Commentary
Effects of Minnesota Orchestra lockout ripple through the community
By Laurie Greeno and Paula DeCosse
Laurie Greeno has a background in strategic and general management, having just just concluded 20 years as an officer at General Mills. Paula DeCosse has a background in writing and teaching and is a 40-year season subscriber and donor to the Minnesota Orchestra. Greeno and DeCosse are cochairs of Orchestrate Excellence: A Coalition to Support Our Minnesota Orchestra, which describes itself as "concerned citizens who have come together to find ways to assure the high quality of the music that we love."
As the orchestra lockout drags on into its fifth month, the musicians aren't the only ones who are suffering. Junior and senior high school musicians who have been preparing for this year's Young People's competition have lost a chance to earn a scholarship; the competition has been canceled. Some of the schoolchildren looking forward to a concert may miss the only opportunity they will ever have to hear what critics have called "the greatest orchestra in the world."
The ripple effects of the lockout extend beyond schools and beyond the Twin Cities. Of the 350,000 audience members who attend Minnesota Orchestra concerts annually, many had already bought tickets to concerts that have been canceled. Some of these music lovers have held season tickets for more than 50 years. Letters to the editor decrying the lockout come from the four corners of the state — including Bemidji, host city for a scheduled Minnesota Orchestra residency in April, now threatened.
The lockout has been difficult for downtown Minneapolis. The Convention Center was supposed to be the orchestra's performance venue during the renovation of Orchestra Hall. It lost out on $274,000 in revenue last year. If the lockout extends until summer, the city will lose more than $500,000. But the total bill for downtown will be higher. It's estimated that a total of almost $1.25 million for meals and parking has been lost to downtown merchants since the lockout began. According to Meet Minneapolis estimates, visitors who attend classical music concerts spend almost $30 million annually; because of the lockout, this year's revenue will be much less.
The orchestra crisis points to a possible erosion in our state's famed quality of life. Minnesota is regularly named "Most Livable State in the Nation," due in no small part to its strong support for the arts. An excellent orchestra is a key part of making this a livable city, and diminishing it will also make it more difficult for companies to attract top talent. Research has found that for tech workers, after salary, "community quality of life" was the most important factor associated with taking a new job. Without the orchestra, more people may choose to move elsewhere.
In response to the crisis, concerned citizens have come together to form Orchestrate Excellence. More than 1,000 of us now stand together as "a coalition to support our Minnesota Orchestra." We are donors, season subscribers and occasional concertgoers. We are from the Twin Cities and from greater Minnesota. We are members of community orchestras, radio listeners and citizens who understand the importance of the state's largest arts institution. We are 80-year-olds who have lived in Minnesota all our lives, and we are young professionals who could have lived anywhere but have come to the Twin Cities because of its thriving arts community.
All these people are worried about losing a priceless treasure: an orchestra that was founded 110 years ago and has represented the highest artistic standards of our community and our state ever since. We believe that the Minnesota Orchestra is an essential community resource that educates and inspires us by its brilliant performances of great music. We believe that the citizens of our state can and will sustain an artistically excellent orchestra.
Orchestrate Excellence respects the musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra, who bring their deep experience and selfless quest for perfection to every performance. We respect the Minnesota Orchestra's Board, whose members are all volunteers and give generously of their time and personal resources. However, we are independent of both the musicians and the board. We represent the community. We want to provide a positive voice that encourages both the musicians and the board to find a solution to the current impasse — one that assures the future of the world-renowned orchestra Osmo Vanska and the musicians have built.
Working together, we hope to forge a new path forward. All of us, through our taxes, our ticket purchases and our personal gifts, have contributed to the Minnesota Orchestra. This crisis presents a unique opportunity to build a new collaborative model for the way the orchestra operates and the way it engages the community.
We want this orchestra — our artistically excellent orchestra — to continue to represent Minnesota to the nation and to the world, now and for another hundred years.
Comments (10)
We support you 100% and commend your efforts!
Thank you! I strongly agree. I am a subscriber & donor to both the Minnesota Orchestra and the St Paul Chamber Orchestra and remain appalled at the way the boards of both organizations have failed in their responsibilities to the rest of us.
The Minnesota Orchestra residency in Bemidji has been postponed until a much later date. We look forward to having the Orchestra back in Bemidji. On a personal note, I will continue to support the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra and our yard sign (in Bemidji) will remain in its place until the lock out is resolved. This is truly the orchestra of all of Minnesota and the lock out affects the entire state.
as a subscriber to both the Minnesota Orchestra and the SOCO I agree with comments above. I, with friends, spend money for food, parking etc for every concert I attend. I have attended orchestra concerts since college days at Northrop Auditorium and I am appalled at the handling of each of these "jewels" by their managements. Pease end the lock outs now. Many are suffering as a result of senseless refusal to come to a compromise in ending this dispute.
and the musicians who used to have the jobs...playing the stage shows etc have lost their jobs to some of the orchestra players... who have been locked out...it's a real trickle down big fish eats the little fish eats the littler fish problem.
It is 2013. These two groups are irrelevant to 99.9% of Minnesotans. It is a harsh and inconvenient truth.
John Bassett, you must be part of the small percentage that cares about the issue, because if it was irrelevant to you, you wouldn't have bothered posting. And yet you went negative...Looks like someone shilling for the opposition.
Fortunately, Ms. Greeno and Ms. DeCosse don't need your approval to do the right thing. More power to them.
A fine article. There are always two sides to stories like this, but from what little I know management has much to answer for in this situation. If I had the money, I would buy the orchestras, fire the boards, and give stern lectures to both sides (the musicians AND the new boards). Were I one of the musicians, I would not mind having to take a pay cut, IF I knew that management had to take at least the same percentage pay cut.
Every time I see a billboard for the Opera Company I get annoyed at the Minnesota Orchestra for not paying more attention to marketing. Audiences don't dwindle because people aren't interested. Audiences dwindle when they aren't reminded of the opportunity to attend. If orchestra management doesn't believe there is an audience, they should be replaced with people who believe there is and who know how to find it. Parents of children learning to play an instrument are a potential audience. In Boston, the orchestra is advertised on wrappers for paper coffee cups. Constant visibility is key.
When we moved to Minnesota in 1981, one of our first choices were the MO and the SPCO. When we moved to Iowa in 1988, we continued to commute to both orchestras as season ticket holders. I have been teaching in Prague, Czech Republic for several years now, enjoying MANY orchestras in this city. My plans to retire to the TC will certainly be impacted by this tragic failure on the part of the management of both orchestras to listen to the orchestra and the communities deprived by their actions. One moment we are asked to support renovation for Orchestra Hall, the next deprived of the marvelous performances of the MO. Once we were asked to support the building of the Ordway - now denied access to the SPCO. Who determines the management of these orchestras? How do we get new management? Is there any resolution which retains and respects the members of both orchestras? I will never forget Tony Ross's performance with the orchestra of Shostokovich's Cello Concerto or Vanksa raising the orchestra to new heights or dozens of other great performances, never a bad one.
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