San Antonio Symphony News and Archive

Letting symphony wither an option that falls flat




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from the editorial section of the San Antonio Express News 9/11/98



To have or not to have a symphony?

The question is one residents in a city the size of San Antonio shouldn't even need to ponder.

Yet, here is the San Antonio Symphony again on the verge of disaster, its 60th season on hold until symphony officials, among them Express-News Publisher and former symphony board Chairman W. Lawrence Walker Jr., can find a way to retire a more than $1.5 million debt.

Knowing how the cultural institution arrived at this perilous crossroad is important to understand what needs to be done to save it, as much in the short term as the long.

• Symphonies must raise 50 to 60 percent of operating costs from external support, including individual contributions, corporate donations and public funding. San Antonio's corporate philanthropic base, when compared with the nation's big cities, is small.
• City funding has eroded over the years, forcing the symphony to scramble in an already tight circle of donors. This "back-to-basics" council fails to understand that no number of well-paved streets will amount to much if a closed-minded attitude allows San Antonio to become a cultural ghost town.
• The city's contract with Arts Center Enterprises to manage the Majestic Theater further has plundered the symphony's purse. The symphony must pay ACE several hundred thounsand dollars annually to use the Majestic. The symphony should be allowed to use the Majestic cost-free for rehearsals and performances.

Support appears to be growing in the city's corporate community, as it is among some city leaders. But the concessions they are asking from the musicians may so diminish the symphony's quality, it won't be worth saving.

The musicians have indicated they're willing to bear some of the symphony's financial pain. Smaller salaries, and thus a decreased ability to attract quality musicians, or fewer positions in the symphony shouldn't be part of the equation.

The symphony, under the direction of music director Christopher Wilkins, enjoys critical acclaim. Chipping away at this image harms San Antonio more than many may want to believe.

Supporters of the symphony Wednesday joined musicians in a show of support for the group.

"I think that if this postponement wakes up the community and the authorities to the very real danger of losing the symphony, that's fine," historian and educator Jacques Barzun said. "But if this is a vestibule to losing the symphony, I would grieve."

So should this city.



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