Tag Archive for 'arts organizations'

Make it Everyone’s Orchestra!

Published
by
dtclarinet
on July 15, 2008
in Behind the Scenes, Columbus Cultural Politics, Our Supporters and columbus symphony orchestra
. 0 Comments

I excerpted the following from a letter posted on Symphony Strong by Tim Veach, Artistic Director Columbus Dance Theatre. He proposes the heretical idea of a culture tax for Columbus. When you think about the numbers: small tax of $50/year/household (which includes free concerts) produces a vibrant, thriving downtown which draws corporations to Columbus; everyone wins, even capitalists!

Culture is not a luxury. It is vital to the economic and creative health of a major urban economy. The failure of a community’s cultural institutions signals a regressive economic environment hostile to future growth and economic development. Vital economies are creative ones.

In response to this economic and cultural emergency I offer a proposal for Columbus.

The entire budget of the major (organizations with budgets exceeding 1 million dollars annually) arts organizations should be funded directly through a minimal tax, The Franklin County Culture Tax. Using U.S. Census Bureau statistics, if the adult population of Franklin County paid an average of $50 per year this would create an annual allocation of $38 million dollars for these major institutions.

What is the direct benefit to county residents? All performances and admissions would be free to Franklin county residents. This operational underpinning would then allow these cultural institutions to raise money for their endowments – something that has eluded all of the major organizations as they must spend the bulk of their contributed revenue on general operations.

Funds could be monitored through the Greater Columbus Arts Council who would use their current quality control measures to guarantee the judicious management of the public’s money.

A peripheral benefit of this program would be the freeing of significant funds at GCAC that currently go to the major institutions in the city. This money could then sustain the smaller cultural organizations and attractions in town also enabling them to offer their programming at no cost to county residents. Currently GCAC is funded by a portion of the Hotel/Motel tax. As of today, Franklin County residents are paying nothing to sustain their local arts organizations, unless, of course, you are living in a hotel.

This creative solution to our current arts funding dilemma will undoubtedly be met by an onslaught of naysayers. That is the nature of democracy. We debate and work together on creative solutions to better our communities. This will take work. Creation is hard. Destruction is easy. Let us not take the easy path.

I call upon Mayor Coleman and the members of City Council to offer temporary assistance from the city to guarantee the immediate survival of the CSO – an organization whose presence brings cultural and economic gravitas to the heart of our city. I then offer a plea to our elected leaders to consider this proposal or soon we could be a city without a voice.

Tim Veach Artistic Director Columbus Dance Theatre

Dispatch- Pravda of Columbus Rich

Published
by
dtclarinet
on May 11, 2008
in Off the Record
. 2 Comments

Today’s Dispatch editorial is nothing short of blatant propaganda. The motivation for such deceptive rhetoric may never be known. But the article betrays a caustic intent to destroy the Columbus Symphony and replace it with cheap, low quality players. I will attempt to interpret the hidden truth behind the propaganda.

Throughout the article, the use of the word “union” instead of “musicians elected representatives” attempts to con the public into believing our union controls us and inflicts their own twisted agenda. Nothing could be more false.

The Columbus Symphony Orchestra is at a crossroads that will determine whether it continues or folds. The outcome is in the hands of the musicians union.

The second sentence is an outright lie. The outcome is entirely in the hands of the board, which has refused to negotiate a fair contract with the musicians or with the help of a mediator.

If its members continue to ignore financial reality, the symphony will fold, probably as of June 1.

The board and management’s intentional sabotage of the institution for the past three years has resulted in the present crisis. They are to blame if the Symphony folds.

Over the years, musicians negotiated for wages and benefits that now far exceed the resources available to the symphony’s board of trustees. Operating deficits have been sizable for at least four years, growing to a record $2.3 million for the 2006-07 season. For next year, projections show the symphony with a $3 million shortfall in its $12.5 million budget.

The musicians have negotiated fair contracts which barely exceed inflation. We took pay cuts 3 years ago. Operating deficits are normal for arts organizations. Lack of effective planning caused increasing deficits.

The board understands that this can’t continue and has adopted a fiscally responsible plan to provide long-term viability.

The orchestra’s revenues come from ticket sales and the generosity of donors. The board has determined that the symphony can pay its bills only by living within a $9.5 million annual budget.

The boards failures can be satisfactorily assuaged by gutting the musician’s salaries.

To reduce spending by that much, it has made two proposals to the musicians. One would reduce the number of musicians and the length of the performance season. The other would retain all musicians, but at significantly lower salaries.

Two financially identical and equally unacceptable proposals in effect covered the minimum legal requirement to be able to claim to have “negotiated”.

The union has rejected both proposals and offered no meaningful alternative.

The MUSICIANS rejected two identically insulting and unlivable wage and/or job cuts and offered a half million dollar pay cut to begin talks.

The union disingenuously accuses the board of being derelict in its duty to seek out more donations, but the board is realistic in its estimates of what the symphony can expect from its benefactors. If anything, the refusal of musicians to recognize financial reality discourages donations because it undermines the confidence of current and prospective donors that the symphony is a sound investment.

The word disingenuously means “lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity; falsely or hypocritically ingenuous; insincere”. Perhaps the editors need a good dictionary. The musicians have sincerely attempted to communicate, with frankness and candor, the dismal failure of the current board and management to effectively run the organization. But Pravda (read Dispatch) filtered out any truth of substance to avoid confusing the public.

The musicians should stop focusing on blame and start dealing with the facts. Business as it has been conducted in the past no longer is an option.

Read: The musicians should stop nagging the city about the truth of the situation and just play good doggy and beg for the bone. The board’s catastrophic failures are well protected by the Pravda (Dispatch) of the Politburo (the partnership of rich and powerful) of Columbus.

Though many lovers of symphonic music see cultural doom if the symphony folds, the loss would not necessarily mean the end of orchestral music in Columbus.

There is a passionate local audience for the art form, and the symphony board and civic leaders will look for other ways to satisfy the demand. The music need not die.

Condescension drips from those words. Fear not, Columbus, your fearless and tireless elite will not fail you. You are too stupid to know quality when you see it. We will give you what we deem is acceptable.

Whether this becomes necessary is up to the musicians. If they continue to dig in their heels, they will have no one but themselves to blame when the symphony is no more.

Yes, stupid Columbus, we tell you what the truth is and you eat it up.

Nasty, dirty union musicians just don’t get it!