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AUTOPSY OF AN ORCHESTRA AN ANALYSIS OF FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE BANKRUPTCY OF THE OAKLAND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION M.MELANIE BEENE, PATRICIA A. MITCHELL, AND FENTON JOHNSON, 1988 DIGITAL EDITION REPUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2012 Autopsy of an Orchestra: An Analysis of Factors Contributing to the Bankruptcy of the Oakland Symphony Orchestra Association © 1988, 2012 Melanie Beene 1339 Diamond Street San Francisco, CA 94131 (415) 648-0174 ISBN: 978-0-9705157-5-9 This digital edition, republished in 2012, was made possible with the support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and in-kind contributions from Grantmakers in the Arts and Warren Wilkins Design. 4055 West 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98199·1247 206·624·2312 phone 206·624·5568 fax www.giarts.org NEW PREFACE Picking up the Autopsy of an Orchestra again after 25 years I am flooded with memories. First, what a unique and enormous research privilege it was to be in the position to do such a study. And second, how very hard Patricia Mitchell, Fenton Johnson, and I worked to make the study as fair and useful as possible. When we unlocked the door and entered the abandoned Symphony offices months after the 1986 bankruptcy there was still food in the refrigerator, stacks of unopened mail (some with checks) on the desk, and unretrieved messages on the answering machine, the most poignant of which was: “The Symphony died because Calvin died.” (Calvin Simmons, the dynamic young black music director, died in a mysterious boating accident.) There were even press releases left in the typewriter saying everything was okay. One concern the research team had was that no one would speak to us candidly. The reality was, in fact, completely the opposite. We couldn’t get interviewees to stop talking, to the extent that at one point we realized we were doing a form of grief counseling. When a fifty-four-year old institution ceases operation it is a kind of community death that is mourned even by those who didn’t actively participate. For others who had been intimately involved with the orga- nization for the better part of their lives as youth orchestra players, chorus members, community volunteers (at one time all the subscriptions were sold by the women’s guild), musicians, staff, and board, their daily lives were reordered by the loss. I am happy to say this loss had been healed by the staying power of the successor Oakland East Bay Symphony under the talented leadership of its long-time Music Director, Michael Moore. Across the time since its initial publication and distribution by the original six funders, Autopsy of an Orchestra has continued to be requested and discussed and taught in university courses on arts management. Because of this continued interest and because the study was not available online, I am most appreciative that Grantmakers in the Arts will give it a longer shelf life and wider distribution by making a digital edition available on their website. And my thanks to Tommer Peterson, Steve Cline, and Warren Wilkins for creating something readable out of dead floppy disks! Melanie Beene October 2012 San Francisco, California REFLECTIONS ON AUTOPSY OF AN ORCHESTRA Sarah Lutman Being the “experienced” respondent to Autopsy of an Orchestra might have made me feel a lot older if were not for the fact that the report reads like something written yesterday. Although the report has a distinctly twentieth-century look and feel in its nondigital, no-hyperlinks format, the compound issues the Oakland Symphony faced in the 1980s resonate clearly for twenty-first-century orchestras. As is the case in so many instances, we have unearthed a histori- cal document only to find that it is about ourselves. The symphony’s successes mirror the liveliness of today’s music scene: a lauded performance standard appreci- ated by audiences and critics; the courage to program adventurously and distinctively; a host of creative engagement activities for youth and families; a civic role as community builder and downtown magnet; and deep concern for the working conditions, opportunities, and wages of talented musicians. Unfortunately the symphony’s looming problems also are all too familiar: a recurring cycle of debt and accumulated deficits; an unaffordable venue; the decision to deplete endowment dollars to meet operating costs; a declining down- town audience whose preferences were rapidly changing; and accelerated expansion built around a high-cost struc- ture with no early promise of new revenue. The report is clear: the symphony’s bankruptcy had no single cause. Melanie Beene and colleagues scrutinize equally the symphony’s multiple factions from management to board, funders, and musicians. I reread the report while think- ing “if only” — but there are far too many “if onlys” identified to suggest any single linchpin. The orchestra was a breeder reactor, a buzzing hive of difficulties whose meltdown no one move could have prevented. For grantmakers the demise of the Oakland Symphony offers lessons aplenty, starting with the wisdom of granting permission to organizations to spend endowment funds on operating expenses. I understand the inclination of its funders to permit the symphony’s own board to make that call. But sometimes, it is also OK to say no. It just might force leaders to take action, and in a good way. Interventions can work when they are conducted with the long-term interests of the organization at their core, and when they come from a place of support and not punishment. It is sur- prising how seldom individual grantmakers use intervention as a tool, or join together to do so in order to protect and advance key community assets. There are many signs of rebirth in the orchestra field; nearly every orchestra is finding new ways to reach and serve community, with success. New musical organizations also are being born with radically different approaches to both performance and engagement. Many of these are being formed by musicians who themselves want a different relationship to community and a different cost structure from what is the norm in symphony orchestras. And yet, the difficulties faced by the Oakland Symphony in the 1980s, though carefully studied by Melanie Beene and Associates in Autopsy, are less sufficiently remembered by the cultural sector. We ignore the report’s findings and lessons at our peril. Sarah Lutman served as president and managing director of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra from 2008 to 2012. She is principal at Sarah Lutman Consulting. CONTENTS NEW PREFACE iii REFLECTIONS ON AUTOPSY OF AN ORCHESTRA iv FUNDERS’ PREFACE vi FOREWORD vii 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 HISTORY 2 3 ARTISTIC PRODUCT 4 4 AUDIENCE 9 5 FACILITIES 14 6 PLANNING 18 7 MARKETING 24 8 FUNDRAISING 32 9 FINANCE 43 10 LABOR RELATIONS 53 11 ADMINISTRATION 61 12 BOARD LEADERSHIP 67 13 THE FINAL DAYS 72 14 IMPLICATIONS 75 Appendix A: Chronology of Events 78 Appendix B: List of Interviews 80 Appendix C: List of Tables 83 Appendix D: Map of San Francisco / Oakland Bay Area 84 FUNDERS’ PREFACE The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area was not alone in its sadness at the loss of our venerable Oakland Symphony. Never was John Donne’s wisdom better exemplified: “Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” Devotees of fine music throughout California and the nation shudder whenever there is news of an orchestra in financial difficulty. Throughout the arts community, and indeed throughout the independent sector, the tragic consequences of the failed nonprofit haunt us all. Six grantmaking organizations which had enjoyed long-term relationships with the Oakland Symphony believed that there was much that could be learned from a study of the last decade in the life of that organization. We believed – and our beliefs are now confirmed – that an understanding of this institution’s last years would help us as grantmakers to be of greater assistance to other arts organizations. We were also certain that we might find in such a study clear direction for self improvement of the role we like to play as silent partners in the advancement of such institutions. There were not many surprises in this study. Yet, never before, that any of us know, has there been an effort to recount in such detail a story like that of the Oakland Symphony. The consultants have made a serious effort to capture the compelling story of the Oakland Symphony in sufficient detail to enable volunteers and professionals elsewhere to identify operational patterns which recur throughout the nonprofit sector and in their organizations specifically. It is intended that this study be a working document, a management tool, and an instrument of knowledge which can be generalized broadly. The Oakland Symphony, like other organizations we know, was staffed and supported by people of good intentions and great commitment. Mistake or failure by any specific individual affiliated with the Oakland Symphony is irrelevant to the purpose of this study; mistake or failure of all of us under circumstances which might bear some similarity to those of the Oakland Symphony is the issue. The six funders of this study represent a diverse cross section: a community foundation (The San Francisco Founda- tion), a public agency (the California Arts Council), two corporate foundations (Mervyn’s and Wells Fargo Bank), and two private foundations (the James Irvine Foundation and the Walter & Elise Haas Fund). This representative sample of the grantmaking community underscores our hope for the general utility of this study. vi FOREWORD Autopsy of an Orchestra: An Analysis of Factors Contributing to the Bankruptcy of the Oakland Symphony Orchestra Association was commissioned by a consortium of six corporate, foundation, and state funding agencies.

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