Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Announces $1.3 Million in Cost-Saving Measures

By -

Executive and Artistic Leadership, Administration, and Orchestra Musicians Take Steps To Counter Tough Economy

Measures To Include Administration Pay Cuts, Furloughs, and A Hiring Freeze
Say it isn't so... I applied for their webmaster position...

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s executive and artistic leadership, administration, and Orchestra musicians have taken steps to counter the tough economy. The ASO has announced pay cuts, furloughs, and a hiring freeze in the 2009 fiscal year, beginning with President and CEO Allison Vulgamore, who will take a minimum of 7% compensation reduction. Vice Presidents will take a 6% pay cut, and all other employees will take a 5% pay cut. These cuts will be effective beginning with the April 3, 2009 pay period, and will extend through May 31, 2009 — the end of the 2009 fiscal year. These reductions, combined with previous cost-cutting measures, will result in $1.3 million in savings for the 2009 fiscal year, and will enable the ASO to continue to provide the highest level of artistic quality for all concerts and presentations.

Beginning June 1, 2009, and extending through May 31, 2010 (fiscal year 2010), salaries will be fully reinstated, but employees will take unpaid furloughs — Ms. Vulgamore will take 18 days, Vice Presidents will take 15 days, and all other employees will take 13 days. Music Director Robert Spano and the entire ASO artistic conducting staff join in the cost-saving measures through compensation reductions. In total, these ASO compensation reductions and unpaid furloughs will save the Atlanta Symphony over $750,000 in the 2010 fiscal year.

The Orchestra’s musicians and the Atlanta Federation of Musicians are also in discussions with ASO management to assist the institution in weathering the current financial environment. Daniel Laufer, president of the ASO Players’ Association (ASOPA) said, “While we are currently in the second year of a four-year collective bargaining agreement, the musicians have maintained a consistent, high-quality dialogue with Allison Vulgamore and her staff, and are sensitive to finding appropriate ways to play a part in helping the bottom line.”

“We take seriously the fiscal health of the ASO,” said Atlanta Symphony Orchestra President and CEO Allison Vulgamore. “Certainly, we are experiencing, together with our donors, patrons, board members, and employees, the tremendous challenges of these shared national concerns. We have great admiration for our ASO employees who have, through these compensation contributions, now become stakeholders and investors in the ASO’s mission during these extraordinary economic times. We are also tremendously grateful to our loyal patrons who continue to support the ASO through donations and with concert attendance, especially given their inevitable personal circumstances.”

Previous measures taken by the ASO have already reduced the economic impact on its revenue by $1 million in 2009. Earlier this year the decision was made to freeze open positions and delay the hiring of any new staff. Marketing initiatives, such as a recent one-week $25 ticket offer for 2008-09 season concerts, and other special offers to concert-goers, have kept the Classical-series ticket volume equal to what it was last year. In addition, recordings have been, and will continue to be, limited to Atlanta School of Composers projects in 2009.

Looking to fiscal year 2010, the ASO will sustain a lower headcount through the continuation of frozen and unfilled employee positions, and the redistribution of staff responsibilities. There will also be additional benefit savings in Group Health plans and other employee benefits.

“Despite the economy, the Atlanta Symphony has not cut our art. In fact we have performed for more young people this season than any season in our history through the Concerts for Young People,” said Ms. Vulgamore. “Our Symphony Street concerts will close the year with an increased student attendance of 13%, and Discover/Next Generation concerts will close the year with an increased student attendance of 16%. Our Talent Development Program celebrated 15 years this season, during which cellist Khari Joyner won the Junior Division of the Sphinx Competition, the first of our TDP students to do so. In addition, as a result of a $100,000 grant from Humana, in partnership with the Renaissance Learning Center , the ASO recently auditioned nearly 100 young musicians for its Kids with Strings program, a new TDP feeder program with a new partner that didn’t exist last year.”

Ms. Vulgamore says the ASO is committed to providing the community with stimulating art: “The ASO Theater of a Concert staging of John Adams’s opera, Doctor Atomic, and recently Haydn’s The Creation, both had a huge response, and we are looking forward to continuing our art with a performance by Yo-Yo Ma as part of our two-week Musica Ardiente! celebration of Latin America at the end of the season in June. And we are very excited to open our second season at our new summer home, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park .”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In ...
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

Teaching Composition – What are we trying to achieve

By -
In the process of learning composition I have spent time with a number of instructors who have encouraged me to write twelve-tone, pitch-class, electro-acoustic and other forms of experimental techniques. No matter how much I might understand and appreciate the work of other composers in the genres, these are not forms of music I resonate with. They are simply not forms of music I listen to and I struggle with the idea of writing them. However, in a Master Class by Libby Larsen she made the comment, “Learn them all, because all forms of music have something to offer.” This I very much agree. There are elements of each of the above mentioned forms (and others) that I do resonate with. Berg’s Violin Concerto is a beautiful twelve-tone work, although it is possible to look at numerous sections of the music with a “tonal” analysis. Another composer friend, Gary Bachlund commented that using these techniques can narrow the choices for how to compose a piece of work. If you look at ...
Read more