How do you get to Carnegie Hall?….You know the line. The Oregon Symphony has been invited, they have asked the city to help pay for the trip, and the message in the paper? Cue the closing of fire stations, mixed in with a defensive posture and vitriolic comments mostly against the funding and now it is all uphill….it didn’t have to be so….
To disclose I have been lucky enough to conduct at Carnegie Hall with the Buffalo Philharmonic in 2004, I have the 7 foot poster on the wall in my office (which is only 8 foot high), it was an unbelievable experience and I share the sentiment that it is a worthwhile goal for the pilgrimage to be made. However it is soooo expensive, and in “these times” to ask for a large appropriation in order to go can be problematic in the message it sends to a community. In Oregon they are asking for $200,000 from the city of Portland. The problem isn’t the money, it is the way it has been asked for and the message now in the press is that it’s now linked in people’s minds that the money will be given at the expense of basic needs and services. Control of the message has been lost, and attached to the above linked article are many negative comments.
It seems very basic, there is an invite to Carnegie, money is needed, ask the regular donors then ask for government funding. But to avoid the negativity, there needs to be a much more multi faceted approach with an extensive roll out of ideas so that two things are accomplished on the way to the goal. 1. That the community gets behind it and 2. That the he money requested is the final piece of the puzzle not the lead gift. Winning the argument that it’s a no brainer that they should go, will make the ask from local coffers much easier!
Community:
First and foremost the invitation as one of 7 orchestras is exciting, kind of like a “Olympic” feat, so the first message could be focused on the excellence, the pride, the achievement and with that also giving credit to the community (and the state in this case) for believing in the importance of supporting a world class orchestra and placing quality of life and arts education as a high priority etc…In other words Oregon is the winner here, and it is “they” who are really going to Carnegie Hall! To the artistic excellence Charles Noble speaks very eloquently to that and I have found there is always a great response in the community when musicians themselves speak on behalf of an organization. The initial roll out then could be solely focused on the achievement and the excitement, without even mentioning the costs. It takes a lot of money to get our Olympic team to any games, but you don’t hear too many complaints about the cost (who even knows what they are), the point is that we as America is represented and are the winners, that’s what people care about. This concert should be about precisely that, albeit on a much smaller scale.
The real work begins with the inclusion of the community in the actual event. In brief:
- collaborating with city and state level offices that administrate economic development, business and enterprise to use the opportunity to highlight the value of doing business in Oregon and in Portland. This could be anything from a slide show at the concert to a reception pre or post inviting business leaders and corporation CEO’s to present the case for Oregon as a place to do business
- There are never enough good doctors and surgeons, so a group representing the major medical institutions along with representatives from the Health and Human services department could travel with the Orchestra to help with recruitment
- Universities also could be engaged similarly to help with their recruitment
- Set up a live broadcast opportunity for Oregonians to see the event live, perhaps even at the hall selling tickets to raise money for community programming or even splitting proceeds with a local charity
- Tourism i.e The Orchestra is not just going to Carnegie Hall, they are also bringing back people to vacation in Oregon
Bottom line, the more parts of the community engaged who potentially benefit from the concert, the more vocal (and monetary) support will be gained. To the money side of things:
Money:
- Just like a capital campaign, when it goes public usually a significant amount of money has already been raised with the goal of attracting donors by getting them to believe the project will happen, and that their smaller amounts are the final pieces needed i.e they get to put the cherry on top!
- At the same time as the community roll out is occurring an aggressive campaign to obtain the lead gifts could be put into place so that when the final amount needed is advertised, it is shown that they are over half way there. Who knows it could spur more private giving so that if any government funding is needed, it is not that much!
- To the funding sought from the city, there could be a more nuanced approach to try and get appropriations from the state departments of Economic Development, Health and Human Services, Education, Arts and of course Tourism. If it is shown that part of the reason for the trip is to benefit all of these areas of the economy, then asking for help is totally appropriate and will hopefully seen as a worthwhile investment by those departments
So after all of this with the weight of individuals, corporations and institutions both state and local, plus potentially multiple departments within the state government contributing, if there is a final piece of the funding needing to be put in place, the city of Portland is then put in the position of being the final piece, the heroes, the icing on the cake or the aforementioned cherry on the top! Then it becomes a no brainer, very satisfying and a win win. Right now the perception is that the city of Portland is to carry the burden for this to happen (at the expense of local services) and any argument made for any of the above will be seen as defensive. To get the community behind the idea first will drown out any negativity later. I believe that this approach actually will get an orchestra closer to their community by the perception (and in some cases the reality) that the community and the state is going along too!
Finally, this kind of multi faceted approach may accomplish something else much more significant. Right now the focus is to go to Carnegie once. However, if an event like this is inclusive and has many purposes with the result that there is quantifiable data to show that it indeed spurred tourism, investment and recruitment for the city and the state, then it could turn into something that happens every 2 to 4 years….just like the Olympics!
Ron-
I think you are absolutely right on about turning it into a recruitment/interest raising event. Having people go a little in advance of the concert to talk to people and then inviting them to the show at Carnegie Hall to get a taste of Portland and all that it offers is the sort of thing that should be done.
In fact, the city should require members of the symphony to participate in efforts to attract target groups while in NYC and when they return home. It is likely to be beneficial to the symphony in the long run since many of those the city would seek to entice are likely to be potential donors.
Those are all good points Joe, it reminds me of when Nashville went to Carnegie and used that as a catalyst for their concert hall project. It didn’t start out that way but once they got an idea of how much local interest there was in a Carnegie performance, they went above and beyond to maximize positive impact.
Ron – there’s only so much you can control. This story came from an alt weekly reporter combing through the proposed city budget and finding the line item with the $200K for the orchestra. There’s not much you can do after that happens. All along there have been plans to do fundraising specifically for this event, but our orchestra is not one which has big corporate donors just waiting for a tour to sponsor. We’re keeping our heads above water as it is in these difficult times. I wish that you’d taken the time to gauge the situation here before writing your post – you made a lot of assumptions that bear out an ignorance of the facts on the ground here, even if you did make some good points (though couched in terms that would make it seem as though the Oregon Symphony were run by a bunch of bumbling idiots).
Charles
3 things, the overall point is that with the economy being such a sensitive issue, getting ahead of the potentially negative message that will come out by getting everything lined up is crucial to win over public support and something you wrote proves this:
I wish that you’d taken the time to gauge the situation here before writing your post – you made a lot of assumptions that bear out an ignorance of the facts on the ground here
You are quite right about my ignorance because the only facts are from newspaper articles which is where most people get their facts and where the message is delivered and controlled. What I read is what the public reads and what they base their opinions upon. As you pointed out the comments in the article are mostly negative. I was only pointing out that getting ahead of it might have resulted in a different response from the public. I have made that point again and again in posts about Peoria, Philadelphia, Charleston and others too, the problem of losing message control with the roll-out of issues, ideas and contract negotiations it seems is wide spread at every level of our industry. Secondly:
even if you did make some good points (though couched in terms that would make it seem as though the Oregon Symphony were run by a bunch of bumbling idiots).
Not suggesting that bumbling idiots are running it, not at all, I am focusing mainly on that message control is vital in these economic times. Thirdly, this from earlier in your comment:
This story came from an alt weekly reporter combing through the proposed city budget and finding the line item with the $200K for the orchestra. There’s not much you can do after that happens.
You are right “after it happens” there’s not much that can be done, that’s the point, Orchestras lose control of the message when they have to respond rather than being the ones to report, so now it becomes all about defending a position rather than celebrating a golden opportunity. As we all know reporters (even alt weekly ones!) are paid to look for this kind of thing because even a hint of what could be perceived as frivolous government spending is news and a hot button issue these days that helps them sell papers. I am with you, that it isn’t frivolous, that it is a great opportunity and I hope it happens, just that the garnering of community support is going to be much harder now and that we all need to work hard to avoid that from happening.
I didn’t come away with the impression that “the Oregon Symphony [is] run by a bunch of bumbling idiots.” I do think that’s perhaps an overly sensitive reaction to what are some good observations. In fact, I didn’t infer any sort of opinion or subtextual notion about the orchestra’s management or board.
As has been mentioned here elsewhere, you can’t control what the press publishes and what readers comment on and it is sad that orchestras have to continually justify their existence as a public good. I doubt that will change anytime soon but I do hope it changes (as it should) so the value here is planning ahead; one particular item that comes to mind applies to all organizations is whether the organization making and maintaining government affairs connections strong enough to deflect misguided criticism?
You have some excellent ideas. Ron, why are you wasting your time as a conductor. You should really be an orchestra manager!
No, No! The world would miss his conducting far too much! :) If you think he’s a good writer, you should see him in action!!!!
I have seen him in action, though unfortunately it was 10 years ago.
I do plead guilty to being “oversensitive”, my therapist and I will talk about it at my session this week. :-) What I did overlook in my response (largely) was that you do make some good points, and I think they’re largely being done here, but as always, things can be done better. It’s just another learning experience in a long string of learning experiences, I guess.