“The Philadelphia Orchestra will program musicals,” writes Peter Dobrin in Wednesday’s (10/19) Philadelphia Inquirer. “It will set up new philanthropic councils made up from donors with special interests and, starting in 2018, from outside the city. The orchestra is starting a series of master classes with guest artists. And it will develop more ways to lure and keep younger donors. These new initiatives and some others—culled from a report from … arts consultant [Michael Kaiser] … were approved Oct. 4 by the orchestra board…. The board also approved one-year funding for these programs to the tune of $1.17 million, much of it already found via special fund-raising efforts. The report … was completed in spring after six months’ work interviewing funders, board members, musicians, staff, and others associated with the orchestra…. During last year’s negotiation over a new labor contract musicians had pushed for Kaiser’s recommendations to be adopted…. The orchestra has not retained Kaiser for the implementation phase.… Rather, existing and new staff will carry them out…. Some of Kaiser’s recommendations coincided with programs the orchestra was already in the process of developing, while others were new, said Matthew Loden, the orchestra’s executive vice president for Institutional Advancement.”
Posted October 20, 2016
