On Company Time
Back around this same time of the year in 2004, when the Minnesota Orchestra was heading out for a major European tour, there was a fair amount of excitement among press and public about it, and the advance coverage we got (it was Osmo's first year as music director, so there was a certain audaciousness to an attempt to showcase our collaboration internationally after such a short time) bordered on breathless at times. I wrote an extensive blog about the tour for ArtsJournal.com, and the amount of attention it garnered from both the mainstream press and ordinary people following the tour seemed positively unreal.
It's decidedly different this time around, and not only because our orchestra's rise under Osmo's directorship has become something of an old story after five years. The fact is, with the world economy well and truly in the crapper, and everyone wondering how the fallout will affect each of us personally, it's an awkward time to be mounting something as big and flashy as an international orchestral tour. To a lot of folks on the outside, it might even seem insensitive. So why not just stay home and quietly wait for things to perk back up at least a little bit before we go gallivanting off around the globe?
The answer is both complex and simple at the same time. The simple answer is this: tours are planned years in advance, and to call off a tour that is already fully planned and funded would do untold economic damage to our orchestra, to each presenting organization that will be hosting us, to the thousands who have bought tickets, and most importantly, to every individual who works for any organization associated with the tour. As with any business hit by an unexpected wave of misfortune, it's the aftershocks that can do the most damage.
Our orchestra has had a policy in place for a number of years now that says that we do not pay for touring out of our general operating budget, which is the budget that the money we receive from ticket sales, endowment draws, and general contributions goes into. If we decide that a tour is a wise use of our time and resources, the money for that tour must be raised separately from our main budget, and the tour cannot be confirmed until that money is in place. In other words, we would actually hurt our financial position by not touring, since the money that's offered to us to pay for it cannot be used for any other purpose.
There's also an aspect of all this that I think sometimes gets lost in the shuffle when everything we hear on the news suggests that the world is circling the drain and we're all going down together. I thought of it recently when I read of a sharp exchange between a local reporter and an executive with the Minnesota Twins, who were unveiling the design of the multimillion dollar public plaza at their new ballpark in the Warehouse District. The reporter asked whether the Twins didn't think it a bit crass to be trumpeting such a project at a time when people are losing their jobs in other industries. The executive's response was, "Not every company is bankrupt, you know."
The importance of that statement was more or less lost in the ensuing brouhaha over whether this was or was not a slap at the reporter's employer, which is bankrupt. But the truth of the statement is that every company has employees, and every last job in the world is frighteningly valuable right now. For the Twins, a profitable company, to scale back their plans simply because they were worried about appearances would affect not only their company's bottom line, but the jobs of every construction worker who's employed on the project, every individual who works in the team's sales, ticketing, or promotion offices, and every employee of every company that does business with the team. Given that fact, wouldn't it be irresponsible of the team, which, again, is on firm fiscal ground, to fail to undertake such a project?
Blogger Andrew Taylor wrote an excellent post a couple of weeks back about the strange notion that funding the arts at a time of fiscal austerity might be considered irresponsible, pointing out that arts organizations are workplaces like any other, and employ many millions of Americans whose salaries, benefits, and fiscal stability are as important (and as at risk) as anyone else's. Many of those employees are not artists or performers themselves, but bookkeepers, stagehands, designers, payroll managers, and all manner of other office workers. As Sarah put it when she and I were discussing this earlier today, "Is a carpenter who builds opera sets for a living less of a carpenter than one who builds houses?" Not in my world.
By my count, the Minnesota Orchestra employs nearly as many non-musicians as we do musicians. They're incredible people, as deeply committed to their jobs as I am to mine. And at the end of the week, they never get the chance that I do, to stand on stage and be applauded by thousands of people for their work. And the task of those at the top of our organization is to do everything possible to make our company thrive, even in the worst of times, so as to protect not only my job, but the job of every 9-to-5 (or 7-to-7) worker we employ. It's a scary time, yes, everyone knows that. But we're not going to climb out of this hole by continuing to dig ourselves in.
It's decidedly different this time around, and not only because our orchestra's rise under Osmo's directorship has become something of an old story after five years. The fact is, with the world economy well and truly in the crapper, and everyone wondering how the fallout will affect each of us personally, it's an awkward time to be mounting something as big and flashy as an international orchestral tour. To a lot of folks on the outside, it might even seem insensitive. So why not just stay home and quietly wait for things to perk back up at least a little bit before we go gallivanting off around the globe?
The answer is both complex and simple at the same time. The simple answer is this: tours are planned years in advance, and to call off a tour that is already fully planned and funded would do untold economic damage to our orchestra, to each presenting organization that will be hosting us, to the thousands who have bought tickets, and most importantly, to every individual who works for any organization associated with the tour. As with any business hit by an unexpected wave of misfortune, it's the aftershocks that can do the most damage.
Our orchestra has had a policy in place for a number of years now that says that we do not pay for touring out of our general operating budget, which is the budget that the money we receive from ticket sales, endowment draws, and general contributions goes into. If we decide that a tour is a wise use of our time and resources, the money for that tour must be raised separately from our main budget, and the tour cannot be confirmed until that money is in place. In other words, we would actually hurt our financial position by not touring, since the money that's offered to us to pay for it cannot be used for any other purpose.
There's also an aspect of all this that I think sometimes gets lost in the shuffle when everything we hear on the news suggests that the world is circling the drain and we're all going down together. I thought of it recently when I read of a sharp exchange between a local reporter and an executive with the Minnesota Twins, who were unveiling the design of the multimillion dollar public plaza at their new ballpark in the Warehouse District. The reporter asked whether the Twins didn't think it a bit crass to be trumpeting such a project at a time when people are losing their jobs in other industries. The executive's response was, "Not every company is bankrupt, you know."
The importance of that statement was more or less lost in the ensuing brouhaha over whether this was or was not a slap at the reporter's employer, which is bankrupt. But the truth of the statement is that every company has employees, and every last job in the world is frighteningly valuable right now. For the Twins, a profitable company, to scale back their plans simply because they were worried about appearances would affect not only their company's bottom line, but the jobs of every construction worker who's employed on the project, every individual who works in the team's sales, ticketing, or promotion offices, and every employee of every company that does business with the team. Given that fact, wouldn't it be irresponsible of the team, which, again, is on firm fiscal ground, to fail to undertake such a project?
Blogger Andrew Taylor wrote an excellent post a couple of weeks back about the strange notion that funding the arts at a time of fiscal austerity might be considered irresponsible, pointing out that arts organizations are workplaces like any other, and employ many millions of Americans whose salaries, benefits, and fiscal stability are as important (and as at risk) as anyone else's. Many of those employees are not artists or performers themselves, but bookkeepers, stagehands, designers, payroll managers, and all manner of other office workers. As Sarah put it when she and I were discussing this earlier today, "Is a carpenter who builds opera sets for a living less of a carpenter than one who builds houses?" Not in my world.
By my count, the Minnesota Orchestra employs nearly as many non-musicians as we do musicians. They're incredible people, as deeply committed to their jobs as I am to mine. And at the end of the week, they never get the chance that I do, to stand on stage and be applauded by thousands of people for their work. And the task of those at the top of our organization is to do everything possible to make our company thrive, even in the worst of times, so as to protect not only my job, but the job of every 9-to-5 (or 7-to-7) worker we employ. It's a scary time, yes, everyone knows that. But we're not going to climb out of this hole by continuing to dig ourselves in.
Labels: europe tour 2009, philosophical musings, the business of music, the traveling musician
posted by Sam at
1:40 PM
2 Comments:
Very, VERY well said, Sam. Thank you. I've had similar discussions with some of my co-workers this past week. The world doesn't shut down just because the economy is in ruins. Not everyone is at the edge of disaster...commerce continues...organizations should not change their business models based off perception. The Minnesota Orchestra (and every other business or organization) has a job to do, and this tour is part of it.
I am a firm believer, and have been for some time, that the media (and people's inability to think on their own and use sound judgment and common sense) is at the root of a lot of the problems we are having at the moment. The economy sucks to be sure, but life does go. My employer recently canceled ALL scheduled 2009 employee recognition events merely because of some negatively skewed media reports in the past two weeks. These are hard-working employees that bust their butts every day that earned attendance at these events. Unfortunately the perception is that this is a waste of money...public money, which is crazy.
As far as your tour, it's not as if you guys are going on vacation...looking at the schedule that is in place, you're pretty much going from one location to the next with very very little time in-between...just get there, play the concert and go. I think if people would focus their attention on working hard at the job at hand, whatever that may be, and less on perception and inaccurate information, this recession/depression would not be nearly as bad as it is.
At any rate, I get the fact that this was booked years in advance, and that canceling the events would have a severely negative effect financially both on the MN Orchestra and the presenting organizations...all you can do is do your best to shrug off whatever criticism that comes your way and continue to focus on your mission.
Thanks, Sam, for this post. I'm amazed at how often people view the arts as not employing anyone, and yet, when I'm asked about being a writer, if I weren't published I wouldn't be a legitimate writer in their eyes! And how many people work in publishing? The publishers have staffs of editors, designers, financial departments, etc. They work with literary agents, distributors, production people, i.e. printers, and bookstores. Hello! Artists work!
I agree with Spartacus that the media has a responsibility for affecting/influencing how people perceive what's going on in the world. How they report and how often they report the news has an effect. I've noticed it especially with the stock market in the last few months.
Sam, you guys are going to blow away the European audiences! I wish I could hear you in all the venues but especially in Berlin and Vienna.
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