There’s a terrific article by Brian Wise in the 5/20/2013 edition of WQXR.org that reports on the latest wrinkle in an ongoing lawsuit between composer Nathan Currier and the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

• In 2004, Currier apparently paid the Brooklyn Phil $72,000 to premiere one of his compositions (that’s just under $89k after inflation).
• During the 4/21/04 performance at Avery Fisher Hall, Currier alleges that orchestra officials forced him to edit his piece for length during one of the intermissions because it was going into unbudgeted overtime.
• Currier complied but the orchestra allegedly failed to follow his cuts and edited for length by their own design.
• Currier claims the unauthorized cuts led to scathing reviews and as a result, he sued the orchestra for failing to deliver what it was contracted to provide.

Wise reports much of the suit’s merit hinges on interpretation of work rules related to intermission lengths as stipulated in the Brooklyn Phil’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

For most folks with more than a cursory length of time as an arts administrator, this entire kerfuffle is the type of problem that should have never occurred in the first place. Consequently, it would be surprising to learn if all of this wasn’t the result of some terrible communication (in all directions), lack of interest amidst a fee based earned income gig, and either sloppy CBA language or sloppy adherence to thorough CBA language (or all of the above).

If nothing else, Currier’s lawsuit demonstrates the value of embracing unambiguous language related to CBA work rules. Granted, flexibility is a popular buzzword when talking about master agreements and in some instances, it is the right approach; but it is far from an ideal universal solution.

Make sure you leave some time to read the comments after going over Wise’s article, some of them are a real hoot.

There’s an interesting article by Tom Jacobs in the 5/21/2013 edition of psmag.com which reports on a recent study designed to determine which works have more gravitas when it comes to selling tickets. Overall, it’s a good read but along with the good is some not-so-good that should be more than enough to take everything with a grain of salt.

I haven’t read the report but having crossed paths with similar studies and based on what’s available in the abstract, I’ll go out on a limb and offer up the following.

The article brought to mind an case where an orchestra received some outside consulting from a prestigious business school that studied existing ticket sales data and local metrics with an eye toward improving earned income.

The final report suggested the orchestra was undervaluing its product and the authors recommended sharp price increases.

Anyone care to guess what that course of action actually produced?

In short, increases were applied but the earned income increase forecast never materialized. The real kick in the pants is everyone in the office below the highest pay grade knew that wasn’t the right answer and didn’t want to go in that direction but decisions were made otherwise.

That doesn’t mean the report wasn’t useful but at the same time, it doesn’t mean it was something that should be adopted out of hand. Consequently, you’re probably in a good place if you adopt a similar approach to this recent effort.

It only took one calendar year, but the Palm Beach Symphony (PBS) may be emerging from a season of “living in interesting times” following the public announcement that executive director Michael Finn is leaving his position.

The PBS started making headlines in May, 2012 by making waves over an executive decision to bring in current students and recent graduates from The Juilliard School for concert event and in-school services. The result was a very disgruntled group of rostered musicians who felt like they were getting muscled out of work they believed they were not only capable of performing but entitled to as rostered musicians.

The entire plan fell apart in less than a month when Juilliard backed out of the proposed residency and distanced itself from the entire ordeal.

Barely a week later, additional fireworks erupted between Finn and musicians; this time around, music director Ramon Tebar was involved. This dispute focused on musician allegations that Tebar was going to replace most of them for the following season and as it turns out, that’s exactly what happened.

By December, 2012 the PBS hiring controversy was back in the news following the musicians’ fears coming to fruition with most of them not being hired back for the 2012/13 season. The entire mess ended badly when Finn put his foot down by authorizing the release of a public statement asserting that the dismissed musicians were artistically unfit and since the orchestra wasn’t operating with a collective bargaining agreement that provided any checks and balances in the artistic review process, they were simply going to remove the musicians.

Fast forward six months (and the introduction of a new PBS board president) and an article by Jan Sjostrom in the 5/16/2013 edition of the Palm Beach Daily News reports Finn’s decision to leave based on “philosophical differences.”

Maintaining a labor environment of mutual respect is a prerequisite for stakeholder peace during economically tough times and periods of transition. Consequently, if there’s a lesson buried somewhere in the year long PBS debacle it is this: during good times, an old school decider style approach to stakeholder relationships is risky business; embracing it during tough times is categorically foolish.

The response to last week’s Minnesota Orchestra poll was terrific and it is currently one of Adaptistration’s most popular. Designed to measure respondent’s thoughts on the Minnesota Orchestra Association’s (MOA) near future expectations, stakeholder actions, and music director involvement, the results produced some intriguing data.

Near Future Expectations

Perhaps unsurprisingly, few respondents expected the work stoppage to resolve before the end of summer. So if you’re considering purchasing tickets for any summer events, your best bet is to plan on buying at the door.

Onto the pricklier topic of what will happen if the work stoppage continues into September, there’s no clear majority among respondents on whether or not they think the MOA will attempt to hire replacement musicians. At the same time, the overwhelming majority felt that doing so would be the wrong move.

If nothing else, the vehement blowback from musicians and patrons toward the Louisville Orchestra when they attempted to hire replacement musicians during their recent work stoppage should give the MOA something to consider if that option is being discussed behind closed doors.

At the same time, respondents had a much greater range of thoughts on whether or not the musicians should simply quit and form their own orchestra. Roughly one third of respondents felt they should to one degree or another, a solid third weren’t certain, while the last third thought it was not the right course of action.

Blame Game

Given the level of hostility, it is perhaps unsurprising that readers had strong feelings about whether the MOA’s executive leadership team should stay or go. By and large, respondents felt that the employer was most culpable for the loss of the 2012/13 subscription season.

Nearly two thirds felt the MOA Executive Board and/or President & CEO bore the lion’s share of responsibility while only a handful of respondents felt the musicians were to blame and a slightly higher share thought everyone was equally culpable. Less than one percent felt music director Osmo Vänskä shared any responsibility.

Consequently, the majority of respondents felt the MOA executive committee, negotiating committee, and President & CEO should resign. It’s worth noting, however, that the latter stakeholder garnered the strongest sentiment with a solid 82 percent indicating that he should definitely resign.

All About Osmo

It appears that respondents are prepared for the end of music director Osmo Vänskä’s tenure by September, 2013 although smaller percentages are simply unsure.

What’s intriguing here, however, is the degree of uncertainty on whether or not the MOA will take a proactive approach and dismiss Vänskä before his self imposed resignation deadline arrives. According to respondents, there was a slight tendency to favor the direction of the MOA striking first.

Perhaps the most fascinating result is even though a statistically insignificant number of respondents listed the music director as one of the stakeholders most culpable for the work stoppage; a little more than a third still feel he could be doing more to bring about resolution. Roughly the same ratio feels that there’s not much more he could do.

Conclusions

If nothing else, it seems clear that respondents feel that the best path toward resolution has less to do with changing the game and more to do with changing the people playing.

If the MOA labor dispute were a Western, we would be at the part where someone utters “this town ain’t big enough for the both of us” thereby triggering a last-man standing showdown or one of the main characters packing up and riding off into the sunset.

Apropos to yesterday’s poll about the Minnesota Orchestra Association (MOA), the 5/15/2013 edition of MPR News published an article by Euan Kerr that reports the MOA’s prolonged work stoppage is inflicting hardships on partner institutions within the local Minneapolis performing arts sector.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone and according to Kerr’s article, the Minnesota Chorale appears to be hard hit by the loss of the MOA’s entire season.

“With no resolution to the impasse between the Minnesota Orchestra and its musicians, we have to be able to make the plans that will keep the Minnesota Chorale a viable and vital organization,” [Minnesota Chorale Executive director Bob] Peskin said today.

The entire state of affairs brings to mind a bit from an old Simpsons episode where Bart’s antics have become so destructive that he is pulling down others with him.

The article also reports that both sides in the MOA dispute remain firmly separated as the latest round of potential bargaining sessions have been scrapped.

The musicians blame the MOA leadership for failing to provide requested information and the MOA blames the musicians for requesting information they don’t believe is necessary to conduct negotiations.

The self fulfilling prophecy continues unabated. It reminds me of another pop culture reference, this one coming in the form of a quote from an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation: “When a man is convinced he’s going to die tomorrow, he’ll probably find a way to make it happen.”