A Great Thanksgiving Day Present for Shreveport

This great news about the Shreveport Symphony was extracted from The Times [Shreveport]. It arrived just in time for Thanksgiving Day, and not a moment too soon.

November 25, 2009

Shreveport Symphony series offers hope of a permanent return of live orchestral music

On the eve of Thanksgiving, let's embrace the encouraging news that orchestral music again will be ours in 2010.

After a year when the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra fell silent over a contract dispute, let's give thanks for fresh beginnings, the apparent dissipation of acrimony and distrust at the negotiation table. Add to that a $70,000 challenge grant from the Community Foundation, and music lovers can now look forward to three concerts as negotiations continue on long-term solutions. The first concert is Jan. 30 and the last in May.

Challenges remain to achieving a full resolution of disputes, but the notes are encouraging.

"There was a sense that maybe people weren't just being bull-headed," said musician representative Rick Rowell about the recent talks, "that there were honest positions to deal with and I think we realized everyone is passionate and wants it to work."

Monday's announcement by Rowell, Symphony Board President Dick Bremer and Paula Hickman, executive director of the Community Foundation of Shreveport-Bossier, is the initial fruit of work that began around Labor Day when Bremer, as new president, sought to resume talks.

The agreement at this time presumably will help the board and musicians raise funds as potential donors survey the landscape for worthwhile causes before the tax year closes. Many donors have wrestled with the dilemma of wanting to support this long-standing cultural asset but concerned about the economic model that appeared to be losing financial ground each year. Much of the contract dispute was related to the previous board's decision to switch 24 full-time core musicians to a per-service pay structure, though part-time musicians would have received a pay increase. In this three-concert season, the musicians have agree to per-service payments while negotiations continue.

In search of organizational and funding solutions, both sides have agreed to bring in a consultant on symphony management. Here's hoping his recommendations can offer credible strategies that can be supported by both managers and musicians — and reassure donors.

Live orchestral music is not only food for the soul but sets this community apart from other cities our size — and larger. After six decades of performances, the Shreveport Symphony has become deeply grooved into our community's soundtrack. Monday's announcement offers hope it won't go silent again.

-taken from Shreveport Symphony series...

Orchestra Musicians Regroup

This article appeared recently in The [Shreveport] Times Opinion section.

Editorial: Saturday concert reminds us what we're missing

September 24, 2009

Shreveport musicians who have spent too little time on stage will gather Saturday to remind us what we've been missing.

The Diversity in Music concert will range from Beethoven to jazz, from full orchestra to ensembles. The performers will include many players who made the Shreveport Symphony an oasis of musical excellence in our regional soundscape. For six decades, the Shreveport Symphony has not only been — note for note — one of the better orchestras around, but one of the last in a community of our size.

But orchestras cost money. The expense isn't much in comparison to health care or even what we pay to dine out during the year, but it's enough that a contract dispute has silenced the Shreveport Symphony for more than a year. The dispute involves the musicians' pay structure, particularly how it affects the symphony's core musicians who are contracted to perform for an entire season.

But there is a glimmer of hope.

Last week The Times editorial staff, in an effort to update our readers on this musical impasse, e-mailed a set of questions to both the Symphony Board and representatives of the musicians to determine the status of negotiations. Our hope was that time and a rotation in leadership might have allowed a fresh start.

What came back was a very short, not too revealing two-sentence response:

"Symphony representatives have met with the musicians and their union representatives and have scheduled another meeting to try and resolve our differences. Both groups prefer not to say anything more at this time since the matters being discussed are sensitive and our combined efforts are focused on reaching an agreement."

The importance to us wasn't the comment but the attribution. The sentence was a joint response by the board and the musicians, no insignificant detail.

The two groups have had at least one long session of talks in the past month. Without providing any specifics, new Symphony Board President Dick Bremer leaves us with a feeling of cautious optimism.

Meanwhile, Saturday's 7 p.m. concert at First Baptist Church in Shreveport will provide some musical balm around what would traditionally be the opening of another symphony season. It's the inaugural event of Concert Organizers for Diversity in the Arts of Northwest Louisiana, or CODA, a group formed to support the musicians and provide them an opportunity to perform. Dorothy Rivette and other organizers are to be commended for stepping into the breach and working to uphold this end of our community's culture.

Without hearing a note, we applaud this concert and hope that off stage any past dissonance soon may resolve into sweet harmony.