Mirror, Mirror…

“What if instead…” scenarios are always wishful thinking, at least until someone actually builds a fully functional TARDIS so that we can go back in time and change some small detail that leads to an alternate reality. But here’s mine.

The new Star Trek movie is out, and I haven’t seen it since I’m waiting for an opportunity to take my boys. Yes, I know, I’ve just mixed Doctor Who with Star Trek, but hear me out. This got me thinking about the classic original series Star Trek episode “Mirror, Mirror.” (Trekkies might want to skip ahead to the next paragraph.) For those of you who can’t immediately recite the star date when this episode took place here is the plot in a nutshell- Kirk’s landing party gets accidentally beamed to an alternate reality where the Federation is an evil empire, torture is used to discipline wayward crew, and most famously, Spock has a beard. After the usual shenanigans Kirk has planted the seeds of change in an open-minded alternate Spock and the landing party makes it back to the original Enterprise safely. This episode is a perennial favorite amongst true Trekkies, especially since we don’t find out what happens to that alternate Spock or the evil Federation empire. I like to believe that alternate Spock shaved his beard and started a revolution but I freely admit that I am an idealist at heart.

Three years ago the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Orchestra faced a crossroad in the history of the organization. The Association was faced with twin problems, either of which could severely hamper the long-term stability of the orchestra.

First, there was the matter of the deficit. Two years running the M.O. had blown a major hole in the budget which the Board only managed to fill with last minute appeals and major draws on the foundation. History teaches that the most common scenario taken by orchestras to get out of similar messes almost always include reductions in pay and benefits for their musicians. History also teaches that when your artistic product suffers the people notice, and the people won’t be happy. The people complain and they stop buying tickets, musicians are (more) miserable because it’s harder to make a living, and the combination of those two things can be the beginning of a vicious downward cycle.

Second, there was the matter of the hall. The Minnesota Orchestra is in that enviable position of owning their hall since it was built. I worked in that hall for five years, and although I do like Orchestra Hall, it is by no means my favorite. It needed serious updating, and the entire experience for the patron needed to be upgraded. If the parking sucks, it matters. If there aren’t enough bathrooms for women, it matters. Etc., Etc. History teaches that the odds of someone coming back to catch a future performance of your orchestra drop dramatically if they have a negative customer care experience. History also teaches that raising money for a building can be an easier thing to do than for a general foundation. People like to see their names on a building.

What if, in that mirror/mirror alternate universe, at this point the Board had made a different calculation and asked themselves: “If the deficit and the condition of the hall are our two main weaknesses, what are our two biggest strengths?” The obvious answers was before their eyes and ears: an orchestra that on one of those crazy nights, when it’s all clicking, could make a pretty convincing case that you had just heard the best orchestral concert offered anywhere in the world on that given day. Damn good band, man. Damn good band. And you own your hall. You get to set the schedule, you get to make money off of it, you don’t have to negotiate with the opera or the ballet for scheduling, or scramble to find an alternate venue because Les Miz is coming to town for the umpteenth time and you’ve been evicted for 10 straight weeks. You are in control of your own hall, and that puts you in control of so much more that can be positive for your organization.

What if at this point the Board had then decided to propose a bold plan.  The goal would be to ensure the long-term health of both of their two best assets, the orchestra and the hall. What if they had gone to the musicians and laid it all out. It’s 2010, the country is mired in a depression, the organization’s deficit isn’t getting smaller, and the contract is driving us deep into fiscal red ink. What if they had been completely open and told the musicians that their best chance of ensuring that they could have this wonderful life in the Twin Cities, playing in a fabulous orchestra, and raising a family at a standard of living the envy of most cities in this hemisphere, was for the whole organization to buy into a concerted effort to lobby the people of Minnesota.

What if the Board had suggested two fundraising drives. One drive would be for a special “Artistic Fund” designed primarily to ensure that the orchestra would be able to continue to attract and keep musicians of the highest caliber, and perform with the best conductors and soloists in the world today. The second would be an “Orchestra Hall Upgrade” fund, targeted specifically on this one-time upgrade of the facility. One drive to help upgrade the physical side of the organization, and one to ensure the health of the spiritual side. What if they had said that “We, the Board, think we can do this but we need the musician’s help to make it happen.”

What if the Board had recognized the orchestra as the greatest asset that the Association had and asked, nay, demanded that the musicians get out into the community and help the organization make a case for the Artistic Fund? Yes, musicians are an interesting bunch to deal with, but sit down and listen on one of those nights. Damn good band, man. What if the Board had pledged that they would not go forward with the building remodel until the Artistic Fund had also been fully funded, and conversely that said fund would be equally reliant on having the means to upgrade the concert experience for the public?

From a musician’s point of view I’d be inclined to keep listening. The devil remains in the details, but if you have a honest Board in front of you who has come up with a plan to address these two major concerns, a Board that wants to avoid the pitfalls that other orchestras have fallen into, and a plan with a strong artistic focus the upshot of which would directly improve (and continue to improve) my standard of living? Yeah, I think I’d keep listening.

And what if that scenario had been successful? With the accolades that the orchestra had been garnering, and the fierce civic pride that the people of this area have for their artistic institutions, it might have succeeded. If your product is substandard then that is a much tougher row to hoe. But at your disposal is a great orchestra and a storied tradition. A successful effort would have gone a very long way to ensuring that the Minnesota Orchestra would be considered amongst the best orchestras in the world to hear play and to work for, and that this would remain the case for decades to come. That would have been incredible leadership on the part of the Board of Directors.

But we will never know how that scenario plays out in the alternate mirror/mirror universe. Instead, the Board intentionally identified their greatest asset to be their chief weakness, and they embarked on a path which has led to this madness which threatens to permanently mar everything that has been entrusted to them. The irony is that the Board got it half right. They tackled the problem of funding a hall renovation, now ongoing, that is going to make the patron experience much better than before. What the Board forgot is that without the orchestra all they had was an empty hall with a face lift. In Texas terminology – “All hat and no cattle.”

We have born witness to something that need not and should not have happened. The 100+ years tradition that is the Minnesota Orchestra is unravelling in front of our eyes with a full season wasted, musicians fleeing at an accelerated pace, and the rather unpleasant deadline when the Music Director says Basta! looming on the horizon. A twin fundraising drive of this sort would have been more difficult to achieve but if successful it would have had the chance to positively impact the organization for decades to come. It would have shown great leadership by the Board and a confidence in the artistic future of the organization. Instead the Board choose this different path, somewhat akin to being invited to the Kentucky Derby and deciding not only to change jockeys but to change horses! No trainer in his/her right mind would do that. In Texas terminology – “You ride the horse what brung ya.”

What a opportunity was lost here. What a lesson is to be learned here. The chance to make a permanent positive mark on the cultural landscape disappeared into so much negative rhetoric. Trust in the organization has dissipated like your chances at Three Card Monte. Instead of relaunching for the future this debacle has unfolded with all the grace of a particularly bad Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode. And we will never get to find out if alternate Spock shaved his beard.

The Board of the Minnesota Orchestra managed to achieve one thing – they have boldly gone where no man has gone before. Unfortunately, it was in the wrong direction.