Ask An Expert: The Bottom Line

To pick up where we left off on Wednesday, Mike had asked a series of excellent questions about the various roles that money plays in the orchestra business. We answered two of them to do with musician pay in that post, and now we turn to the thornier issue of how dollars in and dollars out affects programming decisions. Here were Mike's questions:

Q: How do financial matters impact the particulars of performances at Orchestra Hall? Do performances change based on attendance, interest, funding? Do finances have a role in deciding what/how performances are given?

For the answers, I'll turn things over to Kari Marshall, the artistic administrator for the Minnesota Orchestra. Kari is involved in nearly all of our programming decisions, and she is also the staffer who Sarah and I work most closely with in developing our Inside the Classics concerts. (She also once won the orchestra's wildly popular NCAA March Madness pool despite not caring one bit about basketball, which was awesome if not terribly relevant to this blog.) Here's Kari's response:

Mike’s question about financial matters is one of those that all arts organizations, no matter their size, grapple with regularly. How does one balance fiscal responsibility with artistic mission? I remember many a late-night conversation about this very topic with my classmates in graduate school!

My role at the Minnesota Orchestra involves working with the Classical subscription series as well as Inside the Classics, so my answer refers to those areas of the Orchestra. In general, we do our best to make sure we are responsible with the finances while also providing a worthwhile and artistically satisfying experience for everyone in the concert hall. If you follow the blog regularly, you may recall that Bob Neu, our vice-president and general manager, contributed to an Ask An Expert inquiry just over a year ago. In that answer, Bob explained the process of planning a Minnesota Orchestra season.

Another stage of the planning cycle involves coordinating the entire season’s schedule with our marketing department. The classical subscription season, for instance, is a complicated puzzle of two, three or four concerts per week. The process of putting that puzzle together includes discussions about how each week may impact the organization’s financial situation. At the same time, we strive to offer a balanced variety within the program choices we offer.

Once a season is set, we do not change the Inside the Classics or Classical concerts based on attendance, interest or funding. The financial implications have more of an impact on future planning than the week-to-week programs that occur in a season. For instance, if a performance sells really well and the audience raves about their experience, we want to analyze why in order to make informed decisions. If a performance does not do well, we look for an explanation. (Was it the time of year? The weather? The repertoire? Or something else?) Hopefully this knowledge helps us provide the best experience for players, funders, and most importantly audience members.