Posted by Crozet Duplantier on October 17, 2001 at 00:20:50:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Bad News posted by Matt Good on October 16, 2001 at 19:28:32:
I did not mean to imply that there are not troubles out there. But the times are not good for a lot of people and institutions. Orchestras will not be exempt from this. That doesn't mean that they are going out of business. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is the highest paid orchestra in the country. A $1 million deficit is about 2% of its budget. That means that with a budget of about $50 million, they expect to raise and earn about $49 million. It is bad, but not life-threatening. My own organization, Lyric Opera of Chicago, recently exceeded its fundraising goal for its radio marathon by $42,000. You assume a national trend from reports from various places. (Unfortunately teh success stories don't get reported: when is the last time you heard that an orchestra had a surplus - it happens, believe me) And certainly the fund-raising climate is more difficult since the market declined over a year ago. But a temporarily bad financial picture does not translate into long term dark times. Most of the orchestras to which you refer will have very difficult negotiations for their next contracts. There might be strikes and lockouts, but I doubt seriously that any of these orchestras' existences are threatened.