{"id":2592,"date":"2009-05-27T20:08:58","date_gmt":"2009-05-28T03:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/?p=2592"},"modified":"2013-02-07T19:44:58","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T03:44:58","slug":"whither-obt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/05\/27\/whither-obt\/","title":{"rendered":"whither OBT?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"obtlogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A harrowing and sobering article<\/a> in today’s Oregonian<\/em> about the beyond precarious financial position of the Oregon Ballet Theatre (OBT).\u00c2\u00a0 They need to raise $750,000 by June 30 or they may have to shut down.\u00c2\u00a0 Completely.\u00c2\u00a0 This on the heels of jettisoning the OBT orchestra for next season, which apparently did not reduce their expenditures enough to avert this catastrophe-in-waiting.<\/p>\n

Oregon Ballet Theatre<\/a> has become the first of Portland’s major arts groups pushed to the wall by the global recession. Unless the company raises $750,000 by June 30 to cover expenses and pay creditors, it may have to close its doors. “It is not clear that we will survive,” said Jon Ulsh, the company’s executive director<\/p>\n

The national ballet cavalry is riding to the rescue – or at least to help out. The company will throw a gala benefit concert on June 12 with dancers from such major national companies as the New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet and San Francisco Ballet, among others, already committed to the cause. Even a successful gala, however, won’t cover all of the shortfall, and the company is continuing to canvas supporters for donations.<\/p>\n

Oregon Ballet Theatre’s problem is that individual giving has plunged a full 50 percent in this fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2008-June 30, 2009. Typically, the company receives 25 percent of its total revenue from individual donations<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I hope that the planned gala will help bridge the gap, but frankly, as my wife said when I read the article’s gist to her “where the hell is Nike??”.\u00c2\u00a0 Where, indeed.\u00c2\u00a0 There is no fine art as athletic and physical as the ballet, and what better way to demonstrate your corporate stewardship of something other than propagation of your global brand image than by saving the premier dance organization in the city?\u00c2\u00a0 Come on, Phil Knight, you could make a huge positive difference here, and for about 1 percent<\/strong><\/em> of the budget for the movie Coraline<\/em> (made by Phil Knight-owned studio LAIKA) which is estimated to have cost $60-70 million to make.<\/p>\n

And why isn’t the New York Times<\/em> covering this<\/span> aspect of Portland (under-funding of the arts)?\u00c2\u00a0 Most likely because trust-funded hipsters don’t really care about the fine arts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A harrowing and sobering article in today’s Oregonian about the beyond precarious financial position of the Oregon Ballet Theatre (OBT).\u00c2\u00a0 They need to raise $750,000 by June 30 or they may have to shut down.\u00c2\u00a0 Completely.\u00c2\u00a0 This on the heels of jettisoning the OBT orchestra for next season, which apparently did not reduce their expenditures […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1335,103,25,1088],"tags":[1340],"class_list":["post-2592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dance","category-fundraising","category-portland","category-recession","tag-oregon-ballet-theater"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-FO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2298,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/04\/06\/obt-pit-goes-dark\/","url_meta":{"origin":2592,"position":0},"title":"OBT pit goes dark","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"From today's Oregonian: In yet another round of bad news for Portland's arts scene, Oregon Ballet Theatre is cutting its budget 28 percent. The ballet will go on. Just don't expect a live orchestra at any OBT performances or quite as many dancers on stage next season. Approved by OBT's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "dance"","block_context":{"text":"dance","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/dance\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2597,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/05\/28\/dance-united-a-benefit-for-obt\/","url_meta":{"origin":2592,"position":1},"title":"DANCE UNITED: a benefit for OBT","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"If you're a supporter of the arts in Portland (either as a loyal audience member or as a donor), you owe it to yourself to attend their extraordinarily important benefit DANCE UNITED.\u00c2\u00a0 The benefit takes place on June 12, 2009 at 7:30pm Keller Auditorium. Performances will be given by members\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "dance"","block_context":{"text":"dance","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/dance\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2727,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/06\/18\/obt-meets-exceeds-fundraising-goal\/","url_meta":{"origin":2592,"position":2},"title":"obt meets, exceeds fundraising goal","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Oregon Ballet Theatre has surpassed its $750K goal by over $100,000 as of today.\u00c2\u00a0 That's great news!\u00c2\u00a0 So, how are they going to continue past the next season, and will that involve a live orchestra?\u00c2\u00a0 Not sure.\u00c2\u00a0 But Bob Hicks has an excellent post at Artscatter concerning the current dilemmae\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "dance"","block_context":{"text":"dance","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/dance\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"obttherm","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/obttherm-200x263.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2674,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/06\/10\/obt-crosses-the-500000-mark\/","url_meta":{"origin":2592,"position":3},"title":"obt crosses the $500,000 mark","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"As of 1pm this afternoon, Oregon Ballet Theatre has raised $524,800 - not too shabby with 30 days to go until the end of the fiscal year... Keep digging deep, people, and tell your friends, too!","rel":"","context":"In "dance"","block_context":{"text":"dance","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/dance\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2696,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/06\/15\/obt-now-what\/","url_meta":{"origin":2592,"position":4},"title":"obt: now what?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Dance United was an unqualified success, and if what I'm hearing through the grapevine is true, then the $750,000 bridge goal has been met and perhaps exceeded by some modest amount has nearly been met [as of June 15th OBT reports $710,000 raised so far].\u00c2\u00a0 So, good - we have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "dance"","block_context":{"text":"dance","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/dance\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2668,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/06\/09\/obt-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":2592,"position":5},"title":"OBT update","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"OBT is just past the halfway mark in reaching their critical $750K goal.\u00c2\u00a0 Please give if you are able, or buy tickets to DANCE UNITED.\u00c2\u00a0 Sorry, the $50 seats are all gone, however.","rel":"","context":"In "dance"","block_context":{"text":"dance","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/dance\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"obt_thermometer2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/obt_thermometer1-400x521.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}