Making a Positive Difference
As I begin my fifth season as Artistic Director and Conductor of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra (WVSO), I take great joy in reflecting on what our organization has achieved.
My first concert in Charleston was given just four days after September 11, 2001. While many events were canceled in the aftermath of that tragic day, the WVSO filled its role in our community with poise and dignity, providing art which helped us regain our strength as a people and recognize our common purpose.
The economic times following 9/11 have been a challenge for everyone, but especially for the arts community. This coupled with our move to the superlative acoustics of the Clay Center (and a sharp increase in attendant costs) have created special challenges for us, but we have achieved despite these difficult times.
We have gone from a single offering of an educational experience for school children to three weeks of Young Persons Concerts(YPC). Each week is grade-level specific and is fully integrated into curriculum standards of West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky, drawing students from all three states. A teacher from Ohio recently remarked that our YPC offerings far exceeded in quality those that she encountered at a major Ohio orchestra and that she would attend ours exclusively in the future. This is good news for the perception of West Virginia on national scales of quality of life. Additionally, we offer some of the most technologically advanced study guides on CDROM of any orchestra in the world, a program made possible through the generous support of the Segal-Davis Family Foundation.
We have added three Family Concerts, sponsored by City National Bank, given on Saturday mornings. These are ideal one-hour opportunities for parents and grandparents to share the joys and discoveries of concert music with members of their families.
Our ZMM Pops Series has seen a fourth concert added, the annual Holiday Concert, which is an extraordinary celebration of regional talent featuring local performers and locally produced music almost exclusively.
We are featured prominently on a series of West Virginia Public Radio Broadcasts, thanks to the support of Fifth Third Bank. I am gratified by the number of musicians I speak to around the country who have heard these broadcasts and comment favorably on them.
Since arriving in Charleston, there has been a large increase in the number of collaborative activities in which the orchestra engages and we have heard more than 100 auditions of area singers. Recognition of local talent is an important part of the role of a resident cultural institution.
And that is what we are: a Resident Cultural Institution. We are here year round; we provide teachers in our schools and after school for our community's children. We provide an orchestra for Charleston's ballet company. We provide business for our local hotel and restaurant industry. And we put on a product which is of amazingly high quality for a community of any size.
Economic Benefit
What is our economic benefit? Of the $2.9 million annual budget, $1.9 million is spent in the Kanawha Valley. This means that 65 cents of every dollar spent on a ticket is reinvested in the community. It means that 65 cents of every dollar contributed as a charitable donation not only benefits the WVSO but also is reinvested in the local economy.
Contrast this with the economics of guest artists who perform on a single evening in the year. Guest artist fees leave our community at 100 percent. Overheads, paid in addition to the contract fees, such as hotels, per diem, do stay in the community, but the fee itself leaves not only Charleston, but the state. A fine artist such as Doc Severinson takes a fee of around $30,000 back to California (whereas that amount invested in WVSO yields not only several nights of superlative programming but $19,500 to be re-spent here at local businesses).
Outside artists must visit our community and enrich our lives, but we should also realize that guest artists do not serve us in the same way our Resident Cultural Institutions do.
For example, what about educational outreach? How do WVSOs three weeks of YPCs and three family concerts measure, year in and year out, with any single one of these events?
Superstar Soloists
My wife overheard a conversation around town recently in which a woman asked her companion why the WVSO no longer seemed to be able to attract "superstar" soloists, such as Itzhak Perlman.
The fact is, of course, that no orchestra "attracts" superstars. If we pay the fee, they will come.
But, my job is to ask the question: "Who benefits from hiring superstars?" The answer, clearly, is that I do. It is a form of resume building, which is verified by reading any conductor's biography currently in print.
Why doesn't the audience benefit? Because the quality of superstar performance is not measurably as exciting as that of younger, emerging talents. Why doesn't Charleston benefit? Because when the history of our community is written, there will be no mention of these appearances, because they are not unique to our city. What will matter is the achievement of community-based organizations.
There is also a moral issue for me: how much should a guest artist receive on a given evening when compared with what we are paying our highly trained professionals who are the members of our orchestra? Is there a multiplier, a percentage each one of us could feel comfortable with? Much has been made of what a corporate CEO receives in comparison with the workers who labor to actually create the corporation's product. Multipliers as high as 50:1 have been given as examples which are not uncommon (these figures are generally viewed by the public as being excessive). In the case of the WVSO, were we to compare his fee with what a principal player of the WVSO would earn for the same concert, (and remember that Mr. Perlman's concerto performance will last well less than half the performance), we would discover that Mr. Perlman is paid a staggering 425 times that of the local musician.
We must get over our infatuation with celebrity and see it for what it is-a product of marketing and image building and a huge financial drain on the community with no lasting benefit.
Double Performances
Now that we have moved to the Clay Center, the question I most often hear, given the financial challenges all of us who use this facility are facing is, "Why not perform on a single night?"
Here are some attendance figures which may help answer this question. Average attendance at WVSO classics concerts for the 2004-05 season was 2,088. Opening night attendance in the current season was 2 , 241. (Note: of Clay Center events, Doc Severinson drew 1,100. Roberta Flack drew 1 , 250).
We must, therefore, ask ourselves: "Would offering 1,700 seats serve our public and/or fulfill our public trust as a not-for-profit corporation? Should we not increase availability and accessibility rather than choke supply? Are we to run our orchestra like OPEC?"
"Would the more than 900 people who currently choose to attend on Friday actually buy one of the remaining Saturday seats?" The fact is, many people actually like Friday night as a concert night, since it frees the weekend for out of town trips and one is able to switch evenings, thus not losing the value of the ticket, nor the chance to hear great music.
Coda
There are other benefits which the WVSO brings to the table when it comes to considering the impact on the community.
My wife, Margie, has an adult student who is married to a doctor. This doctor was being recruited to Charleston and had various other communities also interested in him. He and his wife were impressed enough with the quality of life as measured by the Kanawha Valley's opportunities for cultural enrichment to move here.
But, would they have moved if our community had presented a string of big name acts at the Civic Center, Municipal Auditorium and Clay Center?
Actually, no. The doctor's wife wanted to participate in the arts, which she does by singing in the WVSO chorus and she wanted to take violin lessons. She can have access to high quality instruction because many musicians, like Margie have moved here because of the WVSO. She wanted to have pride in Charleston's offerings, as opposed to our city looking like any other town's playbill of one-nighters.
We at the WVSO are willing to stand for quality. The WVSO performs at an extraordinary level. This was confirmed for us recently by the visit of the President of the American Symphony Orchestra League, Henry Fogel. He heard our performance of the Brahms Requiem in March of 2004 then, in an unprecedented step, immediately indicated that he wanted to return to hear the orchestra perform Mahler a year later. Since Fogel spent 20 years as CEO of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the days of Georg Solti's tenure, Fogel's interest in hearing us play Mahler were especially pleasing.
I am so pleased to be given the opportunity to share the joys of symphonic music throughout the great state of West Virginia. There is no doubt in my mind that the WVSO is poised to make a significant contribution to a positive image of West Virginia around the world, while it continues to enrich the lives of all West Virginians who choose to spend a part of their lives with us.
