San Antonio Symphony News and Archive

Painful cuts may make symphony not worth saving




from the San Antonio Express News 8/26/98

by David Hendricks



An interesting article appeared in the New York Times on Wednesday, explaining the $7.3 million in gifts that will save the Houston Symphony.

Throughout most of the article, the word Houston could be deleted and replaced with San Antonio and it would make perfect sense, allowing for differences in scale between San Antonio and Texas' largest city.

That's because of similarities in the financial situations of the main professional performing arts group in both cities. Houston's and San Antonio's symphonies both have an accumulated budget debt.

Houston's debt grew to $7.3 million. The gifts, in the same total amount, are coming from the Wortham Foundation, the symphony's biggest benefactor to date, and the Houston Endowment, the largest grant-making foundation in Texas. Each foundation gave $3.65 million.

By wiping out the accumulated debt, the gifts will save the Houston Symphony about $500,000 a year in debt payments.

The New York Times article characterizes the gifts as "unusual in size and purpose" since foundations normally prefer to create new programs, not bail out existing ones.

The San Antonio Symphony's accumulated debt stands at about $1.5 million, but its situation is much more dire. The symphony here has only a tiny endowment of $1.1 million, far below what is needed to service debt and keep operations going.

A new "stakeholder" group has been formed in San Antonio that would add $700,000 a year to the symphony. The group so far is keeping its visibility low but has been listed in documents as including the new Kronkosky Foundation, banker Tom Frost and financier B.J. "Red" McCombs.

Whoever is in the group should be congratulated on trying to keep the San Antonio Symphony afloat. But there is a large worry as the symphony's 60th anniversary season opening concerts approach next month.

There is a big difference between what happened in Houston and what is under way in San Antonio. Houston, apparently, values its musicians and wants to do right by them.

Although the Houston gifts were contingent on resolving a salary dispute, which ended last week, the musicians still are assured of modest salary increases and improvements in pension and health insurance.

The new money in San Antonio apparently is contingent on a salary decrease, through a shortening of the season, with reductions in the pension program and employer-paid health insurance, not to mention eliminating several player positions for the already smallish orchestra.

If you are wondering, Houston players' base salary will rise, through 2002, from $1,200 per week to $1,425 under a 52-week per year contract for a yearly base salary of $74,100.

In San Antonio, the musicians' pay will be frozen at $732 per week for a proposed season of 36 weeks, down from 39 weeks, for a proposed annual base salary of $26,352.

Negotiations with the San Antonio musicians' union are under way. But the worry is this. Each musician essentially is being asked to take an $8,000 cut in salary and benefits per year. They are being told that fund raising in this city cannot go forward unless they do their part to balance the budget, about $600,000 a year, which is nearly as much as the stakeholders have put up.

Is this good for morale? Of course, not. The worry has to be that if the talented professionals of our orchestra pull out - about a dozen of the 76 already have - then the quality of the product on the stage is threatened. If it falls, the stakeholder contributions would be for naught. The symphony, an outstanding one now, may diminish to one no longer worth saving.

Why does Houston value its musicians? I can only say why San Antonio should. It's not just the classical and pops concerts the city would lose if the symphony disbands. The education concerts would cease, too. And the musicians would seek careers out of the city, leaving a huge void in music instruction in San Antonio because the musicians fill the faculties of the city universities and are the best private teachers around.

Without them, this would be a bleak, tuneless city for children to grow up in.

The New York Times article cites an increase in quality and visibility of the Houston Symphony under Music Director Christoph Eschenbach. The same is often said of the San Antonio Symphony under Music Director Christopher Wilkins.

Houston Endowment President H. Joe Nelson III is quoted as saying the Houston Symphony was "too important to this city for it to be allowed to lose its prominence."

Many people believe the same here. Certainly the new stakeholders believe so, or they wouldn't be putting up the money.

Their challenge is to find ways to protect their investment, not to undermine it.



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