by David Stewart Wiley

We have just learned that Mill Mountain Theatre has closed and may declare bankruptcy, a disappointing and significant loss for our region.  Those of us who cherish live performance hope that MMT can reorganize with a workable business model, because we do need professional theater of the highest caliber as part of the tapestry of the arts in our region.

The news about MMT is prompting me to share some thoughts in regard to the Roanoke Symphony and our artistic business model.

During my tenure as Music Director & Conductor of the Roanoke Symphony these past dozen years I have observed the arts scene change, directors come and go, and funding sources shift for our region’s non-profits.  A not-for profit [501(c)(3)] like the RSO needs to demonstrate a successful business model just like a for-profit corporation. Programs, clear vision, and people matter, now more than ever.

We need to clear up any misunderstandings about what can really work for the long term, and why organizations like the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra (RSO) are important.  It is no surprise that just about everyone in the arts community is struggling financially right now.  First, some positive history.  At the RSO, we have slowly and steadily grown in the last 12 years from an organization with a $750,000 budget to a model regional orchestra with a balanced budget now just under $2 million.  We have expanded our education and outreach offerings to the community, deepened our ties and collaborative ventures with other non-profits, seen a remarkable increase in ticket sales for both our Masterworks and Pops series, and provide lessons for under-resourced children in minority communities.  We added exciting new crossover events combining different kinds of music, and premiere new works.  We collaborate with WVTF public radio and recently instituted podcasts on the web.  This month we begin offering Suzuki violin instruction in partnership with local schools.  We have run a modest surplus the last few years.  Our concerts at Shaftman Hall routinely sell out, and our Pops subscriptions have jumped by double digits.  We have a strong board, staff, experienced executive and artistic leadership, friendly volunteers, and talented and committed professional musicians.  We won the award for the best run small business in the nonprofit category from Chamber of Commerce this last fall.

Regarding the business model that has worked well for us: we have undertaken no capital campaigns, instead focusing our fundraising efforts on our mission and programs, and growing our endowment.  Anyone who would accuse us of being “elitist” simply hasn’t been to the RSO in a while or lacks an understanding that our mission demonstrates that great music is for everyone.  I am privileged and humbled to serve here as Music Director, for we should never take for granted that we have an orchestra for our region that cities with 10 to 20 times our population would be proud to have.

With the significant positive support and accolades the RSO has received, we are now ironically a victim of our own success.  Some assume that because the RSO has been doing great it does not now need donations or other support.  The facts suggest otherwise: in December we saw a 30% drop in donations from previous years and there has been barely a trickle in the mail or online since then.  Our endowment, just like everyone’s investments, has taken a beating.  Anticipating the economic challenges, we reduced staff size, cut expenses, held prices for new subscribers steady, and offered tickets for less than $10 for students.  But, with the decline in our endowment and the steady flow of individual donations slowing to a trickle, we face a potential six figure shortfall at the end of the season.  Thus, we need continued support from individuals, local businesses, and government.  We cannot and will not diminish the number of flutes required for a performance, nor diminish the rehearsal time required to achieve the highest standard that audiences have come to expect of a professional orchestra and chorus.

The RSO is not a financial drain on our region.  In fact, quite the opposite is true — for every dollar that we receive from local government we return the investment more than three-fold through admissions taxes paid to the city, facility rental fees, not to mention the business we generate for local restaurants, hotels, etc.  Our musicians and staff live here, we shop here, we pay taxes here.  An investment in the symphony is one of the best investments a community can make, insuring creative outlets for our kids, attracting businesses, young professionals and active retirees. The community of live performance gives us hope and inspiration in challenging and insecure times.  I like to think of these challenging times as an opportunity for us to evaluate what is important in our lives, to make the right choices.  In so doing, we answer President Obama’s call to support causes larger than ourselves, to become full citizens.  In contributing to the RSO and the rest of the deserving arts, we support of a successful, workable artistic and business model that benefits our region for generations.  Please spread this important news, and do your part to ensure our collective success through attendance at arts events and donations.  Buy tickets and or table seats for Rock, Symphony Circus (celebrating 50 years of Motown) and our other events this season.   This is your Symphony, and we need you now.

David Stewart Wiley serves as Music Director of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and the Long Island Philharmonic.

For RSO’s upcoming schedule, click here!

Also, if you bought tickets to canceled shows at MMT, you may be able to use them to attend RSO concerts, read the release below for details…

RSO Welcomes Mill Mountain Theatre Patrons & Tickets

The Roanoke Symphony Orchestra box office will immediately begin accepting tickets for canceled shows that would have been presented at the recently closed Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke.  The RSO sees the closing as a disappointing and significant loss for the region, and has devised a free-ticket-exchange offer, with some conditions, for MMT patrons through the end of the current concert season.  MMT ticket holders will be able to exchange tickets from any one canceled MMT show for tickets to any one of a selection of RSO concerts.  (The closing of the Theatre had meant that tickets for future MMT shows were a total loss to ticket holders.)  Contact the RSO box office between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday by phone at (540) 343-9127 for complete details.

According to officials at Center in the Square, where MMT is located, there are hundreds of subscribers holding tickets to shows that would have been presented following Driving Miss Daisy, currently running through February 8th.  Driving Miss Daisy is the last show that will be presented at MMT, at least for some time, according to the Mill Mountain Theatre board of directors in a recent release.

Mill Mountain Theatre patrons may use the free-ticket-exchange offer only once, and they must exchange tickets from one canceled show for tickets to one RSO performance between now and June 8, 2009.  Tickets may be exchanged for Masterworks Series and Pops Series performances only, and are subject to availability. MMT complimentary tickets will not be honored. Also, tickets may not be exchanged for RSO ³Extra² concerts or ³Special Events² currently scheduled or yet to be announced. Tickets must be exchanged in person at the RSO box office located on the 2nd floor of Jefferson Center, at 541 Luck Ave. in Roanoke.

To learn more about the RSO/MMT free-ticket-exchange offer, call the RSO box office at (540) 343-9127 or visit www.rso.com. The Roanoke Symphony Orchestra celebrates its mission to enrich lives, to educate, and to entertain diverse audiences in western Virginia with the highest quality instrumental and choral music.