Pollstar: “Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra musicians are exceptional artists and deserve every dollar and every benefit we can afford to offer,” said Melia Tourangeau, who took over as symphony president and CEO last year. “At the same time, we must squarely confront the very real financial crisis that we are facing.”
Tourangeau said management’s demands are part of a “five-year growth model to sustainability.” But the need for immediate cuts is necessary because of a recent financial assessment that showed the orchestra “would run out of cash and have to close the doors in May/June 2017,” board chair Devin McGranahan said.
4 comments:
I actually passed by the symphony protestors when I was in the Cultural District this past Sunday. At least then, there wasn't a big group of people, but musicians and their children were covering the block outside of the symphony. They also started playing music in the evening. This article laid out some really good reasons for the protests, like job and pay cuts, but it also sounds like the Symphony is in serious trouble, a 20 million dollar debt problem to be exact. The unusual thing is that ticket sales and donations have increased in the past few years, but executives still insist that cuts must be made or the institution will close by the Summer of 2017. Hopefully the strike will be resolved, but as it continues I hope to see more information on the economic problems facing the symphony and the role of the cultural trust through it all.
For a city that claims to be one of the fastest-growing havens for artists in the country, these actions by the Symphony are certainly worth protesting. a 15% pay cut for the musicians is more than sizable, and I wonder why, when they are the biggest symphony in the Burgh, why they are insisting on cutting the pay of musicians. You want your artists to stay in the city and feel wanted, not feel actively pushed out. Now, I understand that there are serious debt issues for the symphony, but I wonder if they aren't exaggerating those issues a little bit so that they don't come off in the wrong. If they're cutting pays to avoid closing down completely, it comes off as more heroic than if they were cutting pays just to save money. Now, freezing pensions and switching them into 401(k)s doesn't seem like the most irrational move, especially since it won't affect the musicians who have been there the longest, but I can see why people who were hired on certain pretenses wouldn't agree to these relatively harsh terms. However, one of the terms also involves potentially major staff cuts, so how can any members of the staff agree to this if any of their jobs may be cut at any time? Overall, I think if the symphony lightened the terms and didn't threaten to cut jobs, this wouldn't be as much of a contentious point.
If the problem is ticket sales and funding, and not an issue in how they handle finances, this is very sad. The symphony, like many of the other arts is struggling to stay alive. It's hard to attract young people to a night at the symphony. And not for a lack of trying mind you, with the Harry Potter music night, and last year's Pokemon performances. But it's still hard. I am a young person who loves movie scores and classical musical, but have I made the time and spent the money to see Pittsburgh's symphony? No. And that's part of the problem. I'm busy and when I'm free, the symphony isn't really on my mind.
And this problem is obviously having an impact on the musicians, themselves. I would strike, too. That's a devestating pay cut. As an aside, I had no idea musicians in the symphony made 6 figure incomes, good for them. I think this must be a problem of ticket sales, and something else going on in the Symphony. Couldn't they cut elsewhere, or find any other solution. I hope they find the money, because losing musicians and closing their doors would be a travesty to the community.
This is a huge blow to Pittsburgh. I understand financially difficult times, but cutting pay by 15% and freezing pensions? How could the musicians not strike? I’m not sure how something like this could get this far. I have seen and heard a lot of advertisements for the Pittsburgh Symphony and have wanted to go, but the time and ticket prices are bit too much for me. One of the issues that I see with symphonies is that people in my generation seem less likely to go to the symphony to see classical programming. From the ads that I’ve witnessed about the Pittsburgh Symphony, it seems like that have a good mix of classical and contemporary programming (including the John Williams, which I wanted to go see). Having more programming like this might make people more likely to go to the symphony. Though my generation isn’t likely to go for other reasons (like income), having programming that they are more likely to relate to will make them want to go to the symphony more. As much as I enjoy theater with new technology and glitz, glimmer, and fancy tricks, we can’t let other performances – like ballet and symphonies – die out because they seem outdated.
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