In Columbus, They’re Playing Like There’s No Tomorrow

In a press release from February 26, 2008 the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (CSO) Musicians voted to allow a live recording of an upcoming masterworks concert featuring Symphony No. 5 and the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture by Peter Tchaikovsky for Denon, which intends to release it on compact disc. According to the PR, the musicians voted to accept a reduction in payments that would allow the organization to produce the recording "for a tenth of what a normal studio recording of the same program would cost" at the personal request of Music Director Junichi Hirokami. And from the player's perspective it may be one of the CSO's last hurrahs…

According to Douglas Fisher, CSO bassoonist and President of the Central Ohio Federation of Musicians, the Musician's Union the musicians are concerned that the CSO board's proposed financial plan will irreparably erode on the CSO's artistic accomplishments.

Although the Musicians will be paid far less than usual for this recording, we want to memorialize the artistic summit achieved by the CSO, which has taken decades to reach, before it may be destroyed next season by controlling members of the CSO Board and Executive Director Tony Beadle, who are publicly advocating the firing of 22 Musicians at the end of this summer", said Fisher.

If you take the time to read the CSO's proposed financial plan (available from the orchestra's website), it looks as if supporters might have more to fear than just immediate reductions in the level of artistic output. Although the CSO's proposed financial plan predicts that a 25 percent budget reduction will result in a financially stable organization it fails to acknowledge the following dynamic consequences from such aggressive cuts:

• Lack of growth = lack of momentum.
  It is one thing to suggest a reduction in the operating budget when accompanied by an eye on recovery but it is another matter to do so without any plans past implementation. In the case of the CSO's proposed financial plan, there are few indicators as to what the organization plans to do from a strategic sense if the cuts are enacted. There are some vague references to starting an endowment drive as well as (curiously) building a new venue for the orchestra (shades of Miami immediately come to mind) but there is no mention of restoring and cuts. Malaise is not an orchestral organization's friend and just like most sharks, an orchestra needs to move forward or sink.
• Donors/supporters/ticket buyers/potential board members gravitate toward excitement.
  At best, the CSO will experience what they have defined as fiscal stability in the proposed plan for a few seasons. Historically, organizations that have enacted similar plans have discovered that much of the promised initial financial support dries up after a few years because those supporters inevitably move away from the organization to be closer to groups that are delivering a consistently improving product. More to the point, although the proposed financial plan declares that "expanding artistic excellence is at the heart of every symphony orchestra's core mission" and "top-quality artistic output" is a critical component in reaching that goal, the CSO's music director has publicly declared that the proposed downsizing would be "catastrophic."
• Nonprofits compete.
  The proposed financial plan trumpets that the CSO is currently the "flagship performing arts organization in Columbus." However, if the proposed cuts are enacted, this not only moves the CSO out of the number one position, but it sends a clear message to other nonprofit performing arts organizations that the CSO's traditional donor base is up for grabs. In fact, it would be surprising if the previous points didn't conspire to accelerate this consequence, meaning the other performing arts organizations in town which are experiencing a natural growth cycle will use this momentum to woo away current and prospective CSO donors and board members.

The cumulative result from these events is that the organization will come full circle to the point where the financial pressures it sought to relieve are right back within a few seasons. It doesn't take much to see the sort of cyclical pattern instigated by a plan that calls for severe cuts with no details for recovery. Consequently, if the CSO board is expecting local donors to support the plan primarily on the stability it promises, they may be disappointed.

Comments

[Michael Walk]

Drew, it's good that you recognize something many boards and managers don't conceive: that there is no such thing as stasis. Attempts to lower the financial standard of an organization only seem to self-perpetuate. Forward is really the only way to go, and any restructuring plan has to have a growth plan attached in order to have a chance of preventing this downward spiral.