An overview of recent media coverage shows that it is a rare orchestra that's not struggling with considerable deficits (Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, among others), and many smaller ensembles have found themselves on the precipice of bankruptcy (Toronto, San Jose, Calgary). The reasons are numerous: endowments have lost value; foundations are tightening their belts; corporate donors on whom you could count in flush times are suddenly looking at dwindling revenue.
State spending for the arts has been particularly cut, following years of growth, according to the advocacy group Americans for the Arts. The Associated Press reports that funding has been cut 62 percent in Massachusetts, while other states are looking at reductions of as much as 40 percent.
Nonprofit foundations that fund the arts have also been hit, in some cases substantially. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, for example, made grants of more than $15 million to the arts in 2001. This year, it's only expected to be about $5 million. In early October, the New York Times reported that philanthropists Alberto W. Vilar and Ted Turner are having trouble keeping their charitable commitments, echoing similar revelations by less prominent donors.
One case that particularly showed how bad things were was the Kirov Opera's fall production of War and Peace in Los Angeles. After the budget unexpectedly increased by some $600,000, the Los Angeles Opera went to Vilar, the project's primary sponsor, and asked for help. He turned it down. As a result the Opera was forced to replace War and Peace with the Kirov's production of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk opening Oct. 23.
Big Orchestras face Big Deficits
The most surprising budget shortfalls have occured among blue-chip orchestras. The Cleveland Orchestra is carrying its first deficit in nine years, of $1.3 million, writes Don Rosenberg in The Plain Dealer. Accordingly, the orchestra has cut back on its national broadcasts, cancelled its chamber series, instituted a 12-month salary freeze for staff members, and a 10 percent salary cut for music director Franz Welser-Möst and executive director Tom Morris.
Similarly, Henry Fogel, the Chicago Symphony's outgoing president, has revealed that the orchestra will close out fiscal 2002 with a loss of $6.1 million on a budget of $59.6 million, reports the Chicago Tribune. "While disappointed to end the year in the red, Fogel repeated a vow he made earlier this year that he intends to leave the CSO with a balanced budget at the end of fiscal 2003."
The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra has lost nearly $1.1 million this season, a deficit it blamed on the sour economy and last year's terrorist attacks. Officials at the orchestra said that ticket sales did not return to normal levels until about four months after the Sept. 11 attacks, and a fall subscriber drive, which typically brings in $900,000, yielded no money in the 2001-02 season. "I'm very concerned but I'm not panicked," orchestra board president Victor Parsonnet told the Newark Star-Ledger. "My mood goes up and down with the market these days."
And in Houston, home base to Enron, and where tropical storm Allison ravaged Jones Hall last year, the Houston Symphony is running a deficit. "After several years of surpluses, the orchestra reverted to its historical pattern in the 2001-2002 season, posting a deficit of $1.6 million. The budget was $22.5 million," writes Charles Ward in the Houston Chronicle.
Opera Houses Tighten Belts
Opera houses--usually a bright spot in the classical-music world--have also run in the red. At the Atlanta Opera, both corporate contributions and subscription sales have been off, amounting to a deficit of some $800,000.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the San Francisco Opera finished the last fiscal year with its biggest deficit in ten years--$7.7 million on an annual budget of $60 million. This comes on the heels of the rave reviews for its production of Messiaen's St. François d'Assise, President Karl Mills tells the Chronicle: "The things we're doing this year are much more expensive. We think the added rehearsal time shows in the final product, but ultimately the community will need to say, 'We see the results and we're willing to pay for that.'"
Nor are the current difficulties limited to the U.S. In Canada--where subsidies provide an added layer of support not enjoyed by American cultural organizations--the Calgary Philharmonic recently filed for bankruptsy protection and temporarily suspended concerts.
Similarly, an article about the Edmonton Symphony notes that senior staff are said to be job hunting as "the ESO has lost $1.2 million over the last two years and currently labors under an accumulated deficit of about $800,000."
Changing Ticket Sales Patterns
In broader terms, the very nature of ticket sales is changing. The New York Times reports a gradual turn away from subscription sales and toward single ticket, impulse purchases. "People's short-term buying habits have made revenue unpredictable and precarious," writes Robin Pogrebin. Without that subscription revenue in the bank ahead of time, performing arts organizations are rethinking the way they do business, including how they plan their seasons. "Whatever the cause, the bottom is falling out of the way performing arts organizations do business."
Still, the same article points to some hopeful side effects. Organizations are learning to space out performances to allow for better word of mouth; many are also trying an earlier curtain time. In effect, more seats are being sold--five million more in the last decade for American symphony orchestras--though "for shorter series and on shorter notice."
So what to make of this bout of bad news? Death throes or labor pains? While people have moved past a tendency to cocoon after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, some arts executives predict that a war with Iraq would revive that response. Nonetheless, one hopes that the industry's current troubles are cyclical, and as economic and political events make a turn for the better, so will classical music. If anything, the current challenges will force many legendarily conservative organizations to think about their roles in more imaginative, unconventional terms. They simply may have no choice.