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....