And so it goes, Shreveport claims it’s now fiscally responsible by implementing their cuts. However the cuts run deeper than just in financial terms. The musicians probably feel like the they have been on the losing end of a game of Whac-A-Mole after reading final sentence in the article that reported the imposed decision…..
In this Shreveport Times article the title itself contradicts what is happening:
Symphony board to move forward with per-service contracts
I would say that since they had a well established core of 24 musicians that performed hundreds of services every season, I would say that it was moving backwards with per-service contracts!
My biggest problem is with the statement made by Board Chair Margaret Elrod:
The symphony’s recurring financial support is very much appreciated, but the operating costs have increased while overall revenue has not, requiring that the symphony move to the per-service structure so that musicians are paid for the time actually worked (my emphasis)
OK, where is the regret, the gratitude (and apology) to the many musicians who actually moved to the area for one of the core positions, or to the orchestra as a whole for their commitment and effort? There is the fact that the management stopped booking the core players for their regular work in order to set it up this way. Also musicians don’t just pick up their instruments the days they play in an orchestra, there are the hours of practice, what that isn’t work now? These words must really hurt.
So the revenue hasn’t increased, the musicians responded and agreed to a pay freeze which is a concession and a move towards the middle, there didn’t seem to be any move to the middle by the board and management. Was there a new marketing plan, a publicized ticket sales goal, a save the orchestra campaign, all in the name of public awareness to help preserve the growth of their orchestra? It seems the approach was singular: slash and burn the orchestra no matter what.
As we know, it’s almost impossible to grow anything on scorched earth!