It Takes a Director of Finance and an Information Systems Manager

This post will summarize the duties that are required by a symphony orchestra's Director of Finance and the Information Systems Manager. In cases of larger orchestras, these functions are divided between multiple roles. 

Director of Finance
The Finance Director handles business and financial functions for the organization such as planning, control, and reporting. This person must prepare an annual operating budget and long-term plan complete with projections, monthly financial statements, banking correspondence, information systems management, and facilities operations. He is also responsible for dealing with payroll, employee benefits, and personnel policies.
 
Information Systems Manager
The Information Systems Manager plans, purchases, installs, configures, and maintains all information systems hardware and software. This staff member assists the entire organization with applications, programming and technical issues dealing with accounting marketing and development applications. He must train and guide staff in how to use applications efficiently and also makes recommendations for appropriate purchases of new systems and applications to the organization.


To see the full list of staff that is essential to run a professional symphony orchestra, click here.

It Takes a Director of Education and an Operations Manager

This post will summarize the duties that are required by the symphony orchestra's Director of Education and the Operations Manager. In cases of larger orchestras, these functions are divided between multiple roles. 

Director of Operations

This person is like the glue of the orchestra because they are the one who makes sure that scheduling and production (facility/equipment rental, staging requirements, logistical arrangements) of each event operates steadily, effectively, and with financial responsibility in mind. This Operations Manager must make sure to execute several specifications provided by the master agreement and also corresponds regularly between the orchestra and the rest of the organization. He works closely with Development, Marketing, and Public Relations departments.

Director of Education

This person is responsible for creating, developing, managing, and evaluating each education and outreach program that parallel the organization policies and education goals. The Director of Education plans and regulates all educational activities, and oversees all volunteers and staff participating in any part of a program. The Director of Education serves as a representative for the symphony when working with other arts, education, and civic institutions to establish partnerships in the community. This Director might work with the Marketing Director occasionally to handle ticketing for education programs, brochures, newsletters, flyers and advertisements.

To see the full list of staff that is essential to run a professional symphony orchestra, click here.

It Takes a Director of Development and Marketing

In this post, I will talk about the duties that are required by a symphony orchestra's Directors of Development and Marketing. In cases of larger orchestras, these functions are divided between multiple Directors. 

Director of Development

This person is responsible for the development, management, implementation, and evaluation of the main fund-raising campaign that matches the organization’s objectives and needs. He guides staff and any volunteers with planning all giving programs, such as annual, sponsorship, capital, endowment, and planned funding, in addition to events and benefits. Grant applications are made by the Director of Development to federal, state, and local government agencies that issue arts funding, as well as to private foundations and corporations that supply art grants. The Director of Development must recommend fund-raising policies and procedures to the Executive Director and to the Board in order to create an overall program for the whole year that exhibits the professionalism and ethical control of the symphony. Regular reporting to the Board and the Executive director is necessary to inform them on event and campaign progress.

Director of Marketing

This person is in charge of planning, supervising, operating, and examining programs in accordance with attendance and ticket selling goals for events while increasing visibility of the organization. The Director of Marketing constructs and runs all marketing activities such as: 

• public relations (press, program books, newsletters)
• advertising using print, electronic and/or media
• season subscriptions and renewals (via direct mail and/or phone)
• ticket sales (box office)
• audience research
• subscriber activites
• merchandising

To see the full list of staff that is essential to run a professional symphony orchestra, click here.

It Takes an Appropriate Concert Hall

This fascinating video explains why it is important to have a concert hall with good acoustics and a welcoming design. Good acoustics will highlight the talent and virtuosity of the symphony, and a welcoming design will create a comforting atmosphere for patrons. Such a large and sophisticated hall is usually only within the financial scope of well established symphonies, so each organization must be well aware of their fiscal capabilities before contracting a new project.



Yup, just in case you didn't notice, that is my background =) Isn't it GREAT? I love experiencing new halls!

It Takes Reaffirming to the IRS that Symphony Orchestras are of Public Value

According to the League of American Orchestras, U.S. symphonies are in great danger having to pay a ticket sales tax under internal revenue code. In order to prevent this from happening, the League of American Orchestras and these nonprofit organizations must be able to prove their level of public value among consumers and communities.


Currently, all American symphony orchestras are classified as tax exempt organizations. Do you remember the criteria for being considered a nonprofit organization? Their main purpose is to benefit the community, not to make a profit. But how does the government acquire the proof that it is really executing that mission?


Notice, a for -profit organization's purpose is to maximize revenues and values to shareholders. The IRS can easily deduce from data whether an organization's revenues are increasing or decreasing and how they are spending profits, which gives them the evidence to classify them as "for-profit" so they can demand a federal income tax payment.


One of the issues here is that nonprofit organizations DO try to maximize their revenues as well, and the IRS may not realize that they generate this revenue in order to recycle it back into the company and continue to serve the community.


If all American symphony orchestras fail to keep their tax exempt organization status, I can only imagine that the overall quality of life in this country would decrease exponentially. As an art form with origins that can be traced back to the Renaissance period, music, or more specifically, symphony orchestra performances have become something sacred should not be taken for granted or abused.

It Takes Informed Concert Programming

Like any type of business, developing, preparing, and presenting the product is the main goal. In terms of the symphony, the concert and the music being played at this concert is what your audience pays for.

Programming is dependent on consumer demand and market competition.

• Research must be done before selecting pieces to ensure that patrons will actually be interested in the particular genre that is to be performed and whether people would be willing to travel to your particular venue over competitors'.
• Even if there is a high demand for classical music in the surrounding area, symphonies must be sure to differentiate their concert programs from each other if there are multiple performing groups within a close radius. 

Developing the concert program requires contribution from:

• the music director
• the artistic planning department (if the organization is established enough to have one), and
• the performers (to some extent)

As shown in the San Jose Symphony study (also mentioned in a previous post: It Takes Awareness of the Demographic in the Region), differentiating their programming was not enough to attract sufficient patrons to their concerts. They failed to realize that the demand for classical music was high, but not high enough to  provide business to the very abundant supply of classical performances available in the Bay Area.

In other words, the San Jose Symphony was screwed regardless of the quality of their concert programming. One of their problems, in my opinion, was that they were not informed well enough about their audience preferences.

It Takes Education and Community Involvement

Education programs are usually a great part of a symphony's community involvement endeavor.

The Stockton Symphony is one of many that have started expansion of a great program called the "El Sistema" project. This project was inspired by an initiative that took place in Venezuela about 30 years ago in order to promote academic achievement and personal growth among students.

Education programs such as "El Sistema" provide young students with great tools such as discipline and work ethic, which are absolutely essential in areas with such a high ratio of underprivileged families. The Stockton Symphony is calling their version of the project, "Harmony Stockton," which will entail musicians visiting local schools to teach students as well as inviting groups such as the Sphinx Virtuosi, who are known to promote diversity in the arts, to perform concerts in Stockton.

This is great video explaining how the program started and how it has influenced many American Symphonies to start their own version of it.

See more information about the Stockton Symphony's education and community involvement programs here.

More on Education and Community Involvement are sure to show up in later posts--

Tell me how your local symphony orchestra has benefitted your community. Or, if you don't have a symphony near you, tell me about a different non-profit's efforts!

-Liz

It Takes Fundraising

Without fundraising, a symphony has virtually no chance of running its day-to-day operations. A symphony can approach fundraising in a couple of ways; by receiving donations and/or by charging admission for events. 

Types and Sources of Fundraising
Symphonies have several different prospects for financial support. The three most common are:

1. Donations
2. In-kind contributions
3. Grants

This funding might come from sources such as:

• Government Agencies
• Corporations
• Foundations
• Federated Campaigns
• Churches
• Local Businesses
• Fraternal or social clubs
• Individuals

Symphonies can also create revenue by charging a fee for the services they provide, as long as these services are still in line with their public benefit mission.

The symphony should always be aware of the donor's purpose and intended use for the contribution, and the symphony must manage them accordingly. In general, funding is categorized into three types;

It Takes Awareness of the Demographic in the Region

One of the biggest mistakes that a symphony board can make is oversight its area's demographic. Knowing the demographic can help the board plan programs that will foster the interests of the specific minorities that reside in the area.

To help illustrate how vital this is, I will explain the mistake that the formerly known, San Jose Symphony made when it failed to take the demographic into consideration, and in result, failed to make enough ticket sales to survive.

This is a picture of the Imani Quintet, a diverse group of musicians who were recently involved in the Stockton Symphony's Harmony Stockton program to promote diversity in music . This is an example of a program that would appeal more to a diverse demographic. 

The San Jose Symphony; Its Background and Demise

The San Jose Symphony was established in 1877 as American Born European musicians were increasing parallel to the rapid increase of European immigration. The market for American classical music was at an all time high at this time, but started decreasing in the late 1900's. The demand for classical groups declined greatly, which caused the San Jose Symphony to struggle with financial and budget controls, as well as consumer preferences and competition in the surrounding Bay Area. According to Wolf and Glaze, authors of And the Band Stopped Playing: The Rise and Fall of the San Jose Symphony, the Symphony also missed good opportunities to reach out to the minority demographic, as well as made poor choices in building a new symphony hall with insufficient and restricted funds.

It Takes Planning

To run a professional symphony orchestra, a strategic plan is absolutely essential in order to operate effectively. 

The strategic plan consists of: 

• a mission statement
• a clear establishment of a program direction

The mission statement is a concise declaration of the organization's purpose that it wants to pursue. This statement should address: 

1. Who? - The staff and/or volunteers that deliver the service-outlining any distinctive characteristics
2. Whom? - The target population served by the organization
3. What? - A brief description of the services provided by the organization that lead to the change or impact
4. Where? - The geographic parameters that define the service area
5. Why? - The purpose or essence of the organization; the change that will occur because of its existence
6. How? - The method by which the services are delivered

It is important to develop a mission that is attainable, measurable, and realistic. The board should be able to picture how the goal will look once it has been achieved. This mission is not only to guide the organization, but also to demonstrate its stable vision and potential for a promising future in the arts to prospective supporters.

Once the mission statement has been decided on, it is then time to create an outlined plan of how the symphony will achieve the mission. The board decides on specific about the tactics and targets that it will use to measure the success of each goal.