CBSO in Peril?

[Zucchini]

Near enough I think.
Received Thurs ...

>>>

Dear CBSO members and supporters

I thought you would want to know that we have just heard that our funding from Birmingham City Council will be cut by 25% – a reduction of £228,000 – from April 2017.

As you will know, we have been working hard for some years to mitigate the impact of expected cuts. The Council had asked us to assume a cut of 36% this year, so 25% – whilst not good – is significantly better than anticipated. I am reproducing below a statement which has been issued today to the press and via our website.

It goes without saying that your support is especially valued at this time. Thanks to the incredible generosity with which so many people have risen to the challenge of maintaining the orchestra’s world-class excellence our fundraised income has risen from £450,000 in 2010-11 to around £1.2 million this year. Your support has enabled us to continue to aim high: without you we could not have appointed Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla as Music Director, and we would not be planning such exciting concerts and educational initiatives for the period up to our centenary in 2020 and beyond.

With thanks

Simon

Simon Fairclough
Director of Development

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The press statement mentioned is reproduced here in Slipped Disc

http://slippedisc.com/2016/12/breaking-mirgas-cbso-suffers-25-percent-cut/

(It's important to read some interesting comments)

[pastoralguy]

On the positive side, Sir Pip Green hasn't had to lose his £100,000,000 yacht.

But seriously, this is the thin end of the wedge. How long until other 'provincial' orchestras are put at risk by these cuts?

[jean]

How do the cuts compare with what other provincial orchestras are suffering?

Must look it up. Our most perilous moment came some years ago, and at the time IIRC Mr. Lebrecht said we didn't need an orchestra because we could always go to Manchester.

[teamsaint]

How do the cuts compare with what other provincial orchestras are suffering?

Must look it up. Our most perilous moment came some years ago, and at the time IIRC Mr. Lebrecht said we didn't need an orchestra because we could always go to Manchester.

Good luck with that Jean.

I had a decent look around for figures on the BSO, and , considering that a very substantial part of their income is from various public funders, recent information isn't too easy to find.

However, you can see their accounts to March 2016.

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00538351/filing-history

Local authority funding is certainly falling, by around £50k 2015 to 2016.

Interesting that Bournemouth and Poole seem to be supporting the orchestra reasonably solidly, while Hampshire have withdrawn all support, and Portsmouth Slashed theirs.
Southampton don't support at all, but there is very little BSO concert activity in the city.

[MrGongGong]

We aren't allowed to talk about "politics"
BUT what on earth do people expect when they "choose" the people in charge of things?

It's the "will of the people" i'm afraid
Never mind we could always "invest" in the vanity concert hall which seems to have hit the buffers

[pastoralguy]

We aren't allowed to talk about "politics"
BUT what on earth do people expect when they "choose" the people in charge of things?

It's the "will of the people" i'm afraid
Never mind we could always "invest" in the vanity concert hall which seems to have hit the buffers

The problem is the people 'in charge', i.e. Politicians, are simply middle management. The real people in charge are largely people we've never heard of who own the most money.

This was brought home to me during the period before the Scottish Independence Referendum when there was a big stushie about strikes at the Grangemouth refinery plant. So, the man who owned it simply said ' OK, if you want to strike we'll simply shut it down'. It took the SNP no time at all to come up with a compromise.

[teamsaint]

One problem, IMO, is that there seems little drive from within the music world, that I can see, to break out of the comfortable straightjacket of ( unpopular) public funding. This leads, I'm afraid to cautious programming and defensive activity.

The Uk's symphony orchestras currently exist because of public subsidy,not despite it, even if it that subsidy is shrinking.
I would think it would be a difficult task to try to break away from the grip of public subsidy, but until the time that even more generous public subsidy is forthcoming, that ought to be a direction of travel to aspire to.

Can anybody add detail to this comment on the Slipped Disc article?

"but the UK arts-funding climate has historically worked against private fundraising" – -

[MrGongGong]

One problem, IMO, is that there seems little drive from within the music world, that I can see, to break out of the comfortable straightjacket of ( unpopular) public funding. This leads, I'm afraid to cautious programming and defensive activity.

The Uk's symphony orchestras currently exist because of public subsidy,not despite it, even if it that subsidy is shrinking.
I would think it would be a difficult task to try to break away from the grip of public subsidy, but until the time that even more generous public subsidy is forthcoming, that ought to be a direction of travel to aspire to.

Can anybody add detail to this comment on the Slipped Disc article?

"but the UK arts-funding climate has historically worked against private fundraising" – -

Sorry matey but this is nonsense

All the orchestras I know would jump at the chance of not being dependant on "public finding"
but the reality is that other finding is erratic or non existent

Normal doesn't always talk out of his mouth

[teamsaint]

Sorry matey but this is nonsense

All the orchestras I know would jump at the chance of not being dependant on "public finding"
but the reality is that other finding is erratic or non existent

Normal doesn't always talk out of his mouth

just a discussion point is all, on an area that deserves wide ranging discussion.

I was interested in the comment I quoted, which seems to have some bearing on this issue, of the balance between public subsidy and other means of raising funds, and the way forward in a world where public subsidy is shrinking, like it or not.

[ardcarp]

The problem is the people 'in charge', i.e. Politicians, are simply middle management.

The CBSO was founded in 1920 by the city's civic leaders, led by Neville Chamberlain. A Tory politician. Hard to believe. A more enlightened age?

[pastoralguy]

The CBSO was founded in 1920 by the city's civic leaders, led by Neville Chamberlain. A Tory politician. Hard to believe. A more enlightened age?

Absolutely! Alas, today's 'people in charge' are simply concerned with grabbing what they can without the bother of leaving any kind of legacy.

[cloughie]

The problem is the people 'in charge', i.e. Politicians, are simply middle management. The real people in charge are largely people we've never heard of who own the most money.

They are not middle management they make decisions which lead to difficult to reverse changes and it was the Cameron government that decided to mortally change the funding to local government.

[Demetrius]

It's an ill wind that is blowing everywhere. There is a television show in Germany which exposes instances where taxes are wasted on useless projects (like building half a bridge). A few weeks ago they targeted the waste of 3 billion Euro that are wasted yearly ... in grants for opera houses and theaters. There is a reason why orchestras are being merged everywhere, it reads better than closed down due to budget cuts (the Proms this year featured one of the most prominent ones).

But the CBSO statement also shows that people are stepping up, the fundraising bit is significant. When the city council of Gera (one of my local orchestras) proposed to cut the orchestra by 50 % (not its contribution to the budget, the orchestra itself), people nearly torched the city hall until the council found some extra money. It's a fight we will all have to fight in the future.

[ardcarp]

There are many issues over which the public should have 'nearly torched' Parliament, student tuition fees...and their consequent 300% increase....being an obvious example. Sadly the British public (unlike French farmers?) are simply too supine to take any sort of action.

Back to the CBSO. If I am right, there is a 'CBSO Society' which indeed raises funds for the orchestra.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Our most perilous moment came some years ago, and at the time IIRC Mr. Lebrecht said we didn't need an orchestra because we could always go to Manchester.

That man shouldn't be allowed access to a pen, pencil, phone. tablet or computer.