Text 16958, 82 rader
Skriven 2014-09-13 13:57:00 av NANCY BACKUS (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av MICHAEL LOO
Ärende: Re: institutions 936
============================
-=> Quoting Michael Loo to Nancy Backus on 09-11-14  02:35 <=-

 ML>> audiences more committed to the arts than the norm.
 NB>> Seems to be working well around here...  There's a lot of
 NB>> cooperation between the different arts groups, too.
 ML> Would that that were the case here, where the only one that
 ML> I know of that isn't hated by its competition is the one I
 ML> work for (volunteerly only), and that's just because we
 ML> give money away rather than try to amass it.

Maybe it's just because it's a smaller locality here...?  I remember
vividly still my first impressions of Rochester upon moving here as a
high school senior from the Philly area...  A large city feel, but a
small town feel at the same time...  We could easily walk from the city
limits into downtown Rochester, and yet there were all the amenities of
the big city.  Before, we'd lived in Willow Grove, a northeren suburb of
Philly, and to get to the cultural things in Philly was a big deal,
either a fairly long drive or a train ride...  :)   That might play into
the culture and the relationships here...

 ML>> What's the financial condition of RPO? Educational and
 ML>> other kinds of outreach can produce effects that are
 ML>> wider than originally anticipated, one hopes good ones.
 NB>> Generally pretty good...  I only remember a few years, somewhat widely
 NB>> interspersed over the time we've been here, when things seemed at all
 NB>> particularly tight for them...  There of course have been the leaner
 NB>> years...  But apparently, there are sufficient people of means living
 NB>> in the area that are very committed to the arts, whether music or
 NB>> theater or painting/sculpture/photography/etc...  RPO has a number of
 NB>> endowed chairs, they usually pretty much make their fundraising
 NB>> goals... and attendance and subscriptions generally hold pretty well...
 ML> The BSO (northern one) situation has been precarious for some
 ML> time owing to the drying up of what used to be huge recording
 ML> revenues - it's in a tough situation, as its audiences, though
 ML> more well-heeled than most, are dwindling, and there are other
 ML> younger hungrier arts organizations now competing for the same
 ML> funding. We quit giving it our knee-jerk few thousand a year
 ML> a while ago (I had no objection to this at the time), preferring
 ML> to fund those younger groups, where the bang for the buck was
 ML> perceived to be better. 

I don't know to what extent recording revenues play into the RPO's
finances... they do still make some recordings, I think maybe less than
they have in the past, but I don't know if they've been depending on
them for revenue so much as wanting to preserve certain touchpoints of
their existence..  :)   I'm also not involved with any of the arts
funding groups here, but from the little I see of the "supported by
grants froms" notices, it would appear that there's fairly even funding
being handed out to large and small alike...  Perhaps there's more
sponsorship of smaller groups by larger organizations, such as museums
hosting smaller chamber groups, etc...   :) 

 ML> And in order to keep its New York Yankee-like status in the
 ML> music world, its salaries have had to keep up with the
 ML> Clevelands and Chicagos. Luckily for the orchestras and unluckily
 ML> for the musicians, the numbers have held steady for the last
 ML> quarter century, so what used to be an extremely cushy job now is
 ML> just another ticket into the dwindling middle class.

That might be another factor...  I've had the impression here that the
musicians by and large are firmly middle class, even if it takes having
a teaching studio on the side to maintain it..  ;)  But not that really
cushy job.  For a while, some years ago, I had a number of friends who
were members of the RPO, and while they may have been comfortable, they
really weren't rich...  So, funding to keep the orchestra going might
not have had to be at the level that the BSO would need...  

 NB>> My friend Beth had a
 NB>> Gremlin... an interesting car, to be sure... ;)
 ML> It routinely gets puts on lists of the worst cars in the
 ML> world, mostly compiled by folks who think that Corvettes
 ML> are good cars. 

Suspect at best...  (G)

ttyl         neb

... Come on over for BBQ said Pooh as he eyed Piglet hungrily.

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