How does a new Orchestra survive?

[BVD Press]

Dear All,

I am looking for any and all opinions. Really anything you would be appreciated:

I have been asked serve on the board of a relatively new Orchestra in New Hampshire. The orchestra has been around for about 2 years and we have a meeting tomorrow to discuss the future. This is my first meeting with them.

I know the simple answer to surviving is a pile of money, but I am really curious if anyone has any experiences on what has and has not worked for their group? Any ideas that have not been tried, but you would like to try, etc. Really anything you've got is good in my book!

Thanks in advance for any feedback...

[Brian C]

Use Groupon or a similar site to sell low-cost tickets to the public.

Borrow liberally from the movie bar/tavern/restaurant playbook. If comedians can work crowds that are drinking and dining, so can the orchestra.

[BVD Press]

As you have a pretty good idea (from over the years) of my personality, you might already have an idea of my view of "boards".

It might be an "honor" to be asked to serve on an orchestra board (as I have in the past). I found quickly (and surely this must be the case with all "boards" for all types of things) that the stupidest/loudest and/or most politically-connected people on "boards" are those who get their way. Further, "board meetings" - generally - seem to be shams. Most things have been agreed to behind-the-scenes before any "board meetings" occur, whereas any "discussion" at the meetings is viewed as "formalities".

I could not agree with you more and I look at this board and all boards the same way. Not my cup of tea, but I am willing to offer an opinion at least one time. I am guessing you will feel the same way, they can take or leave my opinions. Maybe use some and trash the rest. If nothing else, you are going to get my direct opinion.

[peter birch]

probably by the skin of their teeth for the first 50 years….

[BVD Press]

I agree with you Peter and think this is one of the issues with many groups. They want everything and too fast when you have to take time to establish yourself, etc.

[Dan Schultz]

First and foremost... I think an orchestra, symphony, or symphonic band needs to determine exactly who their audience is and play what their audience wants to hear.

I can't believe that modern audiences are still interested in being deluged with 'the classics'. I'm tired of going to concerts and more-or-less being told what I should like.

Give me 'toe-tappers' over Holst any day. I want to be entertained!

[Rev Rob]

What is the mission of this board, which you are being asked to participate? Are the board members not only willing, but able and committed towards working to fulfill the mission and any goals they have established. Bloke may be justified in his jaded view of boards. They can be easily politically manipulated, which leads to a waste of time and energy. If this board is willing to invest the time and energy to accomplish its mission and support the orchestra - it will be a worthwhile endeavor. If not, it is a waste of your time and energy. Our time and energy is a very valuable and limited commodity; use it for organizations that will effectively honor and value your time and efforts.

Rant over.

[AsiagoCheezBagel]

Take advantage of technology! Have a professional-looking logo for the group. Make sure the orchestra has a functional, frequently updated, easily navigated and good-looking website (I can't tell you how many people have told me they were turned off by a poorly managed website for an orchestra, it frustrates me!). If you're going to use paper advertising, make sure the ads looking professional. In fact, I'm currently embarrassed by a poster hanging around my town for a group I'm playing a concert with. While it's a professional level group, if I didn't know that and all I had to go off of was this poster I saw, I'd assume it was an amateur group, and I certainly wouldn't want to pay money to see them. People nowadays are used to a certain standard of advertising because we're constantly surrounded by professional ads. If things fall sub-par, it's very noticeable and can leave a bad impression.

Use social networking to create concert events and a group page so you can share with as many people as you can. I also agree with whoever said to use discount tickets (like Groupon and LivingSocial). If you can make a promo video to put on YouTube, that is also a plus (a nice video will leave a nice impression!).

I would be willing to bet that there is a person or two in the orchestra that would be willing to help out. You may have a html or Photoshop genius among you - you just have to ask!

Most of this stuff will cost the orchestra little or nothing (especially if you can find volunteers in the orchestra to help). I hope this helps.

PS - I also agree with Rev Rob!

[Michael Bush]

Board service is not for everyone. If it's an honor, it's best for you and the organization to decline it.

Above all you (and each member of the board and staff) *have* to believe fervently in the mission. That covers a multitude of sins, not least by motivating you to do a bunch of things you'd rather not do and wouldn't do if it wasn't so important.

People who hate politics, or who find others' selfish motives and disagreeable opinions intolerable, or who think fundraising is the same as begging, are not often well advised to accept election to a non-profit board.

If you have a board and staff who think nothing could matter more than having a professional orchestra in your corner of the world, and if the resources to pay the bills exist in the communities you serve, then the new orchestra will survive. If it's a dalliance for a critical mass of the board and staff, it won't. Enthusiasm for the mission matters more than anything.

That's not a to-do list, but it is some of the fruit of 23 years in the non-profit world.

[cjk]

Are professional orchestras in the US typically non-profit organizations?

Don't they employ for-profit musicians?

[tubalamb]

I don't know if I have a one-size fits all answer, but I'll give you my experience in our neck of the woods, Bryan.

A good example of a regional orchestra in our area surviving (and actually being profitable) is the Connecticut Virtuosi. It's essentially a chamber orchestra/chamber opera. Their main money-maker is their opera productions, as they travel to different venues around the state to perform for various communities. Flexibility is the key here, as these opera performances have allowed for them to perform Chamber Orchestra concerts free to the public.

They've fostered their connections and have deep ties with the Polish community of New Britain (the conductor is Polish). This has allowed them to connect which the Polish Studies dept at Central Conn State, which in turn has sponsored them to perform in their concert hall a few times a year.

From the financial side, my impression is that they are very "Dave Ramsey" in their approach, meaning they do take on projects that they cannot afford. By growing slowly, they have been able to expand their season and personnel (with a pay raise) over the past few years in this economy, all while being a solvent and money making organization. Not all they money comes from ticket sales, as there are some wealthy donors, and they apply for tons of grants, many of which are based on education initiatives.

If you want to chat about it, give me or Johanna a call.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Are professional orchestras in the US typically non-profit organizations?

Don't they employ for-profit musicians?

I don't think you know what "non-profit organization" means. Pretty much all NPOs pay their workers. They just don't distribute their surplus earnings to owners and/or shareholders.

[glangfur]

Hi Bryan,

I have done extensive work in non-profit arts management. I worked for almost ten years for the Boston Early Music Festival, an exemplary organization that has navigated many tough financial times to maintain a leadership role in the field.

I have also been involved in helping my wife run a chamber music series in Boston - http://www.chameleonarts.org" target="_blank - that has been thriving despite the tough economy, expanding the number of concerts in the last three years and building a steadily growing audience and donor base.

If I can give one succinct piece of advice for any concert-presenting organization, it's this: do great, interesting concerts, programmed by a single person with vision. DO NOT program by committee, trying to guess what will draw audiences.

This has been my wife's formula. Simply put, she programs concerts she would want to hear. Her concerts often include warhorses for sure, because she loves them, but they always include pieces that are less well known, either because they are newer or because they are for odd instrumentations, pieces that she feels illuminate the warhorse in interesting ways. This sounds simple, but it's not often the way it's done. Chameleon's audience has learned to trust her taste, like a truly great gallery or museum curator.

If concerts are programmed that are not like concerts the audience will hear anywhere else, they will come, and they will come back, and they will bring their friends.

This is why you never hear about financial problems for the Los Angeles Philharmonic or San Francisco Symphony, in my opinion. They have traditions of vital, challenging programming.

Best of luck,
Gabe

[Dan Schultz]

Are professional orchestras in the US typically non-profit organizations?

Don't they employ for-profit musicians?

There is nothing to prevent a 501(3)c from having paid help. It's not like it has to be a volunteer organization.

[cjk]

Yes, I know what a non-profit organization is. Yes, I know that non-profit organizations can have employees and that those employees are paid.

Are professional orchestras in the US typically non-profit organizations? If the answer is yes, why is that?

[Alex C]

I talked with a couple of friends of mine earlier this week. Both have master's degrees, one in special ed the other in business or something. Neither one had ever heard the name Prokofieff. They did know Beethoven and Bach but didn't know the difference between them.

I don't think this is an isolated case and that is why orchestras in the US are in trouble. "Classical" music is simply not important.

It has nothing to do with education it has to do with McDonald's, our society is oriented to get it now and a song lasts two minutes, important news is a 15 second sound bite and People magazine passes for in depth reporting. People want to go to a football game and yell or go to a Billy Joel concert and sing along so the peole sitting next to them can't hear the guy they paid to hear.

Knowing that, there is still an audience for "classical" music but the key to survival has little to do with selling tickets. Ticket sales don't even pay for 50% of the expenses. You need ticket sales but it won't pay the bills.

The key to survival is to find donors who want a vehicle to promote whatever their interest is and will pay for it. Often their interest is social/philanthropic but not always. It does not matter what their motivation is as long as they want to display it with a backdrop of 'classical' music.

The main purpose of any board is to raise money. Boards who meddle with the conductor and the musicians and the programming are too busy to raise money and they will kill their ensemble.

Board members have to be content to look like they are responsible for the product, all the time knowing that all they did was put the money together. There's no honor to being on a board, it's all about work and raising money; if you are on a board and not expected to raise money then your orchestra is in trouble.

I have seen groups flounder for years with boards made up of the performers and 'dedicated people' but there was little growth.

Finding donors is especially hard in today's economy. People who have money are into protecting it because the economic future looks so dismal with the present fiscal policies. That's not a political statement, it's a financial one. This is especially true in businesses, profit has almost dried up. (Except banks. Banks are making a killing. Get some insiders and hit up a bank for a donation.)

So, get on the board, find people have more money than you and who are willing to donate, then get them to do the same thing.

End of transmission.

[Alex C]

oops

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Yes, I know what a non-profit organization is. Yes, I know that non-profit organizations can have employees and that those employees are paid.

Are professional orchestras in the US typically non-profit organizations? If the answer is yes, why is that?

Yes, they pretty much all are. US orchestras generally don't have owners and/or stockholders.

The most obvious answer as to "why" is that non-profit organizations are eligible for a large variety of grants that for-profits don't qualify for.

I'm not sure what you're getting at...would it be somehow "better" if US orchestras were for-profit?

[olaness]

Car dealers make pretty good "headline" donors. Let them park their fanciest car (Lincoln whatever / Cadillac whatever / BMW whatever / Mercedes whatever / etc.) right outside the main entrance to the concert with spotlights on it. Try to encourage board members and orchestra members (if not their fancy new cars, some of their decent/affordable trade-ins) to buy cars from that dealership. Again, give them back something "real" in exchange for their substantial support.

Bloke has something there. I have for the past five years or so played for a scratch group that gets together once or twice a year to play a concert actually inside a car dealership. They get all the cars outside (place the nicest ones by the door, obviously) and replace them with chairs. Rubbish acoustics, but the punters do come. And I do believe the dealership puts up a fair amount of the money for the gigs.

Another idea that I have (so far unsuccessfully) tried to plug to various orchestras and promoters is to pitch the concerts differently. Having something more of a jazz club type of atmosphere at a classical concert could be a good USP for a new group. As in, having tables with chairs around them for the audience as opposed to the usual way of having them all in neat lines facing the orchestra reverently. An additional bonus to the more relaxed atmosphere this would generate, you could earn more money by selling drinks and snacks to the audience.

Ola

[J.c. Sherman]

Are professional orchestras in the US typically non-profit organizations?

Don't they employ for-profit musicians?

Typically, yes. And yes. But Non-profit doesn't mean no profit... means that profit is invested into the organization rather than shareholders. The Shareholders are the community, held in trust by the board.

Why are they non-profit? Typically, and this is a sadness on many levels, because they cannot operate successfully as for-profit ventures. There are interesting exceptions which may make some cringe; Andre Rieu and others... and why? They give an audience a refined product that is marketable and interesting to a wide audience.

This is not often the mission of a modern "classical" (or even POPS) orchestra. If said organizations charge what it costs to pay professional musicians and the entity as a whole, they typically find they have an astronomical ticket price vs. the number of seats they can sell. They can't fill stadiums, and concert halls have a finite number of seats and orchestras have a finite number of patrons, often less than that capacity.

Gabe is right on all accounts; I've also been in non-profit orchestra work for years as well... and he's smarter than me There needs to be a unique product.

A board doesn't have to be a BS organization. It shouldn't be dragged down by minutia and attempt to micromanage; I've seen disastrous consequences several times by boards so driven.

"A committee is a life form with six or more legs and no brain" - Lazarus Long/Robert Heinlein. Often true, but if they keep their mission and artistic vision as a board clear - supporting the mission financially and with good governance - then they can be useful and successful.

J.c.S.