{"id":853,"date":"2008-03-15T09:18:05","date_gmt":"2008-03-15T17:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/15\/columbus-situation-dire\/"},"modified":"2013-02-07T18:47:09","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T02:47:09","slug":"columbus-situation-dire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/15\/columbus-situation-dire\/","title":{"rendered":"columbus situation dire"},"content":{"rendered":"

This was posted on the CSO facebook group yesterday:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Friends, things are not going well. I beg your attention for a few minutes while I report the “unreported” events surrounding the arts crisis in Columbus. These are my opinions and not the official view of our committee representatives.<\/p>\n

I am convinced our orchestra, the Columbus Symphony, which has been built to world class level in the past 56 years, will be decimated by the insidious restructuring “plan” (fire 22 and cut salary 30%) forcefully proposed by the board of trustees and management. Many musicians (including myself) will leave, seeking better work elsewhere. Lives and careers will be ruined. The music will be gone.<\/p>\n

Recently, there have been several articles in the local newspaper announcing the city and county’s intentions (Thrive in Five) to set aside funds for arts organizations in Columbus. Unfortunately those promised funds have not changed the tenor of the board’s official attitude toward the symphony. In fact, I believe they give false hope to those who support the orchestra. Truth is, there has been no indication that the “plan” will be altered or discarded.<\/p>\n

Two other articles have appeared in the Dispatch, one announcing next season’s programs and another about last week’s live recording of our concerts for the Denon record label. While this publicity helps us, the musicians’ perspective and comments were shut out from both articles. (in fact, none of our official press releases have been printed since this all began) I believe several quotes from those articles need to be isolated to demonstrate the damage they are causing.<\/p>\n

In the article about next season’s programs, the first thing Ex. Dir. Tony Beadle is quoted saying is, “The orchestra may go on strike…” There has been no mention of a strike by our representatives. Why would Mr. Beadle open with such an inflammatory and presumptuous phrase in the public press? What are his intentions?<\/p>\n

In another article, last week’s recording project was deemed a “vanity” event by Mr. Beadle (which FYI was not organized by management, but by principal tuba Jim Akins with support from Gene D’Angelo). To brand as “vain” a recording by a well known international label is absurd. Recordings build and inspire GREATER support for an orchestra. If he considers this beneficial publicity to be excess fat, what are Mr. Beadle’s real goals for developing the symphony? Who is directing him?<\/p>\n

Columbus is larger and growing faster than Cleveland, Cincinnati or Pittsburgh. Of those cities, Columbus’ per capita income is highest. Yet musicians’ salaries are already 30-50% lower than the orchestras in those cities. How embarrassing that “the powers that be” in the Capitol of Ohio seem unable to justify an orchestra appropriate to its size and wealth! Columbus deserves a real concert hall and a better vision for its orchestra’s growth, not the dismembering of its largest arts institution.<\/p>\n

In yesterday’s article about county support for the arts there is this quote by Commissioner Marilyn Brown, “We so often talk about Columbus as a sports community. Columbus is arts, too”. That is empty rhetoric. Last year I attended a play in Pittsburgh, which has a thriving theater district with numerous productions offered on a Tuesday evening. Columbus barely squeaks for the arts by comparison. Let’s face that fact and act upon it, rather than thinking smaller and smaller.”<\/p>\n

We have 15 organizations with budgets over $500,000,” Bill Conner, head of CAPA, said in yesterday’s Dispatch. Wow! That’s such a stress on a huge city which spends untold hundreds of millions per year on sports. Mr. Connor continues, “This isn’t about bailing out the symphony. This is about providing support for our arts and cultural community.” If supporting a great orchestra in our city is “bailing it out”, then we need to ask Mr. Connor why he’s in arts management.<\/p>\n

Last season, the orchestra reluctantly gave up three weeks of precious Classical Series to allow management to “repackage” those weeks into something more marketable. Those weeks were feebly renamed and then even more feebly marketed, and now have been canceled. Three weeks of classical music are for all intents and purposes lost, to you and to us. Their only function now, as empty paid weeks, is fodder to argue for cutting our contractual weeks permanently.<\/p>\n

There have been viable rumors of plans to shut down the orchestra April 1st (April Fools Day!) Additionally, there are hints that cheaper, lower quality Eastern European orchestras will be brought in to “replace” our lost weeks. I heard one of these groups last year here in Columbus. The quality was far inferior to the CSO, which lives and works here.<\/p>\n

Next season’s schedule, which usually starts in mid-September, is not slated to begin until October. CAPA and the stagehands who work for them are itching to dump the CSO for more lucrative Broadway shows.<\/p>\n

What can you do? A lot. Please, spread the word. Forward this letter to everyone. Write and phone your city and state representatives, specifically Gov. Strickland and Mayor Coleman. Call for the resignation of those who claim to represent and support this orchestra and Columbus by proposing this defeatist plan. Call for the Dispatch to fairly report the musicians’ statements.<\/p>\n

More information can be found at symphonymusicians.com<\/a> and a new site to be officially launched April 1, symphonystrong.com<\/a>. Add your voice. Let’s prove grassroots networking can change things.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,
\nDavid Thomas,
\nPrincipal Clarinet
\nYour Columbus Symphony<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This was posted on the CSO facebook group yesterday: Friends, things are not going well. I beg your attention for a few minutes while I report the “unreported” events surrounding the arts crisis in Columbus. These are my opinions and not the official view of our committee representatives. I am convinced our orchestra, the Columbus […]<\/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_feature_clip_id":0,"_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":[186,115,2],"tags":[349],"class_list":["post-853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-labor-issues","category-music","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-columbus-symphony"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-dL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":965,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/05\/13\/columbus-symphony-circling-the-drain\/","url_meta":{"origin":853,"position":0},"title":"columbus symphony circling the drain?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The news from Columbus seems to be getting more dire by the day, and those with the power to change the situation seem unwilling to do so (or to be charitable, unable to do so). Here's a collection of posts from around the classical blogosphere concerning the situation in Columbus\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":677,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/21\/columbus-conductor-takes-a-stand\/","url_meta":{"origin":853,"position":1},"title":"columbus’ conductor takes a stand","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo credit: Koichi Miura Photo courtesy of Frank Salomon Associates Junichi Hirokami, the music director of the Columbus Symphony (who I hear is fantastic), has been interviewed by the Columbus Dispatch and made some telling remarks about the situation there. Any downsizing of the orchestra would be \"catastrophic,\" Junichi Hirokami\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"jh_head_color.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/jh_head_color.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":725,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/30\/columbus-symphony-musicians-respond\/","url_meta":{"origin":853,"position":2},"title":"columbus symphony musicians respond","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Columbus Symphony musicians have issued a formal response to the planned cuts of both season and personnel by the Columbus Symphony Association. Central Ohio Federation of Musicians Local 103, AFM 1585 Bethel Road, Suite 100 Columbus, Ohio 43220 614-457-6371 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 29, 2008 HUNDREDS FROM AROUND THE\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":689,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/23\/columbus-symphony-supporters-unite\/","url_meta":{"origin":853,"position":3},"title":"columbus symphony supporters unite","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"A group of enterprising Columbus Symphony boosters have started both a blog\/website.\u00c2\u00a0 Check them out for updates and ideas for how you can help make a difference for the Columbus Symphony. They have a great editorial cartoon by Jeff Stahler from the Columbus Dispatch posted:","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/20.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":815,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/27\/columbus-recording-its-own-memorial\/","url_meta":{"origin":853,"position":4},"title":"columbus recording its own memorial","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Sad, but true: Douglas Fisher Member, Columbus Symphony Orchestra President, Local 103, AFM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 26, 2008 Columbus Symphony Musicians Vote To Allow Live Recording Next week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Columbus Symphony Orchestra program will be recorded live for the international recording company Denon, which will release it on compact disc.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":734,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/04\/columbus-a-personal-view\/","url_meta":{"origin":853,"position":5},"title":"columbus – a personal view","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This past Sunday's Columbus Dispatch profiles three musicians from the troubled Columbus Symphony: principal trumpeter Justin Bartels, violinist Joyce Fishman, and principal flutist Randy Hester. Here's the set up from the article, the complete version of which you can read here: If the Columbus Symphony -- facing a $1.5 million\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853","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=853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}