Klarinet Archive - Posting 000481.txt from 1998/06

From: "Karl Krelove" <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] AFM
Date: Sat, 13 Jun 1998 00:31:34 -0400

On Fri, 12 Jun 1998 18:32:51, Lee Hickling wrote:

>Oh, yeah. Management in any field cares only about the bottom line on the
>quarterly P&L sheet, and the arts are no different...

What, it seems to me, IS different in the arts is that maximizing profit is not a defensible rationale for the decisions or
actions of an arts board of directors. Symphony orchestras aren't normally set up to make money. The rationale we kept
hearing in Philadelphia was that the preservation of the orchestra was at stake. The musicians were in effect being
protected from their own ostensibly reckless and overambitious goals and desires by a board who increasingly see
themselves as the orchestra and the players as hired help. But the board's way of protecting the "integrity" of the
orchestra is to cut its performing and recording activity back, thereby compromising the orchestra's very ability to fulfil its
purpose. The issue here in Philadelphia became whether the orchestra's health should be protected by cutting back on
its activity level (the boards ) or by moving more aggressively to find the funding to maintain the projects (especially
recording) that had become an accepted part of the orchestra's mission (the musicians' view). The central question has
become whether the board supports the orchestra or the orchestra serves some purpose of the board. The irony,
therefore, is that while the bottom line does indeed seem to be the main concern of such boards, the concern is not
driven by a classic profit motive, but rather by a kind of myopic inability to find opportunities for better supporting the
orchestra's purpose. Boards spend their time and energy trying to stay within arbitrary, status-quo budgets instead of
figuring out where to find the resources their orchestras (or other institutions they represent) need to thrive. The latter
function is much more difficult, time-consuming, and perhaps ultimately frustrating. In my own opinion, someone who
lacks the imagination to take that challenge on should stay off the board of an American symphony orchestra.

Karl Krelove

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