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rjzeller · 05-25-2005, 11:29 AM

MANNY YOU'RE AWESOME!!!

You know how rare it is to hear a professional musician (at least, in MY experience) actually say they're NOT for government support of the arts? Okay, that's not exactly what you said, but the gist of it I agree with 100%.

I DO think it's okay for government to fund and support startup groups or to fund public music endeavors which perform a service to the community (free concerts, educational outreach to children or the underpriveledged), but for larger groups or implementations I think a group is either self-sustaining, or it's not. You're completely right -- if management does not understand the target audience, market conditions, musicians, etc., and they loose money, why should government step in?

I sure wouldn't mind if they'd prop up my poor financial situation!

The local Civic Music organization here in town gets a HUGE budget compared to the size of the ensembles performing (and the fact that the one premier performing group doesn't get paid anyway). I've always been against having such a huge budget, but I don't say that too loudly because my fellow musicians would lynch me!

But they don't use the money to support the live performance ensembles, they use it to bring in other live acts from around the country or world. These acts cost tens of thousands of dollars. And they do an exceptional job of it (mostly because of one person who clearly doesn't get the pay or treatment she deserves, but that's another rant...), but they loose money on almost every one of them. My beef is that if you can't make money off the group, then you shouldn't book it. And if you CAN make money off it, then you don't need public funding to support it. We're close enough to the Twin Cities that if you suddenly dropped these groups from the area, nobody would really miss much -- they'd just attend the local performances more often or drive to the cities. Still a win for everyone without the 1/2 million dollar public overhead. So, okay, I wouldn't get to see "Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers", and it IS pretty cool that Canadian Brass is coming to town; but if the public can't suppor them privately then too bad.

I mean, it's fine for folks like me who like good music, but someone out there is paying tax dollars (about $8-10 per person per year) to support an art form many may not appreciate. I mean, I wouldn't want my $10 getting thrown at Snoop Doggy Dog.....

Sorry ML, gues you got my wheels greased on that one!

05-25-2005, 11:29 AM	#8 (permalink)
rjzeller Forte User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Rochester, MN Posts: 1,212	MANNY YOU'RE AWESOME!!! You know how rare it is to hear a professional musician (at least, in MY experience) actually say they're NOT for government support of the arts? Okay, that's not exactly what you said, but the gist of it I agree with 100%. I DO think it's okay for government to fund and support startup groups or to fund public music endeavors which perform a service to the community (free concerts, educational outreach to children or the underpriveledged), but for larger groups or implementations I think a group is either self-sustaining, or it's not. You're completely right -- if management does not understand the target audience, market conditions, musicians, etc., and they loose money, why should government step in? I sure wouldn't mind if they'd prop up my poor financial situation! The local Civic Music organization here in town gets a HUGE budget compared to the size of the ensembles performing (and the fact that the one premier performing group doesn't get paid anyway). I've always been against having such a huge budget, but I don't say that too loudly because my fellow musicians would lynch me! But they don't use the money to support the live performance ensembles, they use it to bring in other live acts from around the country or world. These acts cost tens of thousands of dollars. And they do an exceptional job of it (mostly because of one person who clearly doesn't get the pay or treatment she deserves, but that's another rant...), but they loose money on almost every one of them. My beef is that if you can't make money off the group, then you shouldn't book it. And if you CAN make money off it, then you don't need public funding to support it. We're close enough to the Twin Cities that if you suddenly dropped these groups from the area, nobody would really miss much -- they'd just attend the local performances more often or drive to the cities. Still a win for everyone without the 1/2 million dollar public overhead. So, okay, I wouldn't get to see "Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers", and it IS pretty cool that Canadian Brass is coming to town; but if the public can't suppor them privately then too bad. I mean, it's fine for folks like me who like good music, but someone out there is paying tax dollars (about $8-10 per person per year) to support an art form many may not appreciate. I mean, I wouldn't want my $10 getting thrown at Snoop Doggy Dog..... Sorry ML, gues you got my wheels greased on that one! __________________ There are 10 kinds of people in the world: Those who understand binary and those who do not.