Back in a time when I was lucky to get five views a day, I wrote an essay that I hoped would be a sort of thesis statement for everything that would follow. Since many of you are interested in hearing a bit about why or how I was drawn to blogging, I thought I’d share the link. Given everything that’s transpired since, it’s a bit disorienting – in a good way, I think – maybe – to read again.

Indulgent Claptrap: or, how this blog came to be

I wish I could tell my self of two years ago how many lovely, lovely people I’d meet over the course of this project. Then again, I know I wouldn’t believe it.

I hope to spend many more years in y’all’s company. Thank you for being so generous with your attention and your love. If there’s anything I can do for you, let me know.

xx

Is it true you are asking musicians to accept 1983-level salaries?

That is not the case. In 1983, Minnesota Orchestra musicians earned $33,000 a year, and health care and pension costs were more modest, manageable expenses.

Today, we are offering an average annual salary of $89,000 per musician in addition to a benefit package that is far more generous than that of the average professional, totaling $30,000.

I don’t comb the Minnesota Orchestra website every day anymore, so I’m not positive when this was put up, but I’m guessing it came about after violist Sam Bergman’s impassioned speech at the Bruckner/Mozart concert, and the musicians’ full-page ad last weekend in the Strib.

The bankers (may I repeat, the BANKERS) (the ~FINANCIERS~, if you will) in charge at the Minnesota Orchestra might be interested to know that there’s a thing called “inflation.” It even has a Wikipedia page, so you know it’s real.

Inflation. Turns out, it checks out.

Of course inflation is a relatively new discovery, so I’m not sure if the heads of Wells Fargo or US Bancorp have learned about it yet. But independent sources have confirmed to me that it does indeed exist. Even more shockingly, there are now newfangled calculators on the tubes of the Internet that allow the peasant patrons of the Minnesota Orchestra to effortlessly run complicated equations on the subject.

Jon Campbell and Richard Davis: “INFLATION? WHAT IS THIS WITCHERY? WHY, THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING WE EVER KNEW ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL MARKETS!” (Also, yeah, I haven’t gotten around to uninstalling Windows Messenger. Sue me.)

As you can see above, according to usinflationcalculator.com, something that cost $33,000 in 1983 would cost $77,123.58 in 2013. The Minnesota Orchestra’s proposed base salary is $78,000. As my luthier always says, CLOSE ENOUGH FOR JAZZ.

And you know what? Sam even mentioned the i-word in his fricking speech!

Under their plan, the base salary of a Minnesota Orchestra musician would plummet, overnight, to a figure that, adjusted for inflation, equates to what our predecessors were making in 1983.

Since Sam is a terrible awful no-good communicator who loves crafting complicated indecipherable sentence structures impossible for anyone to understand or parse, let me break that down into more easily digestible terms for ya.

• a figure that, adjusted for inflation
• a figure that, ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION
• a figure that, ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION

Hey, MOA! You want to bring salaries down to 1983 levels? Then grow a pair and own it.

In the meantime, the board clearly thinks we audience members have the intellectual capacity of a box of rocks. So kudos, Minnesota Orchestra audiences. Michael Henson, Jon Campbell, and Richard Davis would like to grant you the highly coveted “Most Idiotic Audience In The Known Universe” award. Where do you want to display yours? I’m putting mine on the shelf above my toilet. It’ll go very well with something else that is regularly found in that room.

*flush*

You are now entering a dimension not of sight or of sound but of mind. (Seriously, there’s no sound. The concerts are canceled.)

First off, the MOA canceled the rest of the season today. (No surprise there; we were all expecting it.) Here’s the truly bizarre press release making the announcement.

Second, the MOA has offered dates to talk with musicians in late May. Absent the introduction of a new variable into the equation, I’m not sure what there is to talk about…but whatever.

Third, they’ve scheduled three new concerts that apparently aren’t Summerfest, but are in the summer. These new concerts have no title (go, marketing team!), so I will quote the MOA’s press release and call it “The Summer Lineup.” In a totally classy move, tickets are $45 apiece, general admission, thereby alienating poor students like me even further. Hip hip hooray; good on you, MOA. (At their concerts, musicians have always made sure there’s a $20 price-point, which is greatly appreciated.)

Fourth, The Summer Lineup is just fricking bizarre. There’s no overarching theme to it, besides too much Rachmaninoff. (It’s “The Excess of Rachmaninoff Festival,” everybody! Woo!) The first program is the Enigma Variations, The Fountains of Rome, and Rachmaninoff third piano concerto on July 20 and 21 – the second is the 2012-13 season finale program of Sibelius and Dvorak rescheduled to July 26 and 27 – and the third is Prokofiev 7, Rachmaninoff second piano concerto, and Stravinsky on August 2 and 3. The MOA doesn’t make clear if this is Summerfest, or a replacement for Summerfest, or if they once had a Summerfest scheduled but have now canceled it, or if this was going to be their Summerfest all along, or in general what the actual living freaking crap. Why three concerts? Why this particular repertoire? Why these particular soloists? Who knows? It’s almost…like it was all thrown together willy-nilly at the last minute and nobody actually believes the concerts will take place!

In one indication they kinda sorta maybe care about Carnegie (or at least want to give the impression they care about Carnegie), they’ve retained the concert with the Carnegie rep on it…just moved it from late May to late July. Will Osmo be placated? In his recent letter threatening resignation, he wrote that he thought it was “vital” that the orchestra play that repertoire in Minneapolis the week of 27 May…and that he also wanted Sudbin to play with the orchestra the week of July 22. (The MOA scheduled Osmo’s Carnegie rep that week instead.) However, Osmo did leave a bit of an escape clause in his letter, saying that as “an emergency option”, the orchestra could return to work in early September. So it appears the MOA may have skirted Osmo’s resignation (maybe) (possibly) (for now). Eyes now turn to Carnegie…will they de-invite the Orchestra from their November Carnegie shows? When?

Fifth, the Inside the Classics concert on July 25 was canceled, even though The Summer Lineup extends over July 25, and it wouldn’t have been a problem to present it during that time. A few possibilities here…

• The powers that be have it out for ITC host Sam Bergman post-barnburning-speech.
• This particular show was actually meant to be the culmination of a season-long project which actually never materialized, so they figured they might as well scrap it, anyway, while they were scrapping things.
• The concert has been marketed for months and months to align with the re-opening of Orchestra Hall…and apparently the hall is not going to be opened in July.

Which brings us to Sixth… You’ll notice: all three Summer Lineup concerts are at Ted Mann. So you know what that means. Apparently Hall isn’t going to open this summer. Wow, I’m absolutely shocked at this…in that, I’m not shocked at all, and actually saw this coming last October (although I didn’t write about it…you’ll have to trust me, I was assuming this would happen).

So I guess two questions: Is this delay because the construction is experiencing some…hiccups? Or is it because there’s no product to put in the hall? My money’s on the former. If they were positive the hall would be done by early July, wouldn’t they schedule The Summer Lineup there? It would save on rent at Ted Mann.

Anyway. Who knows at this point what the MOA is doing. I feel like I’m watching a horse stuck in quicksand. Get your crap together, guys. Get it together.

For the record, here’s the email I sent:

Hello Mr. Davis – Mr. Campbell -

If you’ve been following media coverage of the Minnesota Orchestra lockout, you know exactly who I am. My writing on the lockout is read internationally, and has been cited by MPR, the Pioneer Press, and the most widely read blog in the classical music business, Slipped Disc. I unfortunately have not heard back from you, despite repeated requests to talk to you, so I contact you again. It certainly does not speak well for Wells Fargo or US Bancorp that their leaders are so unresponsive to impassioned community outcry.

Alex Ross, the critic at the New Yorker, whose words you used to trumpet on old season brochures, wrote about you the other day… http://www.therestisnoise.com/2013/05/amplification.html He is the most influential music writer in the business, and he does not lightly write something like what he writes below.

“The Minnesota Orchestra, whose musicians have been locked out since the beginning of the season, is veering toward catastrophe. A number of players have departed for other ensembles; the orchestra’s use of state funds has raised serious questions and is under review; powerful board members have created a fearful atmosphere; and, as Graydon Royce reports, Osmo Vänskä, Minnesota’s brilliant music director, is threatening to resign if the situation is not resolved soon. In his latest piece, Royce alludes to a column I wrote in 2010, in which I said, “For the duration of the evening of March 1st, the Minnesota Orchestra sounded, to my ears, like the greatest orchestra in the world.” The idea was not to issue a hard-and-fast superlative but to undercut the entire business of ranking orchestras. Still, I stand by the statement, at least as far as the musicians themselves are concerned. As for the board and the management, I am tempted to apply a superlative of a quite different kind. I’ll simply say this: do the board and management actually wish to destroy the Minnesota Orchestra? So far, their actions seem to be moving steadily toward that end.”

Until you demonstrate a renewed commitment to dialogue with both musicians and patrons, I will continue to share Mr. Ross’s views. As you are no doubt aware, not a single person in the music business supports your position. A counter-proposal is not and never has been necessary for negotiations; indeed, in November, independent industry expert Drew McManus called your insistence upon a counterproposal a “trap.” Other orchestras with more dire financial problems have agreed to submit to binding arbitration. I’d hope you’d never make a major investment, as you are asking the musicians to do, without knowing how the board and staff of the companies you invest in performs in comparison to other boards and staff (especially if said board and staff were simultaneously and independently being investigated by the state legislature for potential mis-use of funds). And despite what you have heard, the musicians are not going to cave any time soon. And even if they eventually do, by that time, there will be so many vacancies, it will take literally years to hire replacements…and good luck hiring any subs with the pay you’ve proposed. The orchestra will be comatose and paralyzed, if not liquidated altogether. This is not the teachers’ union, and you are not Scott Walker. Today you face two options: stepping away and letting others try for even a little while, or driving the orchestra – Minnesota’s orchestra – over a cliff. There are no alternatives.

If you destroy the Minnesota Orchestra, I can promise you, as a historian, that it will be a legacy that will long outlast any donations you made to the lobby. This community – in fact, this country – will never forget your names, or what happened on your watch. There would be absolutely no harm in stepping aside…or at the very very least, soliciting ideas from others about how to proceed. I urge you to consider doing so.

Emily E Hogstad

Well, that was therapeutic.

So. Write Richard Davis and Jon Campbell. They won’t reply to you, but it will feel good. Share your emails in the comment section as an inspiration to others. And if you call Davis or Campbell, do let me know who you hear from, and what you said, and what their secretaries said to you in return. Remember, be firm, but be polite. We don’t want to stoop down to other people’s level…no matter how angry we are. Best wishes in your activism…

But there will be no orchestra to open Orchestra Hall. Last October, three men – two banking executives on the Minnesota Orchestral Association board of directors and one spectacularly inept orchestra manager from Bournemouth – slipped the Minnesota Orchestra a potent sleeping potion in the form of a lockout. The MOA has not presented an orchestral concert since late July, and they will not be presenting any this July, either. Even after seven months of not paying musicians’ salaries or benefits, they claim they don’t have the money to present concerts…and it’s simply too expensive to play and talk, CEO Michael Henson explains. Mr. Henson continues to receive around $400,000 a year in compensation, the orchestra manager who doesn’t actually manage an orchestra. He makes a perplexing bedraggled picture, pleading poverty while wearing a yellow vest and hard hat and showing off his fifty million dollar lobby. The state of Minnesota is currently investigating the MOA’s finances. Things in Minneapolis have gotten so bad that a quarter of the orchestra’s seats are empty, with more musicians departing every month. There is no end in sight.

Every eight weeks or so, the musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra cook up a short-lived antidote to the potion: they put on a concert of their own. With the help of two of their former music directors, as well as their current conductor, Osmo Vänskä, this season the musicians have put on extraordinary performances of Dvořák, Shostakovich, Bach, Beethoven, and Sibelius. A few weeks ago they announced a late April concert: a program of Mozart and Bruckner, to be conducted by their former music director, eighty-nine-year-old Stanislaw Skrowaczewski. The soloist in the Mozart clarinet concerto would be principal Burt Hara, one of the great orchestral musicians in the world. As always, the tickets sold fast.

A Minnesota Orchestra lockout concert is different from any other orchestra concert you’ve ever been to. They will be sold out, so they will be crowded. The audience will skew young. Everyone present will be an intense, intelligent lover of music. You will find yourself waving across the hall at people you’ve only met once before; they will eagerly wave back to you. You will feel like you’re at a family reunion that has a concert built into it, because the musicians have gotten to know patrons, and the patrons have gotten to know musicians, and the invisible wall at the edge of the stage has crumbled. Turns out we’re no longer just fighting for our musicians; now we’re fighting for our friends, too. You will hear the kind of roaring applause and hoarse screams usually reserved for the debuts of prodigies. You will meet and chat and sit with politicians, multi-millionaires, and occasionally local celebrities, all of whom are disgusted with the action of the board. These concerts will be, simultaneously, the most emotionally taxing and the most emotionally fulfilling experiences you will have as a listener. They will reaffirm your belief about the power and relevancy of orchestral music. And they will give you the strength and inspiration to fight for excellence in all aspects of your life. You will also cry into your pillow once you get home, overcome by the enormity of what you have just experienced.

Of course lockout concerts would mean nothing without a passionately engaged audience, and I’m proud to say that the Minnesota Orchestra has the most devoted audience in America…maybe in the world. Behind the first violins stood a eight-foot-tall tower of flowers. I’ve never seen a more beautiful arrangement. Their color and fragrance were all the more beautiful after our long – both literal and metaphorical – winter. They’d been sent with love by a translator from Japan, who has loved the musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra for many years, but who could never bring herself to write to tell them so until the lockout began. Their recordings helped her pull through terrifying health scares and the devastating earthquake of two years ago. Eriko couldn’t be in Minnesota in person, but her pillar of flowers stood like an angel sentry on the corner of the stage. At the time of the concert, she was across the world in Japan, meditating.

Eriko’s flowers

The musicians received two or three standing ovations before a single note sounded. Skrowaczewski came onstage, eyes sparkling. The Minnesota Orchestral Association will never invite him to conduct again, thanks to his unabashedly heretical pro-musician views, but it is clear he is enjoying playing the role of the rogue. Then out came Burt Hara, our magician of a clarinetist. He has worked at other orchestras over the years, but, thankfully, has always returned to Minnesota. He is the living personification of why we patrons are working so hard to pressure the board to back down from its proposals: Hara could easily get a job anywhere in the world, and whoever would win his seat here would simply never be able to fill his shoes. End of story. Michael Henson has gone on record saying every musician in the orchestra is easily replaceable. Michael Henson has no expletive-ing clue what he’s talking about.

Every phrase of orchestra and clarinetist was a new delight, blossoming like the flowers in Eriko’s arrangement. The variety of tones that Mr. Hara has at his command is nothing short of miraculous. Anyone who can’t tell the difference between a player the caliber of Burt Hara and his theoretical replacement not only has no business running an orchestra, but is ultimately destined for sad and pathetic failure in the field of orchestral management. In case this remark was too subtle for anyone, it’s directed squarely at Jon Campbell, the Wells Fargo vice president who is chair of the Minnesota Orchestra board of directors. Despite being one of the most powerful people on the Minnesota Orchestra board, Jon Campbell never actually goes to Minnesota Orchestra concerts. If you can’t appreciate Burt Hara – and there’s no way you can, if you never go to concerts – then have the simple human decency to step aside and hand your job over to someone who does.

I was still basking in the glow of the Mozart when, after intermission, as the lights were dimming, Mr. Hara came out into the hall. The audience began to applaud him. He grinned and shushed us. “Shh!! Not for me; for them!” he said, motioning toward the stage, and at that, my heart overflowed with admiration. He sat down in the empty seat next to me and smiled. Joyful, invincible energy radiated from his very pores.

After intermission, as has become tradition, violist Sam Bergman stepped up to the edge of the stage. By now the whole locked out audience knows what that means: a barnburner of a speech is at hand. And although all of Sam’s speeches have been extraordinary, this one was especially so…and the audience’s impassioned reactions said as much as Mr. Bergman.

He said, “It has now been almost seven months since the corporate managers of the Minnesota Orchestral Association decided that the best way to move this orchestra forward into a successful future was to lock out its musicians, set a non-negotiable annual budget that would be dwarfed by all of our peers, and demand an array of cuts the likes of which have never before been seen at any major American orchestra. Under their plan, the base salary of a Minnesota Orchestra musician would plummet, overnight, to a figure that, adjusted for inflation, equates to what our predecessors were making in 1983.”

The audience gasped.

“Under their plan, untold numbers of public orchestral concerts would be scrapped and replaced with musicians being farmed out to play private corporate rental events at Orchestra Hall.”

Cries: actual moans of shock and pain. It was as if someone had stabbed all two thousand audience members at once.

“Under their plan, the final authority on the hiring of new musicians for our orchestra would be stripped away from our Music Director, and given instead to the corporate management team.”

Another indignant communal cry. People actually began to weep in horror. I closed my eyes, tight. I knew this was the board’s plan, and I’ve known it for a long time, but to hear so many music lovers react to it so viscerally was nightmarish.

Although the news was grim, Sam’s speech ended on a note of desperate optimism. “Together,” he promised, “we will make our collective voice heard; together, we will reset the priorities of this sadly drifting organization; together, we will ensure that our audience will never again be marginalized and ignored; together, we will do away with the cynicism and ideology that has led us to this precipice; and together, we will move this orchestra forward into a truly artistically sustainable future.”

Together. Yes.

In this context, Bruckner suddenly meant something. (In this context, anything means something.) As fate would have it, almost a year ago to the day, I’d written a rather…controversial blog entry called “I Hate Bruckner, Part I.” Clearly Fate has a sense of irony that puts Stephen Colbert to shame. You say you hate Bruckner?, Fate says. Well, then, how about for your first live Bruckner experience, I snag you a legendary Bruckner conductor, sprinkle dozens of friends onstage and in the audience, and top it all off with the orchestra The New Yorker has labeled the greatest in the world. That’ll be a good introduction to Bruckner. Oh, and also, by the way, said orchestra is facing imminent dismemberment, if not outright dissolution. So enjoy!

It was a lot to swallow. But lucky for me, I wasn’t setting out on my first live Bruckner journey alone. I just happened to have beside me one of the world’s great orchestral musicians, who knew the piece inside and out, and who would teach me how to approach it. He swayed gently to the sounds, nodded before each woodwind entry, breathed in and out with every phrase. Through his body language, he showed me what to listen for. Big swaths of sound that had once been a meaningless brick wall took on a shape and direction: a narrative. He wasn’t doing this to teach me. He was moving with the music because he could no more stop the flow of music through him than I could stop breathing. I was just lucky enough to sit beside him to witness it.

At the first solemn horn call of Bruckner 4, my horizons began to broaden, and the appeal of the music slowly dawned. Time and space simply – disappeared. At every repetition of every phrase, the musicians clawed at every note as if their very careers depended on it…and maybe they did. The seats rumbled with each massive fanfare.

The graceful old man gestured on the podium, drawing out the magnificent sound from his mind’s ear.

The massive tower of flowers stood guard.

As time drifted on I was unsure if we had been in the hall an hour…or twenty-four hours…or twenty-four years. We fell into a collective trance. How long had the lockout gone on? Was there even a lockout? Surely not… All two thousand of us were swept away in the music and looking out over a cliff together – out at an ocean, perhaps. Or maybe we were on the top of a mountain, landscape spread far to the horizon. But as Sam had said, we were together…and surely, to be all together in our dark night in that dark hall…surely that means something? For as long as this lasts, we won’t be alone. Giant chords shifted beneath our feet and resolved in strange and glorious ways. A strange irrational peace descended upon me, the kind that comes when I recite well-worn phrases from my wrinkled Book of Common Prayer. Stan raised his arms, a prophet in the bright stage lights. Suddenly the past and future meant nothing; there was only the power of the present. This is transcendence.

The integrity of Stan – the generosity of Eriko – the eloquence of Sam – the passion of Burt – the courage of the Minnesota Orchestra musicians to sacrifice their very livelihoods in an attempt to preserve their beloved institution from decimation – the buzzing energy of the agitated Minneapolis music scene – and most of all, the untrammeled power of live orchestral music. You would be unwise to bet against.any of these things, let alone all of them at once. They may be under fierce assault, but I swear to God that Minnesota will not rest until all those things are celebrated as they deserve to be. Silence may win in the short term. But in the end, you will not deny the power of this music, nor the power and professionalism of these musicians. Our story is not over yet. This city will keep fighting until the very bitter end to find our musical happily ever after…no matter how many barriers the management of the Minnesota Orchestra sees fit to put in our way in the meantime.

There was a long silence after the earth-shattering final chords were struck. We all could read one another’s mind: this moment is too sacred to end. Then, gingerly, we began to applaud, gradually getting louder and louder, until the hall was a roiling sea of applause. The orchestra received such a long ovation that, in order to make it stop, the musicians had to leave the stage.

Well, sort of.

The MOA recently sent out an email poetically entitled “What does it take to balance the scales?“

The vivid imagery of the subject line makes me want to write a haiku! “What does it take to / balance the MOA scales / sustain’bility”

The email is just the MOA’s latest attempt to bring the public round to their point of view. (Alas, the PR firm they’re paying $50,000 a year to has to earn its keep somehow.) If you’re a musician supporter and have blood pressure problems, just ignore it; it’s chockablock with misleading facts and figures, contains nothing new, and in general is just not worth your bitter impotent rage. I could address it point by point, and maybe eventually I will, but honestly I’m only one woman, I’m sick, and I’ve got better crap to do. If you have any specific questions about any of the claims, feel free to ask, and I’ll happily answer.

But there is one fascinating point that I wanted to bring to y’all’s attention…

The MOA writes:

The Minnesota Orchestra posted a $6 million deficit in Fiscal 2012. Until we wrestle our expenses and revenues into alignment, our organization will face mounting deficits each year, which will quickly deplete our endowment. Fully 80 percent of our budget is spent on musicians and concert-related costs. Musicians’ salary and benefits are responsible for 48 percent of Orchestra expenses.

Here are our options to resolve the deficit:

Double ticket prices

This could eliminate our deficit only if everyone now buying tickets was willing to pay twice as much. We don’t believe it is achievable, nor is it fair to our audiences to offer tickets ranging from $40 to $200 per person, per concert.

Double contributions

Our community already donates more to the Minnesota Orchestra than any other performing arts organization in Minnesota. Nevertheless, we have launched a fundraising feasibility study to determine whether sustainable new funding exists in the community for our Orchestra.

Increase our endowment by $120 million

To maintain musician compensation at current levels via a responsible draw rate, the MOA endowment—funds donated for long-term stability, not temporary needs—would require an immediate infusion of $120 million. As context, since 2005 we have raised $24 million toward a goal of $30 million for the endowment.

Reduce expenses

Our approach to resolving our deficit is to increase income realistically via tickets, donations and investments—and to make significant decreases in expenses. We have already cut expenses in every corner of the Minnesota Orchestra—including laying off 20 percent of our staff and cutting staff salaries and benefits. Now we are asking our musicians to participate.

Take a look at point number three. The MOA says they would need “an immediate infusion” of $120 million into the endowment to be able to sustain a $111,000 base salary. I believe I was the first to raise this general issue publicly, back in my titillatingly titled “Some Dorky Musings on Endowment Sizes and Base Salaries.” If you haven’t read that yet, you should.

In the 2012-15 Strategic Plan, the MOA says that in 2012 their “invested assets” were projected to be roughly $140 million. (It is unclear if this accurately portrays gains in the market since then, or if and how the $30-$60 million Building for the Future fundraising fits into this number.) But let’s use $140 million for the sake of this example. $140 million plus the hypothetical “immediate infusion” of $120 million is $260 million. So if I’m interpreting correctly (and correct me if I’m wrong, MOA), they’re saying they need a roughly $260 million endowment to sustain a base salary of $111,000. To use the equation in my “Dorky Musings” essay of endowment / base salary…$260 million / $110,000, or 2363.

But the thing is, nobody else besides Boston uses this ratio. Or anything remotely close to it. Here’s an updated chart…

“Minnesota Possibility A” is a $200 million endowment and $78,000 base salary (as posited in the “Dorky Musings” essay). “Minnesota Possibility B” is a $260 million endowment and a $110,000 base salary (as posited in this new “Balancing the Scales” email).

Boston is an outlier, but their endowment is nearly $400 million. (Their contract also calls for fifteen-plus more musicians than Henson’s does, so there’s that, too.)

If we followed something a ratio closer to other orchestras, like 1200, the MOA would only need $133 million to support a $111,000 base salary. And the MOA has that.

I’m not sure how else to interpret this email besides Mr. Henson is saying he knows better than every other orchestra CEO in America. Detroit, with its $79,000 base salary and $30 million endowment? Unsustainable! Houston, with its $82,000 base salary and its $60 million endowment? Unsustainable! Cincinnati, with its $97,000 base salary and its $60 million endowment? Even MORE unsustainable! Cleveland, with its $120,000 base salary and its $130 million endowment? Unsustainable! Pittsburgh, with its $100,000 base salary and its $110 million endowment? Unsustainable! Dallas, with its $91,000 base salary and $100 million endowment? Unsustainable! Even Chicago, with its $144,000 base salary and $240 million endowment, or Los Angeles with its $143,000 base salary and $180 million endowment, or San Francisco with its $141,000 base salary and its $260 million endowment, or New York with its $135,000 base salary and $180 million endowment…all unsustainable, unsustainable, unsustainable, UNSUSTAINABLE!

I call upon Mr. Henson to show me an American orchestra that he thinks is sustainable, and explain why, in detail. Who should we be modeling ourselves after financially? Is there anyone? Despite the positive references to Detroit in the MOA minutes, Mr. Henson sure as crap isn’t following their fiscal lead; their endowment is only $30 million, as opposed to Minnesota’s $150 million plus, and yet Mr. Henson envisions both orchestras having roughly the same base salary. What resources does Detroit have in place that Minneapolis doesn’t?

In short: why should Minnesota follow such an extreme ratio? And if this ratio is truly necessary, then how are other orchestras surviving? Maybe there’s a good reason, but I haven’t heard it yet.

Teach me, MOA. Explain where I went wrong. Expose me as the dumb ill-informed senseless woman you think I am. I’m doing this all for free, and spending hours of my valuable time on this, for the sole reason that I love orchestral music and I care about this orchestra. The least you can do for a loyal patron who cares is to knife her arguments to pieces, even under a pseudonym. Stun me with your intellectual prowess, Michael Henson. Nobody – absolutely nobody – is stopping you.

*takes off glasses in a dignified Cronkite-ian manner*

Yeah, the MOA suddenly decided to withdraw from financial and organizational analysis yesterday afternoon because, after months of discussion, the board couldn’t stomach the proposed terms. From this MPR article…

Orchestra President Michael Henson says the orchestra board decided to move forward on its own when the musicians insisted the scope of the analysis extend beyond simple finances.

“And unfortunately we began to see those parameters expand to include an examination of our artistic decision-making process and the quality and effectiveness of the board,” Henson said this afternoon. The board decided to move on with an analysis on narrower terms.

However musicians say management has stepped out of line. They say management and musicians had agreed to a framework for the study. Then the players say management wanted the following language inserted in the agreement. “It is understood that this financial analysis/review is not intended nor will it encompass subjective matters such as the artistic quality of the music director or the musicians, the comparative quality of other orchestras, programming decisions, performance of management or staff, or board quality/competency.”

The musicians objected to this language, and said so.

Tim Zavadil, chair of the Musicians Negotiating committee says the examining the artistic decisions, board performance and making the comparisons with other orchestras is what makes this an analysis as opposed to an audit.

He says the musicians were under the impression they were still talking about how to do the analysis and he was flabbergasted to hear management has decided to go ahead on its own instead of together with the musicians.

“That would be the best way to go, to do it jointly,” Zavadil said this afternoon. “I am sure if we did one they would say well that’s just one that the musicians did on their own. I don’t know what our response will be if they release this information.”

Okay, so here’s what I don’t get, and why I’m making the call that Mr. Henson’s sanity is dead. If management can’t agree with the musicians on terms for analysis, then why not pull out of analysis altogether? What’s the point of a unilateral analysis? Unilateral analysis won’t placate musicians. It won’t placate lawmakers. It won’t placate the public. It won’t placate board members. If anything, I’d think it might piss the board off, because they were told for months that an analysis was unnecessary: a “frolic and detour,” in the immortal words of Doug Kelley. So how are they justifying it now? The only reason I can think of is that Mr. Henson wants another wedge to insert between the board and the musicians (“look, ladies and gentlemen of the board, we did an audit and a financial analysis, and they still won’t work with us!”). But there’s such a thing as the law of diminishing returns, and there already are dozens of wedge issues. Would one more really be worth all the money they’re sinking into the analysis? Especially since the state is conducting its own audit, too? And let’s be blunt: how much further can the relationship between the board and the musicians deteriorate? What would be the use of using this issue as a wedge? – unless there are rumbles of rebellion happening behind the scenes, and some board members are pushing for the MOA to do their own analysis? But that’s a stretch. I’m racking my brains and I honestly have no explanation for what is going on here. So help me out here, clever readers: what purpose could a unilateral analysis, as opposed to a withdrawal from analysis, serve Mr. Henson? I sincerely hope I’m suffering from an acute lack of imagination, and that there’s a sensible explanation somewhere.

I think we should visit the SOTL Archives (TM) and see what the MOA has said about financial analysis in the past. Just for fun.

In response to the Union’s call for an independent audit of the Minnesota Orchestra’s finances, the MOA Negotiating Committee declined the request, citing unnecessary delay and duplication of efforts as the Orchestral Association undertakes an annual independent audit and shares its audited results publicly each December. – MOA press release, 25 September 2012

It’s as transparent as you can be, and we have done that every year, and those numbers are public. The musicians have them. If they want to do a forward-thinking analysis, the first place they’d go would be to a certified financial statement or tax returns. Those are sort of the gold standard documents in financial analysis… We have opened our books up totally. We don’t need to take another frolic and detour into something that won’t help any. – Doug Kelley, 30 November 2012

Our volunteer Board members will continue to do everything possible to remove any barrier the musicians say is standing in the way of them making a serious counterproposal that helps to address our Orchestra’s $6 million operating deficit… The Board has been eager to move forward with a joint independent financial review since we agreed to this course in January… We aim to come to a common understanding with the musicians over the significant financial challenges facing the Minnesota Orchestra, so that we can negotiate a sustainable settlement that protects the Minnesota Orchestra for the future. We hope to do this as expediently as possible in order to prevent further concert cancellations. - Minnesota Orchestral Association email blast, 1 April 2013

Well that’s awkward.

Another question: why not allow for a review that analyzes board competency or artistry of musicians or staff performance? Why are such things off-limits? It’s almost as if Mr. Henson is terrified that if anyone came in from outside the MOA bubble, he or his methods might be judged……….?

And here’s another weird thing: the musicians have been saying since November that they wanted a review that encompassed these “subjective” things. Unless he is very slow, there’s absolutely no way that Mr. Henson should have been surprised at “parameters” expanding to include “subjective” matters. These are the musicians’ words from November:

The audits that the MOA refers to are based exclusively upon the historical financial statements provided by the Association to the auditor. These reports cover statements of changes in net assets, operating activities and cash flows. In other words, an audit focuses solely on limited areas of past performance.

Audits do not cover an institution’s viability, stability, business plan, strategic plan, the quality of its management, comparative performance, or present and future prospects. A joint, independent financial analysis would review all of these things, and would assess current and future trends, opportunities and risks.

I’m not sure how much clearer you could get than this. If after reading that, Mr. Henson didn’t know that was what the musicians wanted, well… I don’t really know what to say about that. The incompetency speaks for itself.

I also think it’s worth mentioning one more thing… Six days before this announcement was made, Michael Henson was interviewed for MinnPost, where he said, “We hope very much that we can announce successfully the financial analysis this week.” As I wrote on Facebook, either he had a good idea the withdrawal was coming and chose to mislead MinnPost – or he withdrew from four months of discussion on a flighty whim – or he’s unquestioningly doing (or being forced to do) the bidding of someone else. Not sure which one of those ideas I loath the most.

An hour after the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra announced a tentative contract settlement with its locked-out musicians on Wednesday, Michael Henson, president of the Minnesota Orchestra, expressed cautious hope his orchestra’s locked-out musicians would respond in kind, with an offer to start negotiating a new contract.

The Minnesota Orchestra locked out 95 musicians Oct. 1 after their union rejected a proposal to reduce base salaries by 32 percent.

OK, I’m gonna stop y’all right there. The Minnesota Orchestra did not lock out 95 musicians. Want to know why? Because there weren’t 95 musicians to lock out. They’ve been moving away or retiring so quickly, Mr. Henson can’t replace them fast enough, or else he doesn’t want to; when the lockout began in October 2012, according to my calculations, there were only 81 musicians on the roster. Now there are only 77. Every month we lose more. Does Mr. Henson not know how many people are in his orchestra?

And reduction of the base salary by 32% is only the beginning. Seniority pay vanishes entirely (entirely!), among other things. The cuts for many musicians end up being somewhere in the 30-50% range.

The orchestra management has said that the cuts are necessary to offset ongoing deficits. Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra currently make an average $135,000 a year, not including benefits.

We don’t know how this average was arrived at, so treat it with caution. We’re unable to verify it because the 990 doesn’t say how much every player was compensated, just the few highest, like acting concertmaster and a handful of principal players.

I’m not going to pick apart every single little detail of the drivel, so let’s fast forward a bit… They’re talking about the SPCO…

One orchestra has quite clearly agreed to an 18.6 percent change which, as I said, like for like, is considerably higher than the change of rate to our orchestra with the pay raises that they’ve had.

Yeah, about that. First off, the SPCO is a smaller younger organization, and their negotiations went down in a very different way. I don’t know the exact size of the SPCO endowment, but I know it’s nowhere near the $150 million mark of the Minnesota Orchestra’s. Second, the Minnesota Orchestra owns its own hall, which is a big deal. If we’re going to bring orchestras with different sized endowments into this, or orchestras with more physical assets, I could throw out the fact that Chicago’s base is $145,000 and they’re getting a small raise over the next few years, or that the Cleveland Orchestra, with its Blossom Festival, is doing the same. So saying the SPCO situation is the same thing as the Minnesota Orchestra situation is just… It’s so lazy.

Why has one orchestra accepted those challenges, why has one set of musicians accepted that they need to find a settlement and then why this group has not agreed to do that, is indeed puzzling.

Yes. Yes, because whatever happens in St. Paul must also happen in Minneapolis.

It’s all so puzzling, we really need a puzzled British reaction GIF, don’t you think? Maybe of Ron Weasley being puzzled?

GUYS, IT’S ALL SO. PUZZLING.

Seriously, though, the fact the musicians are hesitant to negotiate with you might have something to do with the fact that you lost people’s trust when you

• lied about the state of the orchestra’s finances from 2008-2010
• stonewalled financial analysis for months
• refused to open up Q&A sessions to the press and public
• drew negative attention from half the state legislature
• turned down an invitation to Judy Dayton and the Mayor’s neutral Grammy celebration concert
• dissed the City of Minneapolis in private in January
• betrated the musicians that pay you your salary every chance you got
• I could go on but I won’t
• Seriously I could keep going on
• And on and on
• Etc, etc, etc.

But if you want further clarification on the puzzling fact that musicians, patrons, and legislators don’t trust you, feel free to contact me…even off-the-record. Leave a comment under a pseudonym; we’ll exchange phone numbers, and have a secret chat. I’ll happily talk with you for as long as it takes you to get a better handle on things since you’re clearly so dazed and confused.

MP: You’ve asked the musicians to meet with the board later this month. Is that going to happen?

(Bit of context: over the course of the lockout, the musicians have asked, multiple times, to meet with the board. All of their requests were denied.)

MH: We have been trying to remove the barriers that musicians have said have stopped them putting forward a counter proposal in order to move this process forward in the most reasonable way possible. We hope very much that we can announce successfully the financial analysis this week. [The musicians have asked for an outside audit of the orchestra’s finance, but the two sides cannot agree on the audit guidelines.]

Sigh.

But what we really want is substantive negotiations to take place, an acknowledgement of the very serious financial challenges that we face and to actually negotiate a contract that is actually sustainable for this community and respects the musicians’ skill levels.

Honest question: how does the proposed contract respect the musicians’ skill levels? Are they or are they not one of the greatest orchestras in this country? Do they or do they not deserve to be paid half of what Chicago, Los Angeles, or San Francisco are paid? I think Mr. Henson needs to realize that if he’s going to work within these black and white parameters, he has to decide which he wants:

1. A sustainable contract
2. A contract that respects the musicians’ skill level

Because he can’t have both. If Minneapolis can’t afford a respectful contract, then be blunt and say so.

MP: Are you hearing donors or board members express frustration about the duration of the lockout?

MH: …. I think our donors want to see their money used responsibly and to insure that we have sustainability. I’m sensing a growing frustration with the fact that our musicians have not put in a counter-proposal and have not actually negotiated.

See, this fascinates me. Personally, I think this the single most tragic aspect of the whole mess: the complete and utter breakdown in communication within this community. We’re all in different worlds. I reach out to as many people as I can, and I hear nothing but a growing frustration with the board that they have not been more aggressive in answering musicians’ and the public’s questions. Everyone on the organization’s Facebook page plops the blame solely down at the feet of Mr. Henson and the board. And yet, unless Mr. Henson is lying (which he might well be; who knows), the people he’s talking to are frustrated with musicians. Our worlds need to merge, and fast. There will be no hope of resolution until we agree on reality. Mr. Henson needs to acknowledge there’s a good chunk of the population that has a growing frustration with him, too. We all know he knows it – I know he knows his methods are detested in many quarters – so he should be brave and come out and acknowledge it. He’s not fooling anyone.

I certainly know from the board and management perspective, we’re puzzled

They’re just all really puzzled, okay?

MP: Are artistic differences fundamental to this dispute?

Yes.

But go on.

MH: I think it’s always possible to come with excuses as to why you don’t want to have a conversation,

Oh my God the irony of this just…I’m giggling so hard. He’s talking about musicians, but the same complaint applies to him, just in a different way, and he doesn’t even recognize it.

MORE British reaction GIFs! MORE!

but the reality is, we have a great orchestra here and we will continue to have a great orchestra.

We will? Says who?

We will continue to evolve and change. Classical music is critical and central to our mission. We’re not aiming to increase the number of pops concerts that the orchestra does.

Interesting. I’m really looking forward to seeing the 2013-2014 season schedule now.

You can only scope the size of an organization to the demand that exists out there, and all orchestras, all organizations, whether you’re for-profit, not-for-profit, have changed during their history.

Organizations…change? Over…time? I never knew!

Sarcasm aside for a moment, I rather disagree with the whole scoping premise. I think you have to create your own demand for a product. But I’d be interested in hearing Mr. Henson discuss this in more detail. Minus the talking points. But this won’t happen. Ever. So, whatever.

Change will continue to occur. If you just look to the past, you won’t thrive or survive. We need to look not just to the next two years of any contract or three years of a contract, we need to look at how our great art form becomes and remains vibrant over the next five years, the next 10 years, and the next 15 years.

Yes, it will be so utterly vibrant when the morale of the people who make it is at historic lows…

Seriously, though. How do you fulfill your potential when your employees feel (for whatever reason) dissatisfied and disaffected? MOA Immediate Past Chair Richard Davis recently talked about how this related to his leadership of US Bancorp: “When I stepped into my role, we had disaffected employees. We are in a service business which means we need really, really engaged employees who serve and create happy customers, who in turn lead to results for the bank.” Engaged employees = results! Why doesn’t Mr. Henson subscribe to this philosophy?

MP: To ensure this future, does the Minnesota Orchestra have a responsibility to cultivate music and musicians?

This has…got to be one of the dumbest questions I’ve ever heard. Sorry, MinnPost.

MH: Yes,

Well, thank God we agree on that.

MH: Yes, we want to make sure we want to retain the best in terms of the orchestra.

But…but, we aren’t. Gina DiBello, Vali Phillips, Sarah Kwak, Peter McGuire, those were a good chunk of our best, and we’ve lost them, and we’re set to lose more, and if the current proposed contract was adapted as is, we’ll lose crap-tons more.

At the same point, we actually have to address an art form that has to remain competitive. I think we an incredibly exciting art form so we have to think about how we put on concerts, how we attract new audiences going into the future, how we reverse the declining trend of audiences.

You have to retain and attract talent, but you also have to retain, attract and develop audiences.

I’m curious why there’s a “but” there. Are the two mutually exclusive? Does retaining and attracting talent hinder your ability to retain and attract audiences? Does retaining and attracting audiences hinder your ability to retain and attract talent? If this is Mr. Henson’s worldview, then that answers a ton of questions.

Also, may I submit the radical notion that one way to retain audiences might be to engage with audiences? Hmm. Open meetings up to the public. Talk more. And most importantly, listen. I know some disagree with me, but I feel this interview, no matter how trite and useless it is, is actually a step forward. So there’s that. Nonetheless, we’ve still got a long ways to go. There’s a lot more retaining and attracting of audiences that could be done.

Mr. Michael Brian Henson is a king, locked up in his stone castle, a guard at the door. There’s a mob outside, screaming and yelling, bubbling over with ideas. And he’s sitting in his castle alone, puzzling over how he can fix the problem. All he needs to do is open his window and listen.

MP: Some say that art, such as classical music, is priceless, yet it’s your responsibility to put a price on it. How do you do that? 

MH: The first thing to emphasize is that the art is at the center of what we’re doing.

Yeah, quick question… If the art is at the center of what you’re doing, why are you not reaching out to independent artists for their opinions, or acknowledging the warnings of the artists who work for you? Is the opinion of Skrowaczewski or Marriner or De Waart meaningless? Why so many changes in the contract that have nothing to do with money and put more power in Henson’s hands?

Fast forward through more dreck…

MP: Is the MOA prepared to counter a counter offer?

MH: We have always been prepared to negotiate appropriately within parameters. So, we have been willing to negotiate.

In one of his blog entries, violist and League of American Orchestras board member Robert Levine memorably compared the MOA’s position to a restaurant saying their prices were negotiable, when really the only thing you could change was how you paid, via cash or credit card. That’s about right. The musicians are being told they must amputate two limbs, but they get to choose whether they’re arms or legs. Clearly just taking off the fingers isn’t an option.

MP: The MOA states it has reduced costs by 6 percent over the last 10 years, but you are asking the musicians for a 32 percent cut. Is this fair?

MH: I would look back to the last five years. Our musicians have received a 19.6 percent increase. Effectively, our staff  have been frozen over that period, so yes.

OK, it’s my turn to be puzzled, so here’s another British puzzled GIF:

Let’s take this one word-by-word…

• I would look back to the last five years.
  
• Our musicians have received a 19.6 percent increase.
• Effectively, our staff  have been frozen over that period
• So, yes.

…

I’d take this argument a little more seriously if a 19.6% decrease was on the table…but that’s not what’s on the table. What am I missing?

Also, I don’t know that this is a great position to be taking when from 2006 to 2011, the CEO of the Minnesota Orchestra got a 13% raise, and isn’t taking any additional cuts.

MP: The union has also taken exception to the renovation of Orchestra Hall. But donors have been generous to this $50 million project. Why do your donors prefer to give to capital rather than salaries?

 MH: I quote a story that I have from one of the donors. He made a very substantial donation to this project, and what he said was, “You came and asked me for a capital donation and I gave you this much money. [Henson indicated a foot in length with his hands.] If you came and asked me for the annual fund, you’ve got that much money.” [Henson indicated an inch between his thumb and forefinger.] We have very sophisticated donors who understand long-term and understand the importance of a hall.

I…okay.

First of all, the insinuation that donors who are angry about the hall renovation are not “sophisticated” or don’t “understand [the] long-term”…in the immortal words of Steven Moffat, that’s “a bit not good.”

Second, was this donor told what the broader public was not: namely, that the imminent cuts would encourage many of the greatest players to flee the Minnesota Orchestra? If so, I don’t know if that’s a case of a sophisticated donor as much as someone who’s got what the kids nowadays call an “edifice complex”…someone more interested in a tangible plaque on the wall than the art that occurs within. (My apologies to the anonymous donor for any inaccurate generalizations.)

Look. To be brutally honest, sometimes I feel that supporters of the musicians express more animus than they should toward the hall renovation. Certain things needed to be fixed, and badly. Every single show I went to, I’d watch some dear frail elderly person come dangerously close to tumbling down the stairs to the bathroom. The backstage was a sad mess. I’ve heard there were mold problems. The OCET HL sign drove everyone I know fricking insane. And maybe it didn’t make sense to embark on a smaller patchwork renovation when another bigger one would be needed in another decade. I don’t know (and unfortunately, no member of the public has been privy to the reasoning behind these decisions).

However, that being said, the funding for the renovation was not garnered through ethical means. When fundraising for the hall was in full throttle, nobody ever said “the last musicians’ contract we signed was a mistake; 30-50% cuts are possible if as a community we don’t pony up; in light of that, what do you want to support?” On the contrary, Henson said to the legislature – and anyone else that would listen – that they were facing the future with financial stability. And I can only assume they didn’t tell the whole truth because the MOA was afraid that would scare off donors. Mr. Ebensteiner, CFO, basically revealed as much in 2009 when he said, “Balances in 2009 and 2010 would support our state bonding aspirations, while the deficits in 2011 and 2012 would demonstrate the need to reset the business model.”

So I don’t know that musicians object to the hall as much as they object to the way in which donations were solicited for it. There’s a big difference there.

 The project is way beyond the lobby. It’s a project that goes across the entire hall. A musician was in on the selection process.

…

Wait. Am I supposed to be impressed by this? I get a feeling I’m supposed to be impressed by this. … Who was this singularly lucky singular musician?

It’s on time and on schedule and we’re expecting it to open at some point in the late summer.

*sound of brakes squealing*

Nope. I call BS. If the hall’s on schedule, it should be opening in early July. I say this for three reasons:

1. The document detailing rental pricing for the hall says “prices effective July 1, 2013.”
2. The Strategic Plan says they wanted to have the 2013 Summerfest in the renovated hall, and Summerfest traditionally happens in late June into July.
3. Management very blatantly scheduled a show on July 25th, and timed it and marketed it specifically to coincide with the hall re-opening. And the hall would need to be finished a couple weeks before this at the very latest, because they’d need time to move in equipment, test the sound system, train in any new employees, set up computers, etc.

From the Minnesota Orchestra website

Those three things together point toward an early- to mid-July grand opening. “Late summer” is not July. I know this; my birthday is July 19, and nobody has ever referred to it as being in “late summer.” It’s in the middle of summer.

If the hall ends up opening after my birthday, and Michael Henson still says it opened on time, he’ll be lying, point blank. The schedule says so. I’ll be watching.

On a closing note, I wanted to mention out of the ten questions asked…Mr. Henson only answered roughly half. Go back and read. MinnPost: in future, it would be great to see follow-ups. Otherwise, we’ll never stop talking past each other.

To sum:

Good: the fact that Mr. Henson is talking to the press.

Bad: what Mr. Henson is saying to the press.

Dear [Patron],

Next week will mark one full year since the Minnesota Orchestra and the Musicians’ Union began contract negotiations. Our Board put forward a contract proposal (pdf) on the first day of negotiations—in order to allow time for active debate—and 12 months later we have yet to receive a counter from the musicians. This is an unprecedented action by the Musicians’ Union. Across the nation, musicians at other orchestras have respectfully submitted counterproposals to their boards, even in challenging situations where they have been asked for significant concessions.

Editor’s Note: According to industry expert Drew McManus, a counterproposal isn’t a prerequisite for negotiations.

Also, another note: assuming you want this to end, remember you’ll eventually have to market your orchestra, which (interestingly!) largely consists of musicians. Publicly demonizing them is like shooting yourself in the foot before you head off on a hike. Remember, as completely nauseating as the idea is, absent a dramatic coup, y’all are going to have to work together again…

Our volunteer Board members will continue to do everything possible to remove any barrier the musicians say is standing in the way of them making a serious counterproposal that helps to address our Orchestra’s $6 million operating deficit.

Editor’s Note: The musicians requested financial analysis in September. A representative for management called it a frolic and detour five weeks before they agreed to it.

Here are the actions we have taken:

Joint Independent Financial Review
The Board has been eager to move forward with a joint independent financial review since we agreed to this course in January.

After thorough and detailed conversations with the Union, we have come to an agreement on two financial consultants to lead the review.

The Board has suggested parameters for the review to the Union and we are currently awaiting their response. We’ve suggested that the review should:

Be jointly funded by the Orchestra and the Union;
Test the accuracy of the Orchestra’s Fiscal 2012 financial position (which the musicians doubt);
Test the forward-looking financial assumptions upon which our strategic plan for 2012-15 is based.
Once agreement from the Union is in place around terms, we will launch the review immediately.

Editor’s Note: It would be nice if the actual Strategic Plan could be tested and reviewed, too, since we’re testing and reviewing things, but maybe that’s too much to hope for.

Editor’s Second Note: Remember, the 2012-2015 Strategic Plan is already fatally flawed because we’re already a third through that time-frame, and none of the stated goals for the 2012-13 season have been accomplished.

Legislative Audit

The State’s Legislative Auditor has also agreed to do a special audit in order to examine the public funds received by the Minnesota Orchestra for our annual operations and for the Orchestra Hall renovation project.

Editor’s Note: Um, yeah, because almost half the legislature asked him to. Minor detail, though. Easy to overlook.

We are eager to work with the Legislative Auditor on this review and have every expectation that the end result will confirm that the Minnesota Orchestra is a careful and diligent steward of public funds.

Editor’s Note: Several legislators have already indicated the way that the MOA treats its employees will affect the way they vote about allocating funds to the MOA in future...thereby kinda insinuating that legislators don’t believe the Minnesota Orchestra was a careful or diligent steward of public funds…

Fundraising Feasibility Review to Proceed
We are pleased to note that the Orchestral Association will immediately begin a separate fundraising feasibility study conducted by a Minneapolis-based firm with an international reputation, Bentz Whaley Flessner, in order to accurately gauge any levels of new funding that may now be available in the community to support the musicians’ salaries and benefits. Although we believe that our fundraising professionals have a good sense of the realistic fundraising capacity of our community and we have already accurately reflected this in our strategic plan,

Editor’s Theoretical Existential Question: If a tree falls in the forest, will anyone hear it? Also, how could realistic fundraising capacity be judged when no one was told 30-50% cuts were imminent? hmm

we are willing to test whether or not new, sustainable fundraising opportunities now exist. As part of the study, Bentz Whaley Flessner will contact many Minnesota Orchestra subscribers and donors. We encourage you to participate in the e-mail questionnaire as your feedback will be enormously valuable. Please watch for this email in the weeks ahead.

Editor’s Raging Note of Frustration: MY FEEDBACK WILL BE ENORMOUSLY VALUABLE TO YOU???11!!?!?

MY FEEDBACK WILL BE ENORMOUSLY VALUABLE TO YOU?

Whatever. Readers, let me know when you guys get this email, because I’m curious what it looks like. I’m guessing I won’t get one. But I’ll let you know.

Negotiating a Sustainable Settlement

As we engage in this multitude of financial and fundraising reviews to further eliminate obstacles preventing a financial counterproposal from our musicians, our goal remains the same. We aim to come to a common understanding with the musicians over the significant financial challenges facing the Minnesota Orchestra, so that we can negotiate a sustainable settlement that protects the Minnesota Orchestra for the future. We hope to do this as expediently as possible in order to prevent further concert cancellations.

Editor’s Note: Cool! If you really want to prevent further concert cancellations, you should be really excited to hear about the grassroots citizen-led play and talk petition! Woohoo!

We thank you for your patience, and we promise to keep you advised on our various financial reviews as they proceed.

Editor’s Note: It’s sweet of you to thank me for patience I’ve never displayed.

Sincerely,

Editor’s Note: You flatter me.

Jon R. Campbell
Minnesota Orchestra Board Chair

Michael Henson
Minnesota Orchestra President and CEO

All the cool kids online use reaction gifs to express their joy whenever they hear good news, so here’s one I found:

THE AUDITORIUUUUM WILL BE ALIVE, WITH THE SOUUUUND OF BRUCKNER…

Details here. Program is Bruckner and Mozart. Tickets go on sale Tuesday at noon!

Will you guys be there? Maybe we should meet up beforehand (or after). Shoot the breeze. Celebrate our connections with one another. Vent. Bond. It’s really really tough being a locked-out patron, and feeling so powerless. Might be a cathartic uplifting thing for those of us who are feeling ignored and disrespected by management. What do you guys say? Feel free to brainstorm here. Where might be a good place to meet up?

Hope to see you there!!