Building For The Future

This is going to be a delicately written post, for a lot of reasons. Anytime politics and the arts start to get mixed up with each other, there seems to be a better than even chance that someone is going to start shouting at someone else, and the last thing we want is for that to happen here. But I wanted to draw your attention to a major project that the Minnesota Orchestra is preparing to undertake, and offer up some ways you could help us out if you felt like it.

If you follow the Twin Cities' arts scene closely, you've probably read something about a proposed renovation of Orchestra Hall that's been in the works for years now. You may even remember when the (decidedly preliminary) plan was for this to be a truly gargantuan, $100-million undertaking, and people were excitedly throwing out ambitious ideas from a full-scale restaurant in the lobby to a condo tower on top of the hall.

That, of course, was in the days when the American economy looked unstoppable, and huge cultural construction projects were popping up all over the Twin Cities, and for that matter, across the country. Today, as everyone knows all too well, things are very, very different, and the folks in charge of our organization have known for some time that we would need to significantly scale back our plans for the venue that houses our orchestra, our patrons, and our staff if we wanted the dream of a better Orchestra Hall to come to fruition.

Everyone involved knew immediately that, when we began to talk about what absolutely has to change to make Orchestra Hall a truly functional and welcoming 21st-century venue, we would have to focus primarily on the spaces that we musicians are almost never in. To put a finer point on it: our concert hall seats 2,450 people. Our lobby, on the other hand, can comfortably hold about 800. That's not a good situation for anyone trying to find a bathroom, buy a drink at intermission, or even just have a nice conversation before or after the show.

Secondly, as much as we all love the interior of our acoustically superior hall, it was built in the early 1970s, and technology has come a long way since then, to put it mildly. We have one of the very best stage crews in the business, but they are frustrated every day by how difficult it is to stage the simplest of events (especially Young People's Concerts, which tend to involve elaborate staging and amplification) with the sound, light, and audio/video equipment we have available. And speaking of education, the concerts we play for kids have become a hugely important part of our mission as an orchestra, and the renovation plans include the addition of more flexible and welcoming spaces for children to experience live music. As someone who spends a lot of hours playing the award-winning WAMSO Kinder Konzerts for the pre-K set, I can't wait for the day when we can give those kids a truly first-class place to visit.

Now, over the next few weeks, you're likely going to be seeing news about our plans start popping up again in the local press, because the legislature is about to open its session, and begin considering what capital projects to include in this year's bonding bill. For cultural organizations, a bonding request is not something you approach lightly. No one wants to be seen asking the public to foot the cost of a project that doesn't already have significant measurable public support. And no one needs to be told that money is tight everywhere right now.

Still, with construction costs going nowhere but up, and nearly 2/3 of the cost of our scaled-back renovation already pledged from private individuals and corporate supporters, we're taking our case to the legislature and Governor Pawlenty this session, in an effort not only to better serve the hundreds of thousands who come through our doors every season, but also to create hundreds of construction jobs at a time when our state desperately needs them. The amount we're asking for isn't small, but it is, I believe, responsible, and promises a huge return on investment.

Here's where you come in. If this is something that interests you, and you'd like to help us out by showing your support for the Orchestra Hall renovation project, we've created a special corner of our web site which contains a lot more information, answers to a lot of questions about what we're planning and why we're planning it now, and even an e-mail list you can join to get updates on the bonding process. Essentially, this is a way for you to let those who will hold the fate of this project in their hands know that you care about the Minnesota Orchestra and its continued vitality.

Make no mistake: the folks at the legislature and in the governor's office are going to have to make a lot of very tough decisions in the 2010 session. And when you ask people in government how they make calls like these, they tell you that, first and foremost, they try to find out how their constituents feel, and where their priorities lie.

We know for a fact (in fact, those of us in the orchestra brag about it regularly to our friends who work in other US cities) that the people of Minneapolis-St. Paul are second to none in their passionate support for the arts and for live music in particular. Our audiences are among the most enthusiastic and diverse that you'll find anywhere, and I love the fact that, on any given night, I can look out into the crowd at Orchestra Hall and see a middle-aged guy in a suit seated next to a college student who looks like he's going duck hunting. It's that kind of engagement from all corners of the community that makes Minnesota such an incredible place to live and work. I wouldn't trade it for anything, and I'm guessing that most of you wouldn't, either.

So if you'd like to help support our Building For The Future project, please take a moment to click over to the site and sign up to be an advocate for Orchestra Hall. We need all the help we can get, and hopefully, we'll be able to return the favor several times over in the next few years...