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Balancing the Orchestral Check Book
A new study by the Stanford Business School reports that most major symphony orchestras in the U.S. regularly spend more money than they take in, and some dip so far into endowments that they risk their long-term survival. Guests include the author of the study, Robert J. Flanagan, the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of International Labor Economics and Policy Analysis at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Also joining us is Deborah Borda, the president and chief executive of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Weigh in: Would you pay higher ticket prices to ensure the future of your local symphony orchestra?
Stanford report: "American Symphonies Often Spend More Than They Earn"
Robert J. Flanagan's Profile
Los Angeles Philharmonic Web site
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I think you go the title of the report wrong on your web site: I clicked on the link, and the report is titled "American Symphonies Often SPEND More Than They EARN" (emphaisis added).
Orchestras need to think more about cultivating a younger audience. What's going to happen when all of today's donors, many in their 70s and 80s, die off? Young people don't have these ingrained habits of giving $$ to arts organizations.
As a teenager in the 1970s I remember reports of the greying of classical music audiences, and the predictions of the decline of American Symphony orchestras unless they were able to attract younger audiences. 30 years later as I have become one of those greying audience members we continue to hear the same refrain. Symphony Orchestras will most likely survive, but rather than focusing on the age of the audience, they should focus on expanding their programs beyond the traditional war horses that are trotted out year after year. There should also be more of an effort in the schools to promote their music departments, which are usually the areas that are the first to feel the effects of any budget cuts.
The problem is not that orchestras need to cultivate younger audiences, it is that they need to cultivate younger donors. Let's face it, most of the donors to orchestras and large performing arts institutions are not interested in new works. This trickles down to the composers. If no one wants to hear new works, then no one will support them. The establishment shuns anything but the old warhorses, and the public gets nothing new. This in turn trickles down into the everday public and the school system.
In Handel's day, his operas were forgotten ten years after they premiered. It was always new music they were looking for. Tradition will be the downfall of the Classical Music.
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