JUST A THOUGHT : Dead? Or dying?
Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Editorial/67377/
Jeannine Wagar is suffering from a broken heart. “ I had a lot of very, very good times in Fayetteville, ” she told me before her voice began to fade. She’s still trying to make sense of the bad times that have befallen the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, along with the twist of fate that took Wagar to New York City in search of a job.
To say the North Arkansas Symphony is going through a transitional period would be putting it lightly. Realizing that the orchestra board could not afford her $ 70, 000 per year salary much longer, Wagar says she voluntarily left the organization in March. Despite all the long hours. (Wagar and her compatriots were putting in 60 and 70 hours a week. ) Despite having left her heart in Fayetteville. (She hasn’t yet sold her Fayetteville home. ) Despite the North Arkansas Symphony having battled through a series of issues and playing at the top of its game this past season. In the end, it wasn’t enough.
Parting ways with her professional home of the past nine years, she says, “ really crushed me. ”
Amicable is the way Fayetteville’s Cathy Foraker describes Wagar’s departure. “ She did it out of love for the symphony. She didn’t want to see them get in a worse financial position. ” A seven-year member of the symphony board, Foraker says Wagar “ gave her heart and soul to try and make it work. ”
Foraker told me that symphonies across the United States are suffering in the current economic environment. Sadly, our local collection of professional musicians is no exception to the rule.
• In March came news that the North Arkansas Symphony would not perform a scheduled April 12 concert, its last of the season, due to a shortage of money. “ We need money, ” Wagar explained to the Northwest Arkansas Times four months ago. “ We have a fantastic board, orchestra, staff and musicians, but our fundraising campaign didn’t reach the goals we needed. We need more sponsorship and to do that, we’ll probably have to restructure and reassess the direction we’re going. ”
• In June the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that contributions to the North Arkansas Symphony had fallen way off (by more than half, according to former board chairman Mike Norton ) and that the Fort Smith Symphony had started inquiring about available dates at the Walton Arts Center — the NASO’s home base for several years. The story also noted that the North Arkansas Symphony had hired John Zurick, a past marketing director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, to meet with symphony supporters in the hopes of paving a new way for the ailing symphony.
Out of his recommendations came the Transformational Task Force, which formed earlier this summer. Foraker said the idea behind the task force (which is composed of area residents Bootsie Ackerman, Barry Cobbs, Cathy Foraker, Karen Kapella, Rhonda Mains, and Courtney Madden ) is to study “ every available option” and eventually report those recommendations back to the board.
“ We’re losing an investment in the symphony, ” says Foraker. “ So many wonderful amenities are here in Northwest Arkansas. But what the symphony has not done a good job of is reach out to corporations to help them recognize that the symphony is one more special amenity. We failed to transfer that into sponsorship dollars. ”
Wagar is a tad more blunt.
“ This is bull ****, ” she says of the symphony’s fiscal implosion. “ The donors should have thought this through. You support your local orchestra. ” She points a finger in the direction of big donors like Wal-Mart and the Walton Family Foundation for cutting back its support (“ I’ll never understand that, ” she says ). Wagar also blames the orchestra’s past business relationship with the Walton Art Center, which was hired several years ago to help the orchestra with marketing and development. “ Before the Walton Arts Center we had at least $ 250, 000 worth of funding to help us. That was gone after we left the WAC. ” For the record, Terri Trotter, interim president of the Walton Arts Center, says there is no issue with how the money was dealt with, and describes the previous arrangement (during which she says the WAC was managing the symphony ) as a learning experience for both sides. Aside from bringing in a major grant for the symphony, Trotter says the NASO has received special rates and booking opportunities for years. “ The Walton Arts Center really values its relationship with the North Arkansas Symphony, ” Trotter says. She also noted that the NASO is not scheduled to perform at the Walton Arts Center in the near future. Which is too bad. “ We need a symphony performing in Northwest Arkansas and being active in our community. It’s a big hole, ” Trotter said.
• • • As if things couldn’t get any worse, the North Arkansas Symphony had been scheduled to perform July 3 at Arvest Ballpark. The concert was canceled due to an ugly mix of thunder and lightening followed by an absolute downpour. Just before that, though, and with the stadium lights having gone to dark, violinist Aldee Marquis played “ God Bless America ” during the seventh-inning stretch. The drinking, loudly cheering baseball crowd seemed genuinely impressed by the sounds bouncing skyward from behind home plate. That last moment before the rains came was a peaceful one. This memory (coupled with the news that the symphony engagement has been rescheduled for Aug. 31 ) fills me with a modicum of hope that the North Arkansas Symphony will find a way to survive its current troubles and return to form in fine shape. People have been enjoying our area orchestra for 54 years, and they will go right along supporting the orchestra for many years to come, but will there be an orchestra to support ? Between the formation of the Transformational Task Force and the lack a conductor (Wagar says her contract with the orchestra runs through the end of 2009, and that she technically remains music director ), residents can be forgiven for wondering if the North Arkansas Symphony is navigating through a rough patch, or whether it is taking its dying breaths. Sometimes it’s hard to tell. For decades the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra has brought enjoyment to residents in this corner of the globe. Now, in the orchestra’s darkest hour, it’s worth hoping a few rays of good fortune befall the North Arkansas Symphony. The proud group doesn’t deserve to go out like this. Scott Shackelford is editorial page editor of the Northwest Arkansas Times. His column appears on Tuesdays.