Hartford: It's over but it's not pretty.

Not much of a party...

As I previously predicted, the labor relations stalemate has ended with the musicians caving in to the demands of management. Very little has changed in the eventual settlement and the players have made almost unconscionable concessions to keep the music playing.

The "boots on the ground" have come out in great number to report on the resolution.

Mara Lee

Mara Lee, who has made considerable and insightful contributions to this issue in the Hartford Courant, writes that Its money problems are not over, but the vote by Hartford Symphony Orchestra's board Tuesday – after musicians' vote Monday to accept significant wage cuts — means that a major institution will continue to be part of the region's cultural landscape. Some of the principals in the drawn out negotiations (which should have begun before the previous contract expired, not a year after) commented in Ms. Lee's article:

• Steve Wade, an oboist, said that some musicians cried as they spoke during four hours of discussion Sunday night, while others expressed anger, before voting on management's offer. He declined to say what the vote tally was, but said it was not unanimous. The vote reflects that we want to be on stage for a long time," Wade said.

• Stephen "Steve" Collins, Director of Artistic Operations and Administration: said the wage concessions will reduce what had been a projected $900,000 deficit in 2016 to about $500,000. He said management also has a plan to cut $350,000 in overhead and to raise an additional $350,000 annually. The orchestra raised $2.5 million last year. "This is definitely a challenge. We cannot do this alone. We need the community's support," Collins said. "This agreement we've come to conclusion with the AFM, it's not a silver bullet, it's one piece of the puzzle."

Steve Collins, a musician who
sold his soul to the Bushnell

The puzzling thing to me is Steve Collins himself. He come from a performance background, having played in the percussion section for a number of small time New England orchestras. As one of our readers recently commented, Steve Collins was hired largely for this purpose: to sit across the table and extract punitive cuts from people he should view as colleagues, brothers and sisters.Something in his career must have driven a wedge between himself and musicians.

Katie Pellico, Assignment Editor for WTNH, quotes from the musician's press release, Unfortunately, up to this point in time our management team has been unwilling to make a similar gesture, a fact that makes it much harder for us to accept the salary cuts that are demanded of us. If we do agree to these concessions, we need to see that the values of the management we work for are aligned with ours.

Really? I find that very difficult to believe....

An anonymous piece in the Courant is just plain idiocy; offering "Five Reasons to Be Happy the Hartford Symphony will play on, the article (editorial?) notes:

1. It's a win. A major Connecticut institution isn't shutting down.

2. We're No. 2. Obviously, we aren't Boston, but Hartford has the second-largest symphony in New England. [And that's something to brag about? "We're number two! We're number two!]

3. It's a lesson. The musicians are making painful concessions to preserve something good. State legislators ought to pay attention. [The author(s) obviously have another agenda here.] 

4. It's like the NFL playoffs."The Battle of the Batons" starts Thursday night. For four performances, the three finalists for assistant conductor will square off. [No, it's not like the NHL playoffs at all. This is insulting to the music and the musicians. Of course, the parent organization decided to call it a "Battle of the Batons," possibly in hopes of attracting all of those Bruins' fans.

5. It's a chance to something different. They're staying, so why not go? All student tickets start at $10. If you're under 40, Thursday evening Masterworks tickets start at $28. Rush tickets for senior citizens -- available an hour before the show -- are half price. [It's great music, offered by dedicated musicians. That why you go.]

Several things are still in flux, reports Hartford Business.com: The symphony has also committed to reducing expenses and increasing fundraising by $700,000, Collins said. He said that could be achieved in part by renegotiating vendor agreements and looking at employee efficiencies. He said those efficiencies do not include planned layoffs at this point. The remainder of the 2015-2016 symphony season will proceed as planned, Collins said. "There may be some modifications to specific programs", he added.

As a closing thought on this sad chapter in the lives of the orchestral musicians of Hartford, I must point readers to Drew McManus's recent post. He succinctly summarizes the aftermath: Although the concessionary settlement may be in place, the HSO’s greatest threat to long term sustainability remains unchecked; in particular, the relationship between the HSO and Bushnell Performing Arts Center (BPAC) and its influence on maximizing revenue.

Bushnell: the one-sided dalliance has to go

About David Fay, the Bushnell, and its role in this dispute, McManus states,

No One Can Serve Two Masters

As mutually exclusive 501(c)3 organizations, the HSO and BPAC compete for the same board and donor resources. In turn, the unearned income from those resources contributes to the majority of the orchestra’s revenue. In short, these are among the biggest chips in the revenue game.

The lynchpin in that board sourced revenue process is an institution’s CEO.

Although a nonprofit board is entrusted with the legal authority to hire, oversee, and hold a CEO accountable for results, the reality of that relationship plays out with less clarity.

Inside many nonprofit performing arts organizations, board members often lack enough direct nonprofit management expertise to carry out those duties effectively. As a result, the CEO tends to fill a dual role as someone who reports to the board, but also educates them on how the business operates.

Moreover, the CEO is also a key figure in recruiting the best available board talent and inspiring those individuals to maximize unearned income potential.

In the HSO’s case, installing a CEO that serves in the same position at what would otherwise be a competing institution invites a nothing short of a conflict of interest.

* * * * * * * * * *

The musicians are obviously the losers in the Battle of Hartford. The winner(s)? Look to the top.

Why, it's David Fay!

Hartford Symphony's Value Is Greater Than Its Music

Maybe in the Chorale; Not so in the HSO.

I've written a great deal about the Hartford Symphony, so much so that some might accuse me of ulterior motives. I have no skin in the game. I don't know anyone in the Hartford Symphony or the city of Hartford (unless you're talking about a loose connection with my auto insurance policy, issued by--drum roll please--the Hartford. I've never even been to Connecticut; some day I'll remedy that. I hope to be able to hear the Hartford Symphony.

But I thought I'd step away for a moment and allow someone "on the ground" offer his thoughts on the impasse (I think of it more as a crisis). This from Robert Thorson, a Professor at UConn's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, in the Hartford Courant, January 6:

Prof. Robert Thorson

The Hartford Symphony Orchestra must not be silenced. Something must be done to clear the impasse between management and labor, or in this case between the symphony's board of directors and its unionized musicians.

My life would continue normally if the orchestra were muffled. But it would be diminished. Not because I attend many concerts. But because I would wake up each morning knowing that my state's capital city supports minor league Yard Goats, but not major league music....

Happily, the HSO impasse is less about music than money. This has always been the case with public orchestras. Indeed, the HSO was founded in 1934, not by a professional musician, but by a prominent local businessman, Francis Goodwin II, who understood the symbolic value of bringing a "real" orchestra to a rising city. And it was founded not by philanthropic largesse, but by a federally funded jobs creation program to help struggling musicians get through the Great Depression. The history lesson is clear. Public financial support is essential, then and now.

The board of directors wants to cut musician salaries by 30 percent. (Actually it is more than that.) In turn, the musicians claim that the root cause of financial trouble lies with the board's vision. Surely the truth lies in both camps. The musicians can hardly go on strike. And the board can hardly shift to another product line. We, as listeners, need them, as much as they need us.

Let the music continue.

Kuan, Is she this happy now?

Although Music Director Carolyn Kuan has offered to reduce her own salary, one has to wonder if that is enough. As the HSO made its final offer, Mara Lee reported on Friday that HSO Board Chairman Jeffrey Verney did not return a call for comment. Apparently, neither did "Artistic Director Steven Collins (who) declined to be interviewed about how the final offer differed from last week's comprehensive proposal."

One word about Kuan's benefits. They include a rental apartment, a rental car, and travel costs. From Ms. Lee's article: Kuan's salary in 2013, according to tax forms charities file, was just over $154,000, although she also received $24,240 in nontaxable benefits, including the cost of renting her apartment, automobile rental and travel costs. Kuan, who became the symphony's 10th music director in 2011, signed a six-year contract last year that begins in June. These are all things associated with the current "absentee landlord" type of conductor. Take several jobs but live wherever you like. Don't make a commitment to the community in which you serve and, in kind, serves you and your musicians.

Management continues to lament the difficulty in maintaining its donor base. Honestly, that shouldn't be difficult in a city with an much insurance money as Hartford. But, of course, who in their right mind would want to offer financial support to an organization that has proven itself an administrative nightmare and a financial black hole?

My thoughts? The musicians will cave because they have no choice. This obviously isn't a full-time job for an of them; those are reserved to the Music Director (who must have work elsewhere) and administrative personnel. We're not going to see "the day the music died" in Hartford, but it will certainly be performed by musicians who see the value of that work gravely diminished.

Bushnell: Show me the money!

As the Hartford Symphony approaches the (literal) zero hour, I've stepped back a bit from reading about last ditch efforts to save the HSO. Yesterday, I offered part of a letter from an HSO musician, trumpeter Jay Lichtmann, who wrote Mr. Fay has promised to use the Bushnell's development office to help raise funds for the symphony, but little has been done on this front. The orchestra's debts continue to mount while sizable new financial commitments have been made.

From Dictionary.com: Alliance; noun

1. the act of allying or state of being allied.
2. a formal agreement or treaty between two or more nations to cooperate for specific purposes.
3. a merging of efforts or interests by persons, families, states, or organizations: an alliance between church and state.
4. the persons or entities so allied.
5. marriage or the relationship created by marriage between the families of the spouses.
6. correspondence in basic characteristics; affinity: the alliance between logic and metaphysics.

This?

This "alliance" has always seemed to me to be one that could only benefit the Bushnell Center, while it actually should be the other way around. If the arts center and its CEO, David Fay, really cared about the future of orchestral music in Connecticut's state capital, the development office would have leapt into action. So far, there has been little, if any effort in this regard.

So it's not an alliance. Merriam Webster offers these "near antonyms": breakup, dissolution, disunion; division, parting, separation, severance, split; alienation, divorce, estrangement. But none of those work as they imply that there was a real "alliance" in place. 

Or this?

As the labor situation has continued to escalate and the threat of a shutdown is imminent (midnight tonight), I have begun to receive reports from sources close to the symphony. One writer, who wishes to remain anonymous, wonders why nothing has been written about the organization's endowment. Well here's an answer from the HSO's 2014 IRS 990 form which indicates "investment income" of $1.35 million. What that tells me is that there is a pile of money laying around somewhere collecting all that interest. 

N.B. If one digs just a little deeper into the 990 information (check out part X) one discovers total assets of $9.8 million, which includes over $9 million in investment securities.

Eschewing altruism, one has to wonder exactly what's in this alliance for Bushnell? My source asks, What was in it for that organization? What profits, pluses, benefits. If you analyze this situation it is obvious that the answer to above questions is: none. When the merger happened, Bushnell was presented as a savior. Here we had a ailing company (HSO) joining with a strong company in promoting and distributing the arts. It seemed that HSO was the ONLY side to reap all the benefits. My question exactly.

Among the selling points to the HSO in the "alliance" (increasingly it seems nothing of the kind) include development monies of which only about 25% of the promised total has materialized. The other strong selling point were the savings the Symphony would receive on hall rental, according to my source. The HSO paid up to $60,000 a week for Bushnell rental for its concerts. Another one? The HSO was to pay only small administration fees to the Bushnell, therefore it let go of several of its employees thus saving some money. 

The reality of the situation is staggering. The Symphony is STILL paying the $60,000 per week fee! The administrative costs paid to Bushnell are around $300,000 per year. The HSO is bleeding money which goes directly to Bushnell.... Interestingly enough, The three board members who pushed for merger the most resigned or "retired" from the board a the end of last season.

There seems to be a lot of money to be made,
but where is it going?

There's more to this but will require some real "boots on the ground" investigation.

Now, here is what I've gathered about Steve Collins, the Executive Director pro tem. (Let's call the position what it truly is....):

In the summer of 2015 the musicians and management were already in contract dispute, the new contracts were not issued, the donations were not coming in, the situation was dire. Yet, Steve Collins uproots his whole family, his freelance musician wife [If you don't know what freelancers make, talk to me] and two young children and moves them to Glastonbury where he buys a $450K house. It seems like unwise move, right? Some of you mentioned in the blog that Steve Collins is really "the man in charge".  I hope not, I hope he was just as misinformed and played with as musicians. The alternative is just too terrible to comprehend. Many of us know him from the times long ago when he was a musician and spoke a slightly different language. It will be interesting to know see what happens to Collins' career after the HSO is no more. If he stays with the Bushnell...well we will have our answer. It seems to me however that Mr. Collins is a puppet in Mr. Fay's hands.

Maybe I'm getting jaded in my old age. I have been around the block more than once, with educational institutions and a number of non-profits. As a shameless plug, if you want to help a musical organization get out of a hole, talk to me about that too.

If this is true, then the ED pro tem got a pretty sizable raise from his position in Waterbury. Of course, I don't know what $450K buys in Connecticut. Here in Dubuque, the city fathers and mothers spent that much on a public restroom (I wish I was kidding).

Dubuque's infamous $450K bathroom
No, the toilets are not gold plated...

One last point that I've been thinking about and my source also questioned involves educational programs, i.e. getting symphony musicians into the schools. I understand that there has been a lot of this in the past but not a single performance yet this year. If things in Connecticut work like things in Iowa, such programs are usually supported through grants from arts councils, corporations, foundations, etc. If this is the case, Bushnell is in violation of the terms of these grants. It's like restricted endowment funds; you can only use it for its intended (or "granted") purpose. Renege on that agreement and the money has to return to its original source.

This is one convoluted mess. On the one hand the HSO is getting ready to fold. On the other hand, Bushnell continues to reap profits on the back of the HSO and, in kind, its musicians. The real winner in this "alliance" (I really need a better word) is obvious and its not the orchestra, the musicians, nor the community.

In all of this, Mara Lee, writing for the Hartford Courant, tells us that Conductor Carolyn Kuan did not return a call requesting a comment. When Atlanta faced a long and ugly lockout, conductors Robert Spano and Donald Runnicles were adamant about the situation. Osmo Vanska almost single-handedly brought the Minnesota Orchestra Association to its senses and hastened the departure of then-ED Michael Hensen. And Carolyn Kuan (who just received a raise and a six-year contract extension) is mum.

Tomorrow is the Ides of January: sadly fitting....

It is possible to go from band to worse: A Hartford Update

In the midst of the storm raging between the Hartford Symphony management (which is the Bushnell Center for the Arts) and its musicians, Steve Metcalf, of WNPR, wrote in response to the management threat to shut down, It’s hard to know what to say. One’s first impulse is to grab the key figures on both sides by the collar and throw them into a locked room and say: “Dammit, solve this!”

Yep. We saw the sign....

The major issue remains "guaranteed performances" for the orchestra's core musicians. Bushnell want to cut those by 30%. The effect on the musicians would be financially devastating. "Sadly enough, I take the shutdown threat as being real," Metcalf continues.

That was December 18. There is much more to Metcalf's column, but the news continues to worsen.

Mara Lee

Move forward to January 6 and Mara Lee's article in the Hartford Courant. She notes that, On Wednesday, he (Stephen Collins, the symphony's director of artistic operations and administration) said management has told the union that if there isn't an agreement in place by Jan. 15, the only decision left at that point is to determine "exactly how we proceed in shutting down the organization." Bushnell has not been forthcoming about the contents of any contractual proposal and, in fact, has refused comment to the Courant as well as outside arts consultants (including Drew McManus).

On January 7, musicians unanimously rejected the latest "offer" from Bushnell, which apparently has remained unchanged since negotiations began last spring. And yes, it has gone from bad to worse yet again. McManus reports that the proposed collective bargaining agreement (CBA) now contains a cancellation clause which, in a press statement issued by the musicians, “In essence, the contract would be a one sided affair binding the musicians but giving HSO management and Board the ability to walk away from their obligations.” Furthermore, Bushnell is now engaging in "regressive bargaining", something that has occurred all too frequently as arts organizations attempt to cripple their employees, “Now, in addition to asking the core musicians to take a 40% cut, management wants to cut income producing services and reduce work opportunities for all of the musicians.”

Bushnell's self-imposed deadline is January 15. The Ides of March could be coming early this year. What happens after that is anyone's guess. There appears to be no best case scenario for the musicians or the community.

ADDENDUM: Irony of ironies:

The Summer 2015 HSO newsletter, Quarter Notes, announced

• A new six-year extension of Conductor Carolyn Kuan's contract with the symphony. Of course, this was after the expiration of the musicians' CBA.

• Among things that are NEW at the HSO: Did you notice the new name of our newsletter?* Since we publish quarterly, the name “Quarter Notes” seemed more appropriate and a bit more “quirky.” We’ve even altered the graphics to depict a quarter note in place of the eighth note that used to be there and the HSO logo (a great logo) is now back. Now isn't that thrilling.

• Some kind of gala event entitled Bravo! (held in May) netted over $130K to support the HSO and its programs throughout the community. Wonder where that cash has gone...

Carolyn Kuan

I have also neglected to note that the HSO has created an Assistant Conductor position, a newly established post to (from the HSO website) assist Music Director Carolyn Kuan to extend the HSO’s community and educational outreach.  The latest IRS Form 990 (for the fiscal year ending in August 2014) indicates that Kuan received $154,369 in salary and another $24,240 in "other compensation." During this same period, the orchestra was over $450,000 in the black!

ONE MORE THING: In the "for what it's worth," David Fay, President and CEO of the Symphony (serving concurrently in the same positions with Bushnell) earned $374,521 plus $26,000 in the mysterious "other" category. This information found on Bushnell's 2014 990, found here. Several other Bushnell employees make in excess of $100,000 and Executive VP Ronna Reynolds clocks in at $217,829 plus an-"other" 37,554. Who says there's no money in non-profits?

Bushnell's David Fay
We'll be seeing more of him....