Change or Die

You might remember from an earlier post that I was in Chicago this month at the League of American Orchestra's National Conference.

Going to the conference revealed the current issues, unspoken fears, and magnitude of the challenge being faced within the field. The elephant in the room was the current financial meltdown and its impact on precarious institutions like symphony orchestras. But the implication was that the problem was larger than the bleak economy.

The problem is us. Darwin was right: When circumstances change, we have to adapt.

Our field is notoriously slow to change its model, and throughout the week speakers were prodding everyone to move away from the status quo by comparing the possible future of the symphony orchestra field to that of the failing newspaper industry. More than once we were reminded of the unwillingness of the big three Detroit automakers to face reality and innovate. The clear implication was that we have to change, that change is good, and that we don't have time to waste.

In a private conversation, I heard that a leader in the field had made an estimate that as many as a third of non-profits would probably fail during this economic downturn. Yes, a THIRD! If that ratio held true for symphony orchestras it would mean a catastrophic loss to this field. I have kept returning to that prediction as I have thought about three particular sessions among the many I attended during the conference:

• The first was a Beyond the Score program devoted to Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 in e minor, From the New World. It was a remarkable production, certainly worthy of the immense resources of the Chicago Symphony's very creative staff. The performance included photos, film clips and a well-written script performed by three actors, one of whom played Mr. Dvorak himself, supplemented by occasional lines from Sir Mark Elder who conducted. The Civic Orchestra of Chicago performed excerpts from Dvorak's symphony to illustrate the story of its creation, and we heard passages from polkas, Slavonic dances and spirituals as well.
• The second session was on the implications of social networking tools in the performing arts. The consensus was that no one really knows HOW to most effectively use these new tools yet, but there seems to be agreement that this is the wave of the future - or, more accurately, of the present. Obviously this will be a growing area of experimentation in the near term across the field.
• The last session was an attempt to retain audiences by studying those audience members who have come only once to a symphony orchestra performance, never to return because of their unhappiness with a host of seemingly unrelated issues ranging from parking their car to the price of a glass of wine at intermission. The upshot of that session was that if you can get audience members to come to a second performance there is a good chance you'll keep them for a long time.

When I look back at the League's convention those three sessions keep flashing "pay attention!" It is clear that the next few years will see a tremendous shakedown in this field, and none of us knows which institutions will remain standing. Most will try to change. Some will use innovative concert-models like Beyond the Score, many will try to use Twitter, Facebook, and iPhone applications to build on-line communities, some will focus on the experiential approach - adjusting repertoire and adding services and value to keep their patrons coming back. A few won't change a thing, and most of those probably won't be here at the end of this process.

What will we change? Will we re-format our concerts on the Beyond the Score model to contextualize a work like Dvorak's Ninth, taking on the task of teaching our audiences with a Discovery Channel-like approach? Will we find and retain audiences through the power of the internet? Will we adapt our audience-services model to be more like an up-scale retail outlet whose primary product is the complete night out - from soup to nuts with Brahms in between? Will it be something else? Or even MANY new things? Now we're getting someplace!

They kept making buggy whips while Henry Ford was cranking out his first cars.

It's past time for this field to get to work. The question remains: "On what?" The one's who adapt well will remain. As for the rest...ask Charles Darwin.