Category Archives: Labor Disputes

January 14, 2014 · 8:38 pm

Well

Well, let’s see what the news is today, Tuesday January 14 year of our Lord 2014…

*ambles over to Google News*

Obama to Place Restraints on Surveillance. Interesting…

Some rumblings about net neutrality. Compelling…

Why Journalists Frighten Putin. Haha. Haha, yeah. Dictators better beware of the power of writers…

…There’s apparently now a first-person cat simulator…

Oh, yeah, and the lockout of the Minnesota Orchestra musicians is over.

***

Um, so, I don’t really know what to say tonight besides thank you. Thank you to everyone. I didn’t have anything prepared to say tonight (no, duh). In all honesty, if I’d been forced to make a prediction at gunpoint, even a week ago, I’d have said another six to twelve months will pass, my friends and idols will ultimately be forced to their knees, Save Our Symphony Minnesota will fizzle out, and I’ll enter my twenty-fifth year as a total cynic who will forevermore hate orchestras and everything associated with them. (It was not a future I was particularly anticipating.)

But…that didn’t happen.

The contract on the table isn’t perfect by any means, but if you were expecting a perfect contract, you were always going to be let down.

We saved the Minnesota Orchestra and we saved it together. Because of our work, the Minnesota Orchestra will not die.

However, the new business model did. We killed it, and we killed it together.

But. Now we have to create the model that will replace it. And that’s where the hard work will come in.

Are you ready for that?

Tonight is not the end. In fact, it is only a chance to have a new beginning.

But in the meantime, I think we’re allowed to celebrate how far we’ve come, and think with hope of a better future.

***

18 Comments

Filed under Labor Disputes, Minnesota Orchestra

January 3, 2014 · 5:22 pm

Positive! Energetic! Experience!

Since I have such a broad readership so interested in the Minnesota Orchestra, I felt a moral obligation to pass this information along. I’m sure one of y’all will do great at this job.

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/ofc/4269685764.html

Minnesota Orchestra – Calling Center (Minneapolis, MN)

We are excited to provide a unique opportunity for those interested in the Arts and Cultural Community of the Twin Cities to call on behalf of the Minnesota Orchestra. This involves raising funds for the Guaranty Fund and selling concert tickets/subscriptions.

Working at the Call Center will enable you to work for a meaningful and worthwhile cause calling patrons and donors. This position will also push you to the fullest potential in a challenging, fast paced, positive and energetic environment! Callers will work in a positive and energetic environment. Scheduling requirements include 12-24 hours/week for evening and weekend shifts.

Click the link below for details and an application!

Positive! Energetic! Environment! … Exclamation mark!

Meaningful! Worthwhile! … ~Challenging!~ although maybe not for the reasons you’d initially think

So dust off those resumes and get ready for a positive and energetic experience!

POSITIVE AND ENERGETIC!

wink

***

11 Comments

Filed under Labor Disputes, Minnesota Orchestra

Tagged as

December 5, 2013 · 7:00 am

Happy Fun Exciting Hall Operations Analysis…Part 3/3

Here’s part 1 and part 2.

***

MOA has prepared budgets for the fiscal years 2014 through 2017, which assume settlement of the labor dispute and the return to regular performance season consistent with its strategic business plan

Assumes settlement WHEN? Because your revenue and your contributions are going to be drastically different if the dispute is settled in 2014 as opposed to 2017… Don’t you think you need to maybe, I don’t know, like, account for that? Otherwise the numbers are meaningless.

And consistent “with its strategic business plan”? Your strategic plan is no more. It’s dead. The last year killed it. Literally about half the things in there, if not more, are now impossible to achieve. So draw up a new plan. And do it right this time.

IT'S DEAD. IT FAILED. DAMN. GET OVER IT.

IT’S DEAD. IT FAILED. DAMN. GET OVER IT.

The conclusion to the letter is just blah blah blah blah blah. Nothing new, so I’ll skate past it.

So! Now let us look at the long-awaited 2013-2014 season…

It is a season so terrible that I’m actually relieved the players were locked out and prevented from performing it.

There are so many horrific highlights. Rocky Horror Picture Show. Endless Christmas celebrations. Jim Brickman: Be My Valentine….on Valentine’s Day. A program called: “Midtown Men or Meghan Hilty or Alan Cumming or Bond & Beyond with the Minnesota Orchestra.”

The poster for this event

The poster for this event

Continue reading →

31 Comments

Filed under Labor Disputes, Minnesota Orchestra

Tagged as ,

December 4, 2013 · 8:00 am

Happy Fun Exciting Hall Operations Analysis…Part 2/3

Click here for Part 1.

***

MOA has prepared and planned a full schedule of concerts for the fiscal year 2014 (F2014) season, to be presented when the labor contract is resolved. A copy of the full F2014 Concert Program is enclosed as Exhibit A.

I think by “full schedule of concerts for the fiscal year 2014” you mean “The Sh%&%$#st Hypothetical Orchestral Season Ever Known To Man (TM).” But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself…

The program includes concert programs with the Minnesota Orchestra, in some cases with guest artists and conductors

Actually, in most cases with guest conductors…SINCE WE HAVE NO MUSIC DIRECTOR.

as well as concerts by other groups and performers, such as the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Duke Ellington

Hmm.

463px-Duke_Ellington_-_publicity

Coming to Orchestra Hall in 2014!

Continue reading →

13 Comments

Filed under Labor Disputes, Minnesota Orchestra

Tagged as

December 3, 2013 · 8:41 pm

Happy Fun Exciting Hall Operations Analysis…Part 1 of 3

Today some reports from the Minnesota Orchestral Association hit the blogosphere, courtesy of audience advocacy group Save Our Symphony Minnesota. An Annual Report of Hall Operations and a Legal Opinion Accompanying the Annual Report? Oh, it’s Christmas!

So. Look over the documents here and here before going any further. They’re pretty short and they’re entertaining reads…as long as your sense of humor is dark.

This is the color of my sense of humor, so I'm good. *thumbs up*

This is the color of my sense of humor, so I’m good. *thumbs up*

I think I’ll aim for a three-parter. Why not? I’ll also title the article with some exciting adjectives like “happy fun exciting” to lure unsuspecting readers in.

Okay. So. Here are my preliminary reactions.

Continue reading →

8 Comments

Filed under Labor Disputes, Minnesota Orchestra

Tagged as

November 27, 2013 · 5:52 pm

Thanksgiving Snark

Question: Can I mock the Minnesota Orchestral Association while still leaving its CEO, board chair, and immediate past chair in the Bin of Irrelevancy?

Answer: This is my blog, I’m the queen of my blog, and I’ll do what I want.

Because the inspiration for this entry was just too beautiful in its absurdity to leave alone. I know I’m a few weeks behind the times, as this was sent out on November 1st, but this is a Mona Lisa of absurdity, and I’ve been pretty busy this month and haven’t gotten around to it yet, and I want so badly to mock this Thanksgiving Eve, and like I said, I’m the queen of this blog, and I do what I want, so there.

Behold

Behold the fount of absurdity!

Continue reading →

11 Comments

Filed under Labor Disputes, Minnesota Orchestra

November 21, 2013 · 11:48 am

Review: Minnesota Orchestra Musicians in Wagner, Mozart, Brahms

The thing that strikes me: by all rights, we should be despondent. And yet – I don’t think I’ve ever been to a more joyful concert.

The Minnesota Orchestra should be playing in its newly renovated hall in downtown Minneapolis. And yet – thanks to a fifteen-month-long musician lockout, they aren’t. Ted Mann Concert Hall on the University of Minnesota campus has been rented for musician-produced concerts instead, and it works just fine.

Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, the former music director of the Minnesota Orchestra, is ninety. Most men his age are crippled or dead. He shouldn’t be physically able to lead magisterial performances of Brahms and Wagner. And yet – here he is tonight, graciously accepting our wild applause, magically drawing forth music, gladly flouting his former employer in the classiest possible way.

The musicians should be performing on a newly renovated stage, fresh from triumph at Carnegie Hall. And yet – their Carnegie concerts are canceled and their music director is gone. Instead, they’re learning the fine art of PR, renting halls, serving on fundraising committees, debating repertoire, coordinating educational activities, and selling out concerts.

My volunteer audience activist friends should be occasional concertgoers and amateur musicians who go to concerts, enjoy them, and then go home to their families. And yet – now they’re devoting endless hours to poring over various orchestras’ financial records, while befriending influential politicians and studying the principles of non-profit management.

I should be curled up at home, a woman in her mid-twenties happy in her anonymity, writing essays about Victorian violinists that nobody reads. And yet – thanks to the lockout, I recently went on a WQXR podcast talking about the impact of social media on the arts with the former head of social media with the Dean campaign.

The last fifteen months have been one long story of “x should be, but y is.” Unintended consequences abound. People have tried to control them, but those who try, inevitably fail.

“It would be easy to be bitter, but I am thankful,” horn player Ellen Dinwiddie Smith tells us before the Brahms symphony. She is thankful for the audience, she says. For her colleagues. But most importantly, she is thankful for music.

Yes, I think. Yes.

We’ll soon announce a star-studded self-produced season to begin in the New Year, Ellen then says, very coyly, and the audience murmurs with excitement.

Continue reading →

17 Comments

Filed under Labor Disputes, Minnesota Orchestra, Reviews

Tagged as , , ,

November 12, 2013 · 7:00 am

Layoffgate? … or something like that

I know I’ve deposited Michael Henson in the bin of irrelevancy. And trust me, I’ve enjoyed leaving him there. But occasionally I can’t resist peering into the bin, especially after Bonusgate…and I want to take another peek now.

I was doing some research for a friend the other day when I came across this article from the Strib.

Minnesota Orchestra trims its staff

It’s from May 9, 2012. In it, the Minnesota Orchestral Association announced the axing of nine full-time positions (thirteen percent of its administrative staff) and seven part-time positions. In all, sixteen people received the soul-crushing news that their jobs were disappearing. Yes, it was acknowledged that some part-timers might come back after the hall reopened in “the fall of 2013” (how’s that workin’ for ya?), but the full-time position reductions were apparently permanent.

But on the plus side, the MOA was going to save $450,000 over the course of the 2012-2013 season!

Of course the November 2013 reader says, “Hey, wait a minute…”

Continue reading →

17 Comments

Filed under Labor Disputes, Minnesota Orchestra

Tagged as

October 12, 2013 · 11:06 am

Michael Henson’s Massive Bonuses

Minnesota Orchestra CEO Michael Henson saw two massive bonuses as he was planning for his musicians’ major work stoppage, totaling $202,500.

This information comes courtesy of the 990 that covers the time period between 1 September 2011 and 31 August 2012. It was recently quietly posted on Guidestar.org. This document is not on the Minnesota Orchestra’s website, so you will have to go to Guidestar.org to see it.

Henson bonus

Click to enlarge

Henson took home $386,916 in base compensation – $202,500 in bonus and incentive compensation – $9,800 in retirement and other deferred compensation – and $20,097 in non-taxable benefits for a grand total of $619,313.

Here is the explanation on the 990.

supplemental information

Click to enlarge.

Michael Henson’s bonus amount in Part II, Section B, Column 2 consists of bonuses for two separate fiscal years that were paid in the same calendar year. The bonus for fiscal year 2011 was paid in March 2011 and the bonus for fiscal year 2012 was paid in December 2011. Per IRS regulations, this schedule was filled out based on the calendar year 2011.

For comparison’s sake, here are some other American orchestras by budget – their expenses – who their executive directors are – how much they were compensated – and what percentage of the budget their compensation is.

Here are orchestras who haven’t yet publicized their 2012 990. This is from FY 2011.

Los Angeles Philharmonic – $103,925,230. Deborah Borda – $1,602,228 – 1.5%

New York Philharmonic – $68,400,555. Zarin Mehta – $887,401 – 1.3%.

And here are orchestras who have publicized their 2012 990.

Boston Symphony – $85,844,758. Mark Volpe – $622,938 – 0.7%

Chicago Symphony – $80,055,672. Deborah Rutter – $577,189 – 0.7%

San Francisco Symphony – $78,338,012. Brent Assink – $638,857 – 0.8%

Philadelphia Orchestra – $57,182,000. Allison Vulgamore – $610,446 – 1.1%

Cleveland Orchestra – $51,298,527. Gary Hanson – $584,498 – 1.1%

St. Louis Symphony – $26,597,756. Fred Bronstein – $394,572 – 1.5%

Houston Symphony – $25,817,059. Mark Hanson – $295,979 – 1.1%

Baltimore Symphony – $25,116,360. Paul Meecham – $261,843 – 1%

The Pittsburgh Symphony, Dallas Symphony, and Indianapolis Symphony were in a time of leadership transition so I left them out.

The Minnesota Orchestral Association’s expenses were $32,908,241. Mr. Henson’s compensation was $619,313… or 1.9% of expenses, roughly double the rate of other orchestras.

Edit, 1pm: The entry was altered. I – and my proofreaders! – made a (rather embarrassing) decimal error in calculating the percentages above. Apologies. But the point of the entry still stands.

As everyone who has been following the lockout knows, the Minnesota Orchestra posted a six million dollar deficit in FY 2012. Michael Henson’s compensation and bonuses would account for a full tenth of a six million dollar deficit.

***

Continue reading →

72 Comments

Filed under Labor Disputes, Minnesota Orchestra

Tagged as ,

October 6, 2013 · 10:50 am

The Firebird

I hope that you were able to attend Osmo’s Farewell concert, or at least listen to MPR’s broadcast. Circumstances conspired to keep me at home, so I listened from afar. In all brutal honesty, it was probably a good thing I wasn’t there in person; my sobs would have spoiled the broadcast. Brian Newhouse knocked it out of the park – he never succumbed to unwarranted pessimism or optimism, he never assigned blame, and he made it very clear that it was the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra onstage, not the Minnesota Orchestra. Everyone turned in a flawless performance. Bravo. It was a show for the ages.

After I dried my tears, I looked up the story of the Firebird and stumbled across this website.

And I cried some more.

The Firebird is known to many as the Phoenix. It is a mythical bird that lives in five hundred year cycles, which is able to regenerate from injury and is therefore, immortal. With plumage of red and gold that illuminates its flight, the Phoenix is as much a symbol of divinity as it is of fire and many legendary tales have evolved around its existence. Its most spoken about quality, that has inspired stories of encouragement or been compared to adversities that have been overcome, is that the Phoenix, nearing the end of its life cycle, builds a nest where he sets himself and the nest on fire. From the ashes left behind, a young Phoenix rises, to take the place of the older…

The glow from the Firebird’s feather was powerful enough to light up an entire room. It is also believed to bring hope and relief to the suffering and in need, and one story in particular tells of pearls falling from the Firebird’s beak to the peasants below, for them to trade for food…

Over the ages, the Phoenix, or Firebird, has inspired many artists, such as Igor Stravinsky, who in 1910 immortalized the legend of the Firebird, in his ballet score of the same name. From being a symbol of doom to hope, the Firebird’s rise from its ashes has given many the inspirations to rebuild their lives and to believe that there is light in even their darkest moments. The Firebird holds a sacred place in the folklore of Russia, as a creature that is in itself as much of a mystery as the legendary tales.

12 Comments

Filed under Labor Disputes, Minnesota Orchestra