Financial problems have closed several orchestras in mid-size cities in recent years. Many more, including The Florida Orchestra, have slid closer to the abyss.
Our orchestra has announced repeated shortfalls over the years, and each time they do, it's the musicians who seem to suffer the most. In September, after being told again that the orchestra could not meet its contractual obligations, musicians ratified a one-year agreement that cut their pay and benefits by a total of approximately $750,000.
Under the new contract, the annual base salary is $23,870, or $770 a week, for 31 weeks. That's a 15 percent cut in actual pay — 20 percent less than the salary specified in a five-year contract signed three years ago. It's about what they were making 10 years ago, which means with increases in the cost of living, their current pay is actually less than it was a decade ago. Many have been with the orchestra more than 10 years, some more than 30. They receive roughly $1-$1.50 a week over scale for each year of service and no extra compensation for advance training and degrees. Most have to work other jobs or rely on unemployment compensation or public assistance to make ends meet.
If the current trend continues, we could end up with a part-time orchestra of considerably lesser quality or none at all.
But there are a couple of reasons for hope.
One is a clause in the new contract requiring the orchestra to begin an endowment campaign. An endowment generates income and is one of the most basic support tools for large nonprofits. It's something the orchestra leadership should have provided decades ago.
In the past, musicians have negotiated the usual salary, benefits and working conditions, leaving board and management to do their jobs and figure out how to come up with the money to meet their commitment.
That strategy hasn't worked. "They just kept asking the same people for money again and again. They didn't come up with any new ideas," says percussionist David Coash, who has been with the orchestra 26 years. Repeated promises to start an endowment never materialized. Instead, the strategy has been to cut costs, which doesn't solve the problem. In fact, says Coash, cuts in marketing and development budgets and performance seasons can contribute to a downward spiral by decreasing visibility, influence and fundraising efforts. "We have access to information across the country … We know what works, but the board wasn't listening to us."
The other ray of hope is Executive Director Leonard Stone. With more than 30 years' experience in the business, he understands orchestras better than some previous directors and has a good track record. "We were beyond fortunate to get him," says Harold Van Schaik, chair of the musicians' committee. "He has never had to open a contract or cut pay until he got here."
Stone, who has been here four years, says he doesn't know why there has never been a serious endowment drive in the past. He attempted to start one early in his tenure, he says, "but 9-11 broke the impetus in half." Although the orchestra has not yet secured a lead gift, he says, they have structured the campaign and hired an endowment drive director. He and his staff are also working on other ways to grow earned and contributed income, including an organized planned-giving drive — another elementary fundraising tool that should have been in place long ago.
The musicians have more than held up their end of the bargain. They work hard to give performances that receive consistently positive comments from critics, conductors, visiting soloists and audience members. They have made personal sacrifices time and again to keep the doors open and the organization afloat.
Faced with continuing uncertainty and decreasing salaries, many have no choice but to look elsewhere for employment. The best among them will find it, leaving our orchestra and our community the poorer for their absence.
Maybe we don't need an orchestra. We often don't act as if we want one. The Florida Orchestra serves three cities, and not one of them has given it a home. The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center regularly bumps it out of the acoustically superior Carol Morsani Hall to accommodate the more lucrative Broadway series. Next year, the orchestra plans to start playing its Tampa concerts on Mondays to avoid the conflict.
We don't need a football team either, though if I had to say which one costs less and consistently performs better, I'd have to go with the orchestra. And yet we built the Bucs a new palace at astounding public cost when the old one wasn't even paid for. And salary? You'd have to add a couple of zeroes to the musicians' pay to even get close to a typical Buccaneer salary.
I know, I know. Apples and oranges.
Still, even if you don't go to its concerts, the orchestra has an effect on your town. There's the all-important economic impact: It's a glittering lure in the bait box of government seeking to hook new businesses; it creates jobs and gets people to go out and spend money, generating a positive economic impact; and it can draw funds from state and federal sources to the community in the form of grants.
There's also a larger cultural impact of having well-trained professional musicians in our city. They teach classes and private lessons, enriching our cultural literacy and future. They start or play in other musical groups and work with galleries, restaurants, clubs, dancers and other performers, elevating the general musical landscape.
We don't need a professional orchestra of the caliber of The Florida Orchestra, but we're lucky enough to have one. It will be our loss if we allow it to deteriorate in quality or close up shop completely.
The musicians continue to hold up their end of the bargain. Now it's time for the board and the community to hold up theirs and fund an endowment to stabilize the orchestra once and for all.
Contributing Editor Susan F. Edwards can be reached at susan.edwards15@verizon.net.
This article appears in Mar 18-24, 2004.