San Antonio Symphony News and Archive

San Antonio Symphony Worth Investment

Corporate community must step up for 5 years




by Robert V. West Jr.

from the San Antonio Express News 4/10/98



Again this year, the San Antonio Symphony is locked in a struggle for financial survival, one so routine that community leaders hardly notice. In the past, the symphony always had something to fall back on - borrowing from its endowment or generous support from a benefactor.

Those crutches no longer exist. The symphony needs dependability of financial support. It cannot survive by making payrolls on a partial or delayed basis or by slow payment to its vendors.

Chritstopher Wilkins, music director of the symphony, is one of the most accomplished directors in the country. San Antonio is fortunate to have him. Wilkins has assembled and blended a talented group of musicians who are accomplished professionals.

He has brought to the symphony a community outreach that has never existed before. He has choreographed for African-American, Hispanic and Asian audiences, as well as for the symphony's historical audiences. Never before has the symphony had a better combination of musical talent and community outreach. But it still struggles financially.

No symphony in the country pays its way through box-office ticket sales. Symphonies require 50 percent to 60 percent external support in the form of individual contributions, funding from corporations and municipalities and income from endowments.

The San Antonio Symphony has a few of these support resources but not all. With its existing support, it still experiences a shortfall of about $600,000 per year. If it is to survive long term, the symphony must bridge this gap.

Some people might say, "Why does San Antonio need a symphony? Let's do without it or form a regional orchestra or shrink it to a size that its income can support." Comments like this, while well-intended, are off-target. Similar comments could be made about most of San Antonio's cultural institutions. San Antonio needs its cultural institutions. They are part of the fiber of a great city.

The symphony's development department has worked hard to develop financial support, but an expanded approach is needed. Corporate San Antonio should adopt the symphony for five years, covering the symphony's $600,000 per year shortfall while continuing its present support.

The adoption period should be long enough to provide the symphony finacial stability and time to develop alternative long-term viability. In recent years, it has never had the luxury of time to develop long-term financial viability. Rather, it has been preoccupied living month-to-month.

Where can five-year coporate support of $600,000 per year come from? I have quickly identified 20 or so companies, all with excellent philanthropic records, that could comprise an adoption group. More can be identified.

Each group member could not participate at the same level. Different companies have different financial capabilities. A practical adoption-sharing procedure would have to be devised. Three or four of the city's most-respected business leaders should convene a potential adoption group, explain the need for it and urge participation in it.

San Antonio should participate, too. It should restore its former symphony support of $500,000 per year that has eroded in recent years. Also, the city should comply with the recommendation of the 1994 Symphony Task Force of Mayor Nelson Wolff to furnish a cost-free, utility-paid home (the Majestic Theatre) for the symphony.

In 1989, the Majestic was renovated. Following renovation, the city administration entered a contract with Ars Center Enterprises (ACE) of Houston, giving ACE a great degree of control over the Majestic. ACE is a for-profit organization that books various entertainment forms into widespread venues.

Instead of being provided with a cost-free, utility-paid home, the symphony is required to pay ACE several hundred thousand dollars per year for an assortment of costs related to the Majestic. ACE even has booking control over the Majestic, at times forcing the symphony to perform elsewhere at great inconvenience.

Aside from the civic satisfaction of assuring the survival of the symphony, the adoption group should receive something in return. All that the symphony can give are free tickets.

the adoption group would be a winner because of what it had done for the city. The city would be a winner because a wonderful community asset would have been saved. San Antonio's residents would be winners because of the enjoyment they would receive. San Antonio's image as a great city would be enhanced, not tarnished.

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Robert V. West Jr. was chairman of the San Antonio Symphony from 1988 to 1993. He is the founder and retired CEO of Tesoro Petroleum Corporation.


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