Its the Economy, Stupid

Submitted by Jim Hirsch on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 4:27pm.

I’ve been thinking a lot about our economy recently. I’m wondering how $4 per gallon gas, a weakening dollar, the sub-prime mortgage mess, a huge federal deficit, and other economic trends will affect the micro-economy of classical music. The challenge for organizations like the Chicago Sinfonietta is that we make artistic commitments and budget assumptions up to 18 months in advance. Who knew last January when we were finalizing our 2008-2009 season that the stock market would decline significantly and that gas prices would set daily records? Would we have done anything differently had we known that the economy was headed for a downturn? Hmmm….. So,

How do you think will these factors affect attendance?

How do you think funding and sponsorship might be affected?

How should we as arts managers react to uncertain times like these?

What other factors do you anticipate affecting classical music in the future? Maybe I’m a bit pessimistic, but I’m not real happy with what I’m hearing and seeing right now. Can someone talk me down off the ledge?

Posted in

You're letting the media blow the downturn out of proportion. How many people are really unemployed due to the current economy? A handful. The people who are buying $50 tickets (or whatever they cost) aren't going to skip it because the gas to get there costs $4 instead of $3. What's your target demographic? West Virginia coal miners?

Hi Wahoofive,

Thanks for your comment - I got a good chuckle out of the coal miners question. You are right in that part of my concern is probably driven by the media, but our orchestra has seen a few other instances where the weakening economy has begun to show its effect in some small, but unmistakable ways. As for the unemployment question, that's a harder one to answer as we may have not seen all of the fallout yet from the sub-prime mess and a few other telltales.

Jim Hirsch

I imagine any effect will happen in the order of:

Corporate Sponsoring

Indiviual Donations

Subscriptions

Single Tickets

People will still subscribe, but their $500 donation from last year will be $200, for example. I have a feeling folks will cling to their tickets and make cuts elsewhere.

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your comment. I think you hit the nail on the head. Hopefully, we will see a good turn-around before too much of your list comes to pass. I'm working hard on staying optimistic!

Jim Hirsch

I've been giving this a lot of thought too, and I think it is a time of great opportunity for smaller groups.

In areas where major music groups are folding, their audiences remain and will continue to look for live music. What a wonderful opportunity for smaller groups to show that for less money audiences can hear great performances from groups they may have overlooked with the music performed in a manner (I'm thinking period performance specifically) they may have overlooked, performing terrific music they may have overlooked, and possibly in wonderful venues they may not know.

In areas such as Chicago where we are extremely fortunate to have our large music insitutitions intact, these large institutions also have to deal with donors donating less. Smaller groups have the chance to show donors that their donations go much further with the smaller groups. Simple math shows that it costs a lot less to put on a performance by a smaller group, so the same amount of a donor's money helps stage more performances. More great music for the same cost!

Last night I attended a terrific performance by Baroque Band at the Music Institute of Chicago in Evanston. I heard some of Chicago's finest musicians better than I could of heard them in Orchestra Hall in a period style performance on period instruments (WOW, Vivaldi played in it's original style on instruments that Vivaldi would have heard!) in a wonderful venue (beautiful space, terrific acoustics, seats much closer to the stage, AND convenient parking too!).

On Wednesday evening I attended Chicago Chamber Musicians perfromance at Gottlieb Hall at Merit School. A terrific performance. Great musicians, great music I've not heard before, great sound, great venue, great value!

Both of these performances cost MUCH LESS than attending the CSO, and at both performance I got to personally thank the musicians afterwards.

I'm not knocking the CSO. It's a great band, but it's expensive. My dollar went a lot further this week and the musical experience was top notch.

People are still hungry for good music. How and where they are fed is the opportunity. It's a great time for smaller more economical groups to strut their stuff.

Quit calling people stupid or they will push you off the ledge, financially that is.

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for your comment. I was quoting, in a joking fashion, the Bill Clinton campaign mantra, "It's the economy, stupid". I was certainly not suggestiong that users of this site are anything less than brilliant, fair-minded, exceptionally good looking, with great senses of humor.

Jim Hirsch

I understood and know the reference. Remember to whom Bill Clinton was talking, a political oponent. It was an adversarial relationship. Be careful with quotes.

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Its the Economy, Stupid

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