Despite a rocky start to the year where the San Antonio Symphony appeared to be on the brink of shutting down, Symphony Interim General Manager Michael Kaiser says the orchestra will end the season with a surplus of $200,000 and is primed for growth in the future, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Kaiser, who is the former President of Washington DC's Kennedy Center, and is now Chairman of the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, and a successful 'fix-it man' for orchestras nationwide, says there are several factors causing challenges for the San Antonio Symphony which are by no means unique to the Alamo City.
He says the challenges facing symphonies include the fact that standardized test crazed schools nationwide are downplaying the arts.
"We've just generated from college our first generation of people in this country who know very very little about music, poetry, dance, opera, ballet, because they had nearly no arts in their public education,' Kaiser said.
He says another challenge which is no unique to San Antonio are the problems in the traditional recording industry.
"The recording industry is basically dead, and the recording industry made stars out of conductors, soloists, who we would then hire and have a built-in knowledge base in the audience."
And, he says there is the complaint common to many traditional forms of entertainment that they are being usurped by smart phones.
"From playing Angry Birds to watching You Tube to binge watching 'Game of Thrones,' there are so many ways for people to be entertained," he said, adding that none of those require the person to dress up, drive downtown, and attend a two hour performance.
That said, he says there are ways to turn around a local orchestra's performance.
He says the San Antonio Symphony still has several major assets, including the new state-of-the-art Tobin Center, top level musicians led by internationally known conductor Sebastian Lang-Lessing, the musicians' tradition of school outreach, and sold support from local government and from major foundations.
Kaiser says what the Symphony needs now is not more million dollar donors, but a lot more smaller donors.
"We haven't built the number of individual donors, those people who might give $500 a year, or $100, or a $1,000 a year," he said. "We don't have the breadth of arts donors in this city that we might see in other cities."
Kaiser says a couple of things that have been suggested will not work.
He says 'shrinking' the symphony from the traditional 72 musicians to a 'chamber orchestra' of thirty musicians has been shown not to be successful, as has a proposal that the symphony merge with Opera San Antonio and the San Antonio Ballet to form one unified arts organization.
He says the symphony has shed the 'image as a failing institution,' which is a good first step.
He says there are several moves the symphony will now make, in addition to working hard to broaden the donor base.
"In the coming season, we are doing a performance with the Guadalupe Dance Company," he said. "This is something we are doing more of and will do more in the years ahead."
He called for regular joint concerts with major symphonies from Mexico and Central America, as well as holding a festival of music.
"To bring together and do a biannual festival of Texas orchestras here in San Antonio," he said. "Bring some of the great professional orchestras and some of the great community orchestras."
Downtown Councilman Roberto Trevino, who is a member of the City-County Symphony Transformation Task Force, which was created following the symphony's near-death experience this past winter, was pleased with the progress outlined by Kaiser.
"Strong, accessible cultural programming is the hallmark of a great city, and I have great confidence that San Antonio will support a 30-week season with a 72 musician orchestra in 2019 and in the future," he said. "I am proud to have been a part of this incredible effort."
PHOTO COURTESY; SAN ANTONIO SYMPHONY AND TOBIN CENTER. USED BY PERMISSION