San Antonio Symphony News and Archive

Does this city want symphony survival?




from the editors of the Express News

from the San Antonio Express News 4/11/98



Once again, as it has been in the past, the San Antonio Symphony is on the brink - the brink of destruction or of an exciting new era.

This community is at the crossroads. Will this be a major city that values its cultural institutions? Or will it lose its symphony - by letting it die or decline from neglect?

San Antonio is fortunate to have a variety of cultural offerings reflecting its diverse cultural heritage.

The city has a responsibility - and an opportunity - to nuture those diverse organizations, which are part of its attraction to tourists and residents.

The symphony is an integral part of the cultural scene, having, in spite of many challenges, grown in quality and talent and reached out to its multicultural audience.

Former symphony chairman Robert V. West Jr., a local business leader, in Friday's newspaper outlined a solid plan for the symphony's survival.

It contains three key elements, including a cornerstone of local corporate support.

West called for:


• An adoption group of local corporate benefactors to provide increased funding of $600,000 annually for five years.
• A restoration of city funding, which has eroded in recent years.
• Use of the Majestic Theatre cost-free for rehearsal and performances. (The city's contract with Arts Center Enterprises appears of far greater benefit to ACE than to the city.)

The symphony orchestra is too great a resource to squander. Assuring its financial health now would be much simpler than trying to reconstruct a defunct or damaged symphony later.

As West points out, the short-term survival of the symphony must be assured so that its long-term future can be addressed.



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