stern, Playhouse in the Park
"A great symphony orchestra is the equivalent measure of a city's worth as is a great opera company, a great museum and great theater and ballet companies-and, as far as I am concerned, a great hospital system, good schools, excellent police and fire departments-in other words, it is part of the essential quality of life that allows a city to say to the world, "we are a great place to live, to raise your children, bring your business." The presence of world-class arts organizations in a city says to business leaders contemplating investing in the city that we care about the minds and spirits of our citizens. Ask any top corporate recruiter and they will all say that those executives who make great businesses run are always going to want to know about the quality of the local arts organizations." -- Evans Mirageas, Cincinnati Opera
posted by Janelle Gelfand at 11:28 AM
1 Comments:
at 8/21/2007 10:50:00 AM 
Anonymous said...
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Post a Comment*I think it is a good question to ask how important a major orchestra is to a community. I think it’s good to re-evaluate the systems and models within a community, to make sure institutions aren’t being subsidized unless they continue to do business in a responsible manner. To solicit private and corporate donations for a cultural institution that maintains an outdated or untenable business plan doesn’t make sense, and ultimately diverts financial support from other, vibrant arts institutions, and can even do harm by sustaining a “status quo” of mediocrity, if not in the product itself, then in the business of providing it.
The CSO’s business model reflects one initiated in the 60s, when wealthy patrons needed something to do with their time and their taxable dollars, and many women who did not need to work found meaning and joy in building volunteer guilds that raised funds to pay musicians and conductors. The number of concerts grew exponentially to fill this audience demand, and to line the pockets of the musicians and their managers.
That business model is no longer valid in an era of ageing audiences, increasing entertainment options and decreasing arts education. Still, the CSO maintains its full year-long schedule in order to satisfy the contracts it has signed with its musicians, who play to houses half-filled or less, in a neighborhood that is unattractive, hazardous and hardly representative of the average concert-goer. Attendance declining, they raise ticket prices. Meanwhile, small orchestras crop up in suburban neighborhoods and satisfy the people’s desire for good orchestral music that is reasonably priced and family oriented.
As long as the CSO can attract businesses and private donors to pay the freight, I doubt their business plan will change much. But are these corporate and community sponsors really doing the city a service? If a top-drawer orchestra is, in fact, a key component to attracting businesses and employees to a region, wouldn’t it make more sense for those corporations to hold the CSO’s feet to the fire of good business practice, and insist that they start running their music business as well as the CEOs of their companies run theirs?
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