ecarroll

TMers,

As you know, the economic downturn worldwide, coupled with ruinous episodes like the ponzi scheme of Bernie Madoff that we've been reading about recently in the press, is knocking the stuffing out of the arts and out of non-profits in particular. Tony's note that a lack of tourism in New York City is forcing the closing of five shows in January sent a cold wind through his forum yesterday and more bad news is surely to follow.

Should any of you still find yourself secure enough to consider year-end charitable giving and would like to support trumpet centric non-profits, please consider making a tax deductible donation of any amount to either of the excellent organizations listed below. They are both making a valiant effort to bring vitality to our art form and their survival rests in the hands of those who can help.


The Festival of New Trumpet (The Festival of New Trumpet Music 2008 : home)
Checks can be made out to: FONT Music. PO Box 31. Croton, NY 10520

The Chosen Vale International Trumpet Seminar (the CENTER for ADVANCED MUSICAL STUDIES)
Checks can be made out to: The Center for Advanced Musical Studies. PO Box 108. Hanover, NH 03755


Also, if any of you have connections to others who support the arts on a annual basis, please contact me via pm?

Happy holidays to all and thanks for reading this,
EC

ecarroll

TMers,

This recently from the President of the Kennedy Center. It points clearly to how vulnerable arts organisations have become and I believe that it's a worthy topic to discuss amongst those of us here that are involved (or wish to be involved) in our culture.

Best,
EC

No Bailout for the Arts?

By Michael Kaiser
Monday, December 29, 2008

Washington Post

While government bailouts are being offered or considered for financial institutions, the auto industry, homeowners, and so many other needy and worthy sectors, one group is quickly and rather quietly falling apart: our nation's arts organizations. In the past few months, dozens of opera companies, theater companies, dance organizations, museums and symphonies have either closed or suffered major cash crises.

As someone who has made a career out of fixing troubled organizations, I know that the problems faced by arts groups are often related to poor management and governance. I also know that the difficulty in improving productivity in the arts is a central cause of our financial challenges: It takes as much time to play Beethoven's Fifth Symphony today as it did when the piece was composed, and the same number of actors are required for "Hamlet" as when Shakespeare wrote the play more than 400 years ago. Unlike other industries, the arts cannot cover the cost of inflation by improving worker productivity.

This is why subsidies -- in the form of government grants or private contributions -- have long been required to help arts organizations balance their budgets. Well-managed arts organizations have typically been able to find the money required to operate if they create interesting programs, market them aggressively and build strong donor bases.

But these times are different.

Many organizations that spent years building large endowments to provide more stable sources of support have seen them decimated. A number of our most loyal donors have watched their own investment portfolios be depleted and cannot provide their traditional funding. Our audience members cannot buy as many tickets as they have in the past. And our board members are less able to involve friends and associates in our fundraising galas and other activities.

This perfect storm has already weakened the fabric of our nation's arts ecology. Over the past several months, the Baltimore Opera Company, Santa Clarita Symphony, Opera Pacific, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art and others have closed or come close to closing. There probably will be a torrent of additional closures, cancellations and
crises in the coming months.

We are losing the entertainment and inspiration we need more than ever during this terribly scary time. As we try to rebuild America's image abroad, we are losing our most potent goodwill ambassadors. As we reshape our economy, we are losing the
organizations that teach our children to think creatively. And as we celebrate the diversity of our nation, we are losing the voices that have traditionally helped change
society's thinking.

The arts have historically received short shrift from our political leaders, who all too often seem happy to offer bland endorsements of our work without backing those words with financial appropriations. But the arts in the United States provide 5.7 million jobs and account for $166 billion in economic activity annually. This sector is at serious risk.
Because the arts are so fragmented, no single organization's demise threatens the greater economy and claims headlines. But thousands of organizations, and the state of America's arts ecology, are in danger.

We need an emergency grant for arts organizations in America, and we need legislation that allows unusual access to endowments. Washington must encourage foundations to increase their spending rates during this crisis, and we need immediate tax breaks for corporate giving.

As John F. Kennedy said, "I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for our victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit." As we print billions of dollars in bailout money, isn't it time to ensure that we are saving our soul as well as our
economy?

The writer is president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. His book "The Art of the Turnaround: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Arts Organizations" was published in September.

TrentAustin

The theatre I perform in the pit often is on the verge of closing. North Shore Music Theatre - HOME It's really bad times for all arts organizations but here's hoping the collective good will of art lovers can help turn the tide.

__________________
http://trentaustin.com
Consultant, S.E. Shires Trumpets
Shires B59BLW "TA" model Bb trumpet
Adams Gold Brass Flugelhorn
Wedge Mouthpieces
PM me for an appointment to try a Shires!

siarr

It's always seemed remarkable to me that this country, touted as the greatest, richest, strongest, "beacon of civilization", and other such superlatives, has always been one of the weakest when it comes to supporting its arts. It's kind of amazing how well we've done in spite of being among the first to be thrown under the bus when money gets tight. The arts are considered expendable and superfluous in the educational continuum of America, rather than vital, soul-nourishing and absolutely essential to us as individuals and as a society. Whereas in other western nations the arts are revered and subsidized, we seem to pay homage only to those activities which produce and provide facile and mindless entertainment for the masses, and which generate the most profit. "American Idol" is our true culture, and not, as the hype would have us believe, the "elitist" and "highbrow" genres of the theater, concert hall, and art gallery.

When I was 16, I was fortunate enough to have played in the Brevard Festival Orchestra at the White House for one of President Kennedy's Concerts for Young People. I'll never forget the marvelous speech JFK made about the vitality of the arts in America and their importance to us as a nation. The arts were respected then, not treated as the snobbish domain of the privileged. Bernstein was on TV every Sunday with the NY Phil, sharing his passion for music with a nation that tuned in and listened raptly. We actually aspired to greater things, and there was no stigma to being well educated.

I fervently hope that we are now entering another cycle of change, in which the arts may once again resume their place of importance in our national priorities. The president-elect has a frightening amount on his plate, and it will doubtless take time, but I cannot help but feel at least some optimism that eventually the pendulum will swing. We now will have a president who is articulate, sensitive, and highly educated. Perhaps we will see America regain some of the dignity and civility we have lost over the last few decades. Meanwhile, alas, we must hunker down and try to weather the storm as best we can. Let us hope that we do not lose forever some of the beautiful things that are a part of our cultural inheritance.

Best as always,
Chas

tedh1951

Just quietly remember;

- "Through Adversity to the Stars" -

It doesn't put bread on the table I know but we advance BECAUSE of the struggle - and that's why so many of us are Comeback players or part- timers. Well done All for continuing to advance the cause.

__________________
.
Ted

ecarroll

Wonderfully said, Chas. Thank you. Sadly I can't agree more about American Idol and don't get me started on crap like Guitar Hero.

Ted,

I hope you're right (and that not too many vital pieces are lost in translation)

Best to you both,
EC

Bill McCloskey

I'm not a big believer in government supported arts, and I think that countries that support the arts the most through government subsidies often put out the worst art. To a very strong degree, the arts have purposefully lost their audience by ignoring the needs of an audience in exchange for some ill defined need to "advance" the arts.

A little struggle is good. Forcing the arts to become more dependent on building and maintaining an audience is also good.

The arts don't die: people will always be creative. Government sponsorship of an art form that costs so much to put on that only the very rich can afford to go to the subsidized art form is not necessarily something I'm willing to get behind.

On the other hand, loved the Festival for New Trumpet Music. I supported it the way it should be supported: I paid to go to a number of the concerts it put on, bought food, CD's, books, and posters at the venues that hosted the concerts, and talked about the experience here and on other forums.

How many of you trumpet players here in the New York area went to the Louis Armstrong house to hear 3hree for Louis, or to the Jazz Standard to hear the Woody Shaw tribute? I was there and the money I paid was my support. That is the way it should be.

ecarroll

Bill,

It's terrific that you support FONT in this fashion. It remains viable, frankly, because nobody gets paid to perform and overhead is low. An organization like Chosen Vale, on the other hand, has to rent a venue, catering, etc. 78% of the budget come from tuition and the rest via private donations that can be deducted from taxes. I've taught at countless masterclasses around the world with a similar situation, but only those in the US don't receive some sort of token governmental support. Are these organisations elitist? No, I think not. Their national, regional, or city (in the case of Germany) governments simply feel that culture is part of the fabric of life and deserves recognition as such.

I agree that changing times offer opportunities to re-evaluate and, when possible, grow in unexpected ways. If fear, however, that the point that Mr. Kaiser is making is that far fewer will be able to make a living in, or enjoy, the larger and thus more vulnerable organizations such as those that have already fallen. Survival of the fittest? Maybe, but it smells more of Animal House to me.

Best,
EC

ps: this is not a political issue. The arts have suffered under every administration since Carter. It is, however, a question of economic priorities in our great society.

ecarroll

I agree. Nor do I think that taxpayers should build sports stadiums for what are certainly for profit enterprises like the New York Yankees.

E

siarr

Bill, I agree with you up to a point. I don't feel that the arts should get blanket subsidies with unlimited freedom. As you imply, state-supported art often becomes tainted by corruption, censorship, and other problems (the old Soviet Union comes to mind). However, there are other ways the government can "support" the arts than financially. They can create programs to raise awareness of our cultural heritage without the usual "elitist" associations. A grassroots PR campaign which emphasizes the universal appeal of great music, literature and art for everyone would go far in bringing our culture up to a higher level. At the same time, offering incentives to corporations and philanthropists to create more affordable venues, free concerts, etc., would also start to engage a wider public. If our corporations have the power to "dumb down" the public to reap greater profits, they also have the power to "smarten up" that public if the incentives are there (i.e., profits). It's a matter of will and creativity.

In the short term, we're going to be seeing the demise of many cherished organizations: symphonies, theater companies, museums, etc. While I agree that the arts don't die, arts organizations do, and in a time of economic trauma I don't have a problem keeping them afloat (or "bailing them out") until things get better. No one expects the government to support the arts - or the banks or the auto industry forever, but we don't want to see them disappear either. Most importantly, we need our leaders, both government and corporate, to encourage a mindset in America that openly rewards and encourages artists and intellectuals as well as athletes and film stars. It won't happen overnight. Raising our cultural standards is a gradual process. But I like to dream of a day where you can go to a rock concert one night and a symphony concert the next, and see the same people in the audience. It's just a matter of education. It could be done.

Cheers,
Chas