This month I found three recent stories that offer opportunities for class discussions.
First, we have an arts organization in budget trouble that looked for short term savings by not paying orchestra members for three weeks. There have been other examples of musicians taking pay cuts to help cover fundraising shortfalls in recent years. However, the long term prospects for the San Antonio Symphony do not seem all that good. More effective marketing and fundraising is somehow going to be the fix for this organization’s declining attendance and donor support. This is a narrative we have heard many times. It remains to be seen if this orchestra will be able to turn around its fortunes.
The BroadwayHD story could make for an interesting conversation in class about how technology is helping expand potential audiences for theatre. A point of discussion could pivot on whether BroadwayHD is expanding the audience base, or is it simply providing an alternative method for current theatre patrons to enjoy viewing a show rather than going to the theatre?
Lastly, the story of the Met Museum’s financial challenges can be a good topic of conversation about strategic thinking, or the lack thereof, by arts organizations. Adding new spaces, which would obviously increase operating expenses, seems to also be resulting in talk of staff reductions and programming cuts.
Key Players Take Hit In Symphony Shortfall
By JACK MORGAN, APR 8, 2016, Texas Public Radio
[Note: Link to the 3:28 radio story is on the webpage]
Musicians and management of the San Antonio Symphony took an unusual step recently to correct a budgetary shortfall. The cuts are part of the symphony’s strategy for becoming financially stable.
David Gross is the President of the San Antonio Symphony, and he says the problem isn’t a new one. The deficit has been growing since 2008. Fundraising, ticket sales and grants just haven’t paid the bills and Gross says he asked everyone involved to help find a solution.
“We entered into talks with the musicians, and ultimately they came back with what they thought was the best way to address what their portion of trying to get us back to where we need to be. And that was the three-week potential layoff.”
http://tpr.org/post/key-players-take-hit-symphony-shortfall?mc_cid=e62c1b5166&mc_eid=1a1932085a
Streaming Service BroadwayHD Bulks Up With ‘Buried Child’ Livestream
Legit Editor, Gordon Cox, Variety, MARCH 28, 2016
BroadwayHD, the stage-centric subscription and on-demand service that launched last year, will take its latest step on the challenging path toward establishing itself as a Netflix for Broadway, with a live stream later this week of the current Off Broadway revival of “Buried Child” starring Ed Harris and Taissa Farmiga.
Although live cinemacasts of stage product have become relatively commonplace with shows originating in London (through the National Theater’s NT Live series) or at the opera (via the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD program), live streams from New York are still novelties. “Buried Child” is only the second, following the livestream of ongoing Off Broadway musical “Daddy Long Legs” last fall.
So the digital dissemination of the New Group production, a well-known Sam Shepard play with a notable cast, stands poised to turn the heads of theater fans who haven’t heard of BroadwayHD, or who weren’t persuaded to give a try when it launched last fall. Viewers can purchase access to the live stream — the equivalent of single-ticket sales — for $9.99; annual subscribers (who shell out a hefty $169.99 for the year) will be able to watch without additional payment, and the capture of “Buried Child” will have a permanent spot in the BroadwayHD library.
NOTE: “Buried Child” closed April 3, 2016.
Metropolitan Museum of Art Plans Job Cuts and Restructuring
By ROBIN POGREBIN, APRIL 21, 2016, New York Times
The last couple of years have been ambitious ones for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Perhaps too ambitious.
Now the museum is acknowledging that it may have overreached and is facing a deficit of $10 million this year, which officials said would almost certainly balloon to as much as $40 million if the Met does not change course and scale back.
The museum opened its new Met Breuer space in the Whitney’s former building on Madison Avenue, which will cost $17 million each year to run. It selected an architect, David Chipperfield, to design its new $600 million wing for modern and contemporary art. And it reached a settlement in part of a long-running legal challenge to its admissions policy, agreeing to call its $25 full-admission charge “suggested” instead of “recommended.”
So the museum is changing course. On Thursday, it announced a 24-month financial restructuring that it said was likely to include staff reductions, slower construction of its new wing and reduced programming.