NewHavenBIZ

The New Haven Symphony at 125 A R T S & C U LT U R E Surviving, and even thriving, in an era of changing times and changing tastes By Frank Rizzo M aybe it was the "Beer & Beethoven" promotion. Or perhaps it was the "bushy- beard" contest that cele- brated a concert of music by the famously hirsute Jo- hannes Brahms. Both New Haven Symphony Orchestra events were hits, attracting a diverse and younger audience and reflecting the changing times of professional classical musical organizations. But Elaine C. Carroll, CEO of the fourth-oldest symphony in the United States, attributes the current health and vitality of her organiza- tion not just to creative marketing and programming but rather to a wide variety of factors, among them: the NHSO's partnership with its union musicians to work with the organization during economic hardships; the financial support of the community, the symphony's sizable endowment, its outreach efforts and a game-changing grant that stabilized the orchestra in tough economic times. About 15 years ago the NHSO, along with several other "anchor" arts organizations in the city, qualified for sizable grants from the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven — if they could demonstrate and deploy new fund- raising initiatives on their own. e symphony did — and that maneu- ver put $440,000 in the bank for the NHSO as a strategic cash reserve for the inevitable "rainy day." at deluge came sooner than expected in 2008 — when the U.S. and global economies virtually collapsed. e new reserve allowed the symphony to weather the signif- icant drop in contributed revenue through some tumultuous and trying years. "We didn't have to cut concerts, programs or musicians," explains Carroll, who has been with the NHSO for eight years. "Our musicians were also tremendous partners as we went through the re- serve and things hadn't quite turned around yet. ey gave us more flexibility in our contract." When better times did arrive, the NHSO's reserve was replenished through fundraising and a string of annual surpluses. is happened just as many or- chestras around the country faced strikes, lockouts and bankruptcies. Just up the road the Hartford Sym- phony Orchestra, a larger mid-size orchestra with an annual budget of $5 million, grappled with years of labor conflicts and red ink. "We've had some trying times in the last decade with many years of six-figure deficits," says Steve Collins, executive director of the HSO for the last three years. But there's been a fiscal turnaround with modest surpluses during the last few years. e HSO is also halfway through a new endowment campaign that has already gathered $7.5 million in pledges. "It's kind of a brave new world in a lot of ways," says Collins. "Simply producing traditional orchestral concerts the exact same way orches- tras have done is now absolutely not enough." While there are major economic and programmatic trends among many if not most American orchestras, approaches and tactics varies from place to place, explains Jesse Rosen, president and CEO of the League of American Orchestras (LAO), the umbrella organization for the nation's orchestras. "While there's a commonality of circumstances orchestras encoun- ter, the pathways to navigate them are oen very local," Rosen says, "and orchestras the size of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra oen have a greater degree of flexibility. One of the hallmarks of successful organizations dealing with change has been a readiness to experiment E ssential facts and figures about the New Haven Symphony Or- chestra as a business — one of Connecticut's premier institutions in the industry of arts and culture: • The orchestra's annual budget is about $2.1 million, and the NHSO has posted modest surpluses for five of the last six years. • The NHSO's 66 core musicians are paid only when they play, with certain minimum guarantees — 35 services per year — as opposed to NHSO Music Director Boughton (at right) arrived in New Haven in 2007. He finishes his 12th and final season with the orchestra this spring. Continued on Page 28 Bucks and Beethoven: e NHSO as a business being a salaried orchestra. • Attendance has actually been on an upswing, with 36,234 concert-go- ers attending last season (2017-18), of which 18,734 were young people. • The NHSO's "Pops" series of four performances of two separate programs has generated an increase in both subscribers and single-ticket buyers. • The "Classics" series in 2,600- seat Woolsey Hall featuring eight concerts now generates more single-ticket buyers than subscribers. Other series include a young people's concert series presented in four area communities, and a family concert series performed in New Haven and Shelton. • Ticket sales over the last five years have increased by 30 percent, with single-ticket sales rising from 7,349 tickets sold in fiscal 2014 to 11,999 in fiscal 2018 — and 9,090 so far in the 2018-19 season, with four months remaining on the musical calendar. • The NHSO realized significant cost savings when ticketing was transferred to the Long Wharf Theatre box office and its more sophisticated online software. More than half of NHSO tickets are now sold online. • Subscriptions are down, mir- roring a national trend. In fiscal year 2014 there were 6,845 NHSO sub- scribers. The present subscriber role is 6,419 (as of Jan. 30). But the figure is up from the previous fiscal year, which had 6,026 subscribers. n 30 n e w h a v e n B I Z | M a r c h / A p r i l 2 0 1 9 n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m

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