An article in the May issue of Gig (U.K.), a bimonthly magazine covering classical music and arts management, states, “A look through the programme for this year’s League of American Orchestras conference brings up a session titled: ‘There are NO Crises, Only Tough Decisions’ [the keynote speech to be given by Russell Willis Taylor, president and CEO of National Arts Strategies]. It’s a good frame of mind to attend the annual series of discussions, networking sessions and performances—though the word ‘crisis’ is easy to fall back on. Last year a study by the National Endowment for the Arts showed the percentage of American adults attending classical concerts had dropped nearly 30 percent since 1982. … ‘We don’t know the issues behind how online audiences turn to live performance, or how live audiences move to the Internet,” acknowledges Jesse Rosen, [League of American Orchestras] president and chief executive since July 2008. ‘What we do know is that there’s been a downturn in nearly all parts of the commercial entertainment sector—look at the fall in movie ticket sales, as people download them online.’ All those issues are likely to be covered by the conference’s opening session, ‘Revolution or Evolution: How must orchestras change to add greater value to American life?’ In the run-up to the conference, [the League] has set up a dedicated blogging site, orchestrarevolution.org, to discover the most important issues on people’s minds and get the discussion going before the event even starts.” To see the full article, a subscription to Gig magazine is required.
Posted June 9, 2010
