Tightening their belts

Elephants.\nThat's the term longtime arts lover Hillard Trubitt uses to refer to the aging segment of Bloomingtonians supportive of a local, non-University affiliated classical music scene. \nThey're retired IU professors, philanthropists with large pockets willing to quietly encourage, both practically and fiscally, a volunteer regiment of Bloomington musicians. They've been the lifeblood, it seems, for the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, which for more than three decades, has filled local auditoriums with a shimmering flute descant or the richly-colored stroke of a cellist's bow. Yet these elephants are getting older, Trubitt, treasurer of the BSO board, says. They're not being replaced with younger enthusiasts. And for the BSO, this lack of community support -- whether individual or corporate, in the form of volunteers or sponsors -- could sound the death knell for the volunteer symphony. \nOperating on a budget of about $85,000, the BSO survives by relying on volunteer manpower and corporate and individual donations. Yet over the past decade, as the economy has slumped substantially and corporate sponsors have turned their attention elsewhere, the BSO has struggled to stay afloat. \n"When I was first associated with the orchestra, it was voluntary in the strictest sense of the word," Trubitt said, noting that the orchestra's total yearly expenses, which usually didn't exceed $300, were "quietly taken care of" by well-to-do members interested in subsidizing BSO activity. "That was a third of a century ago though, and over the years we got bigger and had to do more to stir community interest."\nThat commitment requires a certain degree of organization and regularity of operations, however, and the Symphony began to face new costs. The local school auditoriums they'd played in previous years began to confront additional overhead costs as well, and the orchestra started paying to use the facilities. Community sponsors began looking elsewhere for means to advertise and market their services -- Trubitt specifically noted one area bank, which pulled its arts funding from the BSO to devote toward the more highly-visible promotion of IU basketball games -- and local music festivals, and organizations increasingly competed with the BSO for local sponsors. \nConsequently, the BSO volunteer corps fell on hard times. \n"We had (a lot of) corporate funding, but as part of economic cutbacks, we don't have that anymore," Trubitt said. "Bloomington is a lovely community, but there are an infinite number of classical music groups that are competing for money. There's an intense concentration of musical activities here, and we are but one."\nIt's a labor of love, Trubitt says, but one he's not likely to give up quickly. The BSO board of directors will meet regularly over the next few months to determine the appropriate avenues the BSO should pursue, and the orchestra has applied for an Arts Commission grant to cover the costs of community outreach and instrument recovery programs. \nThe latter program, conceived three years ago and intended to provide low-income students with the means to pursue music -- often a costly extracurricular reserved for middle- to upper-class families who can afford instruction and upkeep -- provides refurbished instruments more than 30 students in south-central Indiana. Yet as the BSO faces increasing budget strictures, that program has been threatened as well.\n"It's difficult to put a number on (how much the program costs)," Trubitt said. "In the past we would have been able to take care of these costs out of pocket but at some point, someone has to get a bill for this."\nThese are problems unique to the community orchestra and foreign to such nationally-reputed performing arts groups as the IU School of Music, but the financial problems regional symphonies face continue to compound across the country. \nFor example, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported in February that the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra's deficit caused substantial changes in both staff positions and programming, including the position of Director of Education. Alfred Savia, music director for the EPO, said those changes will save the orchestra more than $18,000. \nThe EPO budget is currently $1.9 million, according to the EPO Web site. \nAnd Margaret Hagerman, former Director of Operations for the Evansville Philharmonic, said the issue is both timely and relevant to the future of regional symphonies. \n"If you interviewed 100 people they would all have different opinions about this subject which in itself makes it compelling information," Hagerman said. \nYet large-scale orchestras in major metropolitan areas, while indeed confronted with budget shortfalls, face financial problems very different from those of community symphonies. The Indianapolis Symphony remains one of 18 orchestras across the country that boasts a year-round musicians contract. Susan Prenatt, the ISO's vice president and chief financial officer, told the Indianapolis Star earlier this year that several ISO musicians make more than $70,000 a year. The ISO budget for the 2004-05 season stands at $24 million. \nYet according to trade magazine Andante, the ISO has faced considerable financial problems in recent years. Decreased endowment levels, coupled by a nationwide economic slump in arts funding, led the orchestra to post a $428,000 deficit for the 2002-03 season, nearly twice the amount of the previous year, and provisions to decrease that deficit have been worked into the musicians' contract for the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. \nTrubitt is careful to draw a distinction between a symphony like Indianapolis' and that of Bloomington, however. He recognizes that it's often easy to draw such comparisons, which he deems "ridiculous."\n"The state of the ISO and the fate of the BSO are completely different," Trubitt said. "It's the old story of the mouse versus the elephant. Our musicians are completely non-paid."\nThe ISO, for example, recently received a $106 million endowment, and relies largely on major Indianapolis-area corporate sponsors and subscribers. A city like Bloomington -- with an orchestra that plays in local school performance halls, rather than expansive music centers like Indianapolis's Hilbert Circle Theater -- can hardly expect to compete with the financial resources of the ISO, Trubitt said. \nA fundraiser last Friday at the Unitarian Universalist Church on the IU campus provided a bit of support for the BSO budget, though inclement weather tempered the turnout Trubitt and BSO board members, including BSO business manager Cindy DeFries, had been hoping for. Yet the BSO will continue to press on, Trubitt said.\n"I used to laughingly refer to us as the world's largest Tuesday night string quartet...and we'll continue to be that. We just need to grow a new audience," he said. "Whatever it takes to make it, we're interested. We need to find those younger elephants."\n--Contact City/State editor Holly Johnson at hljohnso@indiana.edu