Tag: 12.21.16

Top Posts From AJBlogs 12.21.16

The devastating debut of 4:48 Psychosis (the opera) stands high in 2016’s best
4.48 Psychosis Royal Opera / Lyric Hammersmith, London
The guy behind the ticket counter at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre checked out my Brooklyn zip code and asked “Did you come over for this?”  … read more
AJBlog: Condemned to Music Published 2016-12-21

“Meditations on Mortality”: Illustrated Companion to My WSJ Review of Jasper Johns/Edvard Munch at VMFA
John Ravenal, curator of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond , set himself two prerequisites for undertaking the scholarly yet easy-to-love show Jasper Johns and Edvard Munch: Love, Loss, and the Cycle of Life  … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-12-21

Jazz warms Chi spots: Hot House @ Alhambra Palace, AACM @ Promontory
There are good arguments for building venues just for jazz. But speaking of arts communities in general: Most are moveable feasts, fluid, transient, at best inviting to newcomers to the table. … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2016-12-21

 

Orchestras Are Charities? Not Compared To Museums

The estimable Adrian Ellis writes about potential pressures on New York’s major art museums in the Trump era, warning about potential tax changes and financial instability:

The outlook for New York’s largest art museums is a little unsettling. A Trump presidency is anxiety-inducing not because of any direct financial impact, but because of its potential impact on the world economy, and therefore on New York philanthropy and tourism. Perhaps more significantly, a culture war between scapegoated elite liberal and humanities institutions and a populist presidency seems likely. This climate may in turn affect both their overall appeal to the narrowing band of philanthropists and put at risk the fiscal privileges they enjoy under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code.

But what caught my eye is one of the accompanying charts showing what percentage of their budgets New York’s major museums earn in revenue:

Yes, that’s right – even charging $25 admission, the Whitney only earns EIGHT percent of its budget from admissions. The Met is close behind at 12 percent and MoMA is at 17 percent.

Compare this to data about symphony orchestras, released a few weeks ago. On average, earned income accounts for an average 40 percent of  orchestra budgets. In fact, one of the key headlines in the report was that for the first time philanthropic income exceeded earned income making orchestras “charities”, in the words of the New York Times.

Arts business models are constantly adjusting. The financial mix that was considered healthy 20 years ago is different than what is now considered normal. One key factor is balancing the cost of attending (ticket price) with accessibility. Is $25 “accessible” for a museum? Is $150 for an orchestra seat? Why not $300? Or $5?

The point is that they’re all philanthropic models. The only question is how much of a subsidy can be justified or practically raised. And, as earned income declines as a percentage, that is increasingly a political question about who we want our audiences to be.

Chief Of Vienna State Opera To Be Replaced By Recording Exec

“Bogdan Roscic, 52, will take up the post in 2020, moving from Sony’s classical music unit which he has headed since 2009. Before then he worked at Decca Music Group and an Austrian pop music station, but has never been director of an opera house before. He will replace Frenchman Dominic Meyer, whose tenure, which started in 2010, has been marked by clashes with star conductors Franz Welser-Möst and Bertrand de Billy.”