Day 1
Morning Session
Officer Reports
D. Angus - Sphinx Competition support continues. Strike Fund issue to
be addresses soon. Issue being explored involves making financial
support contingent on actual support of the strike effort.
M.Plaine - No 2001-2002 Directory. Whole new system being installed to
help produce the future directories. This new system will be similar to
the current system used to do the Wage/Scale charts.
S.Tretick - Delegates are responsible for forwarding the annual dues
bill to whomever is going to pay it.
M.Schweitzer - New digital camera is going to allow her more
opportunity to embarrass conference participants.
T.Hall - No nominations from the Nominating Committee. Candidates
seeking election will announce their own candidacies at their own time
and in their own way. Nominations from the floor were taken and are as
follows:
Chair - Fred Sautter
President - S. Tretick
Secretary - L. Lewis
Treasure - S. Weber
Editor - M Schweitzer
Nominations open until Saturday
BREAK
Current legal council retained for another year at the pay rate of
$36,000.00 for the year.
Formation of an Ad Hoc committee to study the Conductor Evaluation
Program. Committee will review the program and make recommendations
regarding future running of the program. Dave Angus will chair.
B.Buckley/Media Report - Recommendation of the Media Committee to
extend the current internet agreement to 2004. Advisory coming to
rescind standing advisory regarding simulcast internet broadcasts which
may now be covered under the new digital acts.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel
Librarian of Congress
Establishes payments for transmissions over the internet. Librarian of
Congress has some authority to affect specifics. When negotiating local
radio deals, if simulcasts are involved, include the phrase in the
contract: "We do not surrender any rights due under the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act."
There was some discussion of Resolution #1 which deals with surveying
member orchestras about media issues but discussion was delayed until
the afternoon session.
END OF MORNING SESSION
Resume discussion of Resolution #1.
Main issue of Resolution #1 is how best to get a complete response to
the media survey that was mandated at last year's ICSOM conference.
Discussion revolved around whether it would be best to have every
member of every orchestra fill out the survey or whether it would be
better to have each orchestra's player committee fill the survey out,
in consultation with the members of the orchestra. The AFM wants as
complete information as it can get to formulate as comprehensive a plan
for EMF negotiations as possible. The question is how best to get that.
Amendment proposed to Resolution #1 that supports the "every musician
filling out a survey" viewpoint.
Amendment #1 failed. Resolution #1 passed.
BREAK
More nominations: Treasurer - Jan Gippo
Chair report - Internship committee made little progress. Chair
attended a Mellon Foundation meeting. Sphinx project continues.
Financial database for ICSOM just didn't get done, too many other
concerns. Unity II planning accomplished, some problems but no more
than usual. TEMPO revitalization project proceeding. Work hardening
task force formed and proceeding. New language to be presented.
New items - ASOL approached ICSOM about a joint effort for health care
initiative. Resolution pending. Phoenix situation addressed. Press
blackout hurt that situation. Attended AFM convention and presented
award to Paul Judy. Attended Salzberg Seminar on orchestra issues.
Lot's of positive exchange with orchestra managers from around the
world. General feeling that orchestras do have a long term future, if
rough in the short term. American managers may be the best but have
much more to deal with. Government income a fool's paradise. Endowment
incomes tanking, causing whole new issues for even well funded
orchestras.
Media (EMF) meetings not well attended and nothing of substance got
accomplished. Meeting in Milwaukee positive but nothing concrete.
Basically, there was a lack of consensus on just about all issues. Some
allegations of foot-dragging. Tom Hemphill quit because of these issues.
Lot's of frustration over the lack of progress.
Concertworks program up and running as a 501C3 corporation. Equal
representation. Grant requests out for startup funds. No money yet but
proceeding.
DAY 2
Plenary Session
Introductions
Tom Lee - Pension fund having no trouble because of economic downturn,
plenty of cushion. Vesting arbitration won, figure remains at $1500.00
annual income to qualify. Death benefit arbitration lost, death benefit
now 100x the age 55 benefit. Unfortunate but you can't win them all.
PR concerns going to be addressed more aggressively now. This is where
the fight seems to be going now on all fronts. We need to all be on the
AFM Email List. This allows the AFM to mobilize us quickly when needed.
We also need to prepare to exert peer pressure on our friends in
Seattle who are doing non-union scoring. The AFM will let us know when
they need
our help.
INS is undermining our job security by allowing foreign orchestras to
come here and displace union musicians from recording jobs here in the
US. Tom predicts that this will extend to all facets of our workplace
soon. TEMPO will be crucial in this fight.
Charles Olton, ASOL - League's efforts to help composers and conductors.
Music Alive - Helps composers get performances of new works. ASOL
believes new music needs to succeed. Actively supporting this program.
Cited examples of Swoboda/Helena Symphony and Golychov(sp?)/LA Phil.
Conductors in the US have little or no opportunity to advance
themselves and their craft. ASOL believes Toscanini model is
inappropriate for today's environment. Aspen Academy helps off-podium
conduct as well as on-podium.
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra program, instituted last month, combines
young conductors working with NJSO on new music with the composer in
attendance. Mentoring approach also employed involving musicians and
this started much good discussion. Similar project coming up in LA.
David Jandrisch - Canadian report
Elizabeth Whitlock - Canadian report
Florence Nelson - 9/11 and stock market crash have severely hurt all
orchestras. Consolidation of industries (recording, etc.) also a
problem. EMF has occupied the rest of her time. Search goes on for a
large scale health care setup that will be wider in scope than local.
This year's questions? We must get our members to read the EMF report
and then fill out the survey. Possible dues increase to accommodate
larger issues and fund actions on those.
Janice Galassi - Don't take what we have for granted. Hard work
produced it. 9/11 and economic downturn have really hurt all
orchestras. Some orchestras in trouble even before those events. SSD
staff is good. Negotiators Chris Durham and Nathan Kahn. Three newly
organized orchestras. Also requests from others for help in organizing.
Debbie Newmark doing lots of work helping orchestras with recording
issues. Presentations to younger (college) musicians, done before they
enter the field, is helping to avoid misunderstandings and bad
decisions these new workers might make.
Laura Brownell - AFM/SSD Canada
Karen Schnackenberg - Major Orchestras Librarians Association
Librarian input to the final product is valuable. No longer just a
frivolous position, now a chosen profession with serious demands. MOLA
is trying to develop improvements on all fronts of the music process.
Librarians should be in the collective bargaining unit.
END OF SESSION
EMF Report -Handout distributed consisting of the Fact Report on the
state of the symphonic recording industry and the survey which we (the
FPO Orchestra Committee) will be expected to explain, and facilitate
the completion thereof.
The EMF and its functions to date are an outgrowth of the media
negotiations 3 back (the one before the last one). In that negotiation,
the recording companies pitted symphonic musicians against recording
musicians (RMA).
The way the recording companies accomplished this was by using us to
hold the RMA contract hostage. They gave us the ultimatum that if we
didn't sign a deal with them that contained concessions, they would
refuse to negotiate with the RMA at all. This action drew the RMA and
us together instead and forced us to work together. Discussions in the
last negotiation led to the formation of the current EMF and, after
expansions of the committee and the scope of technologies they would
explore, we ended up where we are today.
There was some discussion about the information presented but nothing
concrete to report. Some details, some clarifications but nothing
unusual.
There was considerable discussion about the format of the survey and
the Fact Report, discussion about how the EMF functioned, and about the
recording industry in general. In essence, the EMF is depending on the
results of the survey to give them a clear indication of what direction
the membership want them to take the current negotiations.
END OF SESSION
New nominations -
President - Brian Rood
Secretary - Laura Ross
Town Meeting -
Basically this was one large, long complaint session over issues on the
governing board of ICSOM. We, as an organization, have some huge
governance issues to contend with in the short term. For example, this
last year saw a mostly dysfunctional governing board and executive
committee. Both bodies had instances where communication was
inconsistent, issues were only discussed by certain factions and power
struggles abounded. Ultimately, this kept either entity from
functioning as it should and there were issues raised that were not
dealt with.
For example, the hiring of the current director of SSD (Janice Galassi)
is mandated by AFM bylaws to take place after the consultation and
approval of the major player conferences. The player conferences did
come to a consensus and submit a unified list of names for
consideration. AFM president Tom Lee chose a person who was not on that
list. Further, AFM bylaws also mandate that there be a steering
committee charged with the oversight of SSD. Said committee should meet
at least once per year. It has not met at all in the past year. Despite
the fact that some opinions are that the SSD is not running well,
nothing has been done to pursue the inappropriate hiring of the current
director of SSD or done to initiate a convening of the steering
committee. Most of this discord has been manifested in the EMF
discussions and issues. These divisive issues have polarized both sides
and, with no positive working relationship, both began pursuing their
own agendas and the shooting began. Added to that is the possible
interference by the AFM in the EMF negotiations. There are some who
believe that the AFM is purposely
trying to stall the process until they can get an ICSOM governing board
that will do what they want, something the current governing board will
not do. If this is true, as alleged, this is a SERIOUS problem that
could cause a separation of ICSOM from the AFM. To avoid this, it is
crucial that ICSOM get its house in order. We must be prepared to deal
with the power struggle to come. Re-establishing ICSOM's place in the
power structure with the AFM will be a difficult task after all the
time that ICSOM has allowed the AFM to allegedly violate bylaws
regarding ICSOM issues, like the SSD situation. (See Tom Lee's comments
on Day 4 regarding these issues)
DAY 3
Plenary Session - Artistic Decisions: Who decides what?
The study of the effectiveness of organizations' artistic decision
policies was based on three criteria:
Task completion
Evolution of organization
Advancement of the individuals
Best group ended up being a string quartet because they were
collaborative in nature and clearly the best in all three categories.
What is artistic leadership?
How does Europe handle these issues versus the US? Europe is more free
to express desires and affect change in the organization. Not
traditional union situation. Conductors are more colleagues than boss.
Not "music police" situation.
We must be careful not to cross over into the hiring/firing of
musicians. Legal issues will bother the union if we do.
Artistic Quality Ad Hoc Committee - This is a committee in Dayton that
allows review of the past season's artistic issues. This includes
review of the conductor's performance and allows for musicians to
anonymously submit their views. Committee made up of two musicians,
chairman of the board, and eight knowledgeable board members. This
gives a forum for all constituencies to air their opinions about
artistic issues.
Is the traditional model of music director leadership under a period of
evolution? Many signs point to this. Perhaps the traditional role is no
longer the best one.
In european orchestras, despite the control musicians have in hiring
and firing conductors, musicians don't second guess artistic decisions
in real time. This seems to be avoided because the musicians hire
conductors who take positions the musicians are in favor of.
This is not really a viable system for the US because of the role of
management in the hiring and firing of musicians. In fact, european
musicians are reticent to even talk about how they handle these issues
in their orchestras. Still, the style of this kind of relationship
could be adapted somewhat for american orchestras.
We should be examining some sort of bi-directional review system for
our staff. This type of review allows the individual to explain how
things he did could have been better and what roadblocks are in the
way. This type of review is the trend in the industry.
The opera and symphony worlds are completely different in how they
handle artistic decisions. Traditionally in opera, there is a general
manager who is the final authority on all matters, even artistic. In
symphonies, that authority usually rests with the music director.
Musician input and involvement should be a part of the process but not
necessarily invested with ultimate authority.
The relationship between the music director and his boss in american
orchestras is almost nonexistent. This prevents regular evaluations of
the conductor's performance and the correction of problems when
identified. Most managers are intimidated to sit a music director down
and demand that they change things about how they do their job.
At this point in the discussion, I presented to the panel our situation
in the FPO. I left the panel with two important questions: How do we
convince the board that the continued existence of the Artistic
Oversight Committee is a good idea? How de we convince the board that
having the AOC continue will not hamper their efforts to find a new
music director. Esteemed President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Association, Henry Fogel, agreed to intercede on our behalf and work
with our management to get the board to understand that the AOC is a
good idea and that it should continue.
Musician morale makes a difference in the quality of performance
on-stage. Involving musicians in the decision process invests them to
the cause and will keep them engaged in following the outcome. By the
same token, musicians should stay right out of the role of initiating
the hiring or firing of musicians.
Any principal player coaching or collegial intervention must be done
with an eye toward long term relationships. Conductors want input from
principal players but shouldn't abuse that information or base their
decisions solely on such input. We should always try to solve problems
amicably, without getting to the stages of dismissal or demotion. Such
an approach works better than the rancorous dismissal procedure and
also preserves player morale.
The Orpheus model involves principal players getting together and
making artistic decisions beforehand because they don't have a
conductor. This isn't practical for american orchestras but aspects of
that approach could be used here. Making certain decisions (as a
section) prior to the first rehearsals could be very effective and
positive.
Plenary session - Orchestras in Trouble
How did you recognize there was a problem?
St.Louis - Full financial audit from Bauers revealed the problem.
Toronto - Series of concessions led to crunch. Resultant strike
produced better contract and statements of change but nothing done.
San Jose - Perennially in trouble. Carrying deficit, future budgets
projected with built in deficits. Some mismanagement by doing nothing
until too late. No meetings, just announcement of no more cash.
Institution gone very quickly.
Structural deficits (designed into the budget) are dangerous and can
lead to denial of real problems.
Standardized analysis of orchestras in all financial conditions may
yield signs to predict future fortunes of orchestras.
What can musicians do to help spot problems?
St. Louis - Didn't open contract but engaged musicians into "on sight
oversight" in all aspects of the institution. This also promoted
musicians looking at budget projections and spotting unrealistic
projections. Those musicians participating had to learn how to read
financial reports. St. Louis subsidized musicians training to learn
these skills.
Toronto - Not really a collegial relationship in the institution.
Crisis changed relationship with board and management. Restructuring of
the board. CEO actually attending orchestra committee meetings.
Musicians sitting on the financial audit committee.
San Jose - Knew something wrong but no real recourse. Weak board. Kept
hiring executives that couldn't perform effectively. Musicians need to
evaluate the board members and keep a handle on the successes. Most
effective way to affect change on the board is to make allies among
strong board members. These alliances could then be used to help remove
bad board members.
Issue is leadership versus power. Leadership means committing to hiring
the best people for jobs. Power means hiring inferiors and then being
dictatorial.
Musicians need to make their views known to boards and managements, in
such a way as to let them make changes and then take credit for it.
Getting first class administrators is a crucial first step.
What issues affected board leadership longevity?
St. Louis - Lots of turnover because of burnout. Executive director
much more turnover. Still looking for ways to retain the best folks.
San Jose - Not much turnover. New board members need to be mentored in
how to function effectively on the board. SJSO had lots of incompetence
on their board because of lack of training for new members.
Toronto - Lack of good leadership on the board. No requirements for
membership.
A strong functional board is crucial to successful institutions.
St. Louis - Making steps to normalize relations between board and
musicians. Also required lots of creative thinking that defied
traditional models. A change in the traditional models, like the 52
week season, were necessary for success.
Toronto - Decline of government money precipitated budget problems in
canadian orchestras.
Lots of orchestras with troubles on the horizon. NY Phil., Baltimore,
others.
We should consider pressing the AFM to fund an annual financial review
for all ICSOM orchestras. Moneys available from work dues, would cost
approx. $250,000.00 per year. This information would allow us to
predict financial problems and, perhaps, avoid them.
END SESSION
Music and Wellness -
We must change our mindset to be more relevant to our audiences. This
leads to using music as a sort of therapy in rough times. Once you
understand this, tell your friends about how it helped you. Also, the
exposure of the process may lead to more ticket sales in the community.
CHECK INTERESTING CLAUSE IN PITTSBURGH'S CONTRACT THAT GIVES PLAYERS AN
EXTRA WEEK OF VACATION IF THEY DO EIGHT "COMMUNITY SERVICE" SERVICES IN
A SEASON
This also works for yourself. Try playing music when you're ill or
depressed and see what effect it has on you. Different pieces might
have different effects. You can also choose pieces that are relevant to
you personally. Religious, familial, cultural, etc.
DAY 4
Breakout Session - How to read a Bauers audit.
Be sure to check the disclaimer and verify that the accounting method
used is the accrual method.
Some endowment restrictions are bogus legally. These funds may be used
if necessary. The only legitimate restriction is donor restriction,
which appears as Permanently Restricted Funds.
All states have legislation that allows a board to irrevocably restrict
any funds it has access to.
Watch for any line item that supports activities outside the main
purpose of the organization. Minnesota and St. Louis are perfect
examples. Things like outreach programs are hurting Canadian orchestras
and the donors are forcing them to do these events anyway.
Analysis of figures from at least ten years can be a good indicator of
actual trends. Any deviations need to be explainable. If not, serious
problems may exist. Especially where graphs are concerned, look for
flat lines or slowly rising curves.
Working Capital - Current Asset minus Current Liability. This should be
a positive number.
Current Ratio - Current Assets divided by Current Liability. This means
for every dollar you owe, you have so much asset to pay it.
Quick Ratio - Cash plus Receivables plus Short Term Investments,
divided by Liabilities.
Debt Ratio - Total Debt divided by Total Assets. Should be as low a
number as possible. This number gives a long term view of the picture.
Cash Interval - Amount of days, in cash, the business can continue
operations.
Defensive Interval - Amount of days, using only quick assets, that
operations can continue.
Days Receivables Outstanding - Average time to collect receivables.
This number should be as low as possible because the longer a
receivable isn't collected, the less likely it is you will collect it.
END OF SESSION
Final ICSOM Session Convened -
Final Slate of Nominees:
Chair - Jan Gippo, Fred Sautter
Pres. - Brian Rood, S. Tretick
Sec. - Lucinda Lewis, Laura Ross
Treas. - Scott Weber
Editor - Marsha Schweitzer
CLOSED SESSION - (limited to ICSOM delegates, and AFM members Tom Lee,
Florence Nelson, Janice Galassi, and Debbie Newmark)
Tom Lee - Wants to address some of the comments made during the
conference regarding AFM interference in ICSOM's functioning and the
negotiations in the EMF. Current chair Levine was informed of the
hiring process of the new SSD director (Galassi) and he didn't object.
Levine made it clear that ICSOM had a preference among the candidates
but didn't object to Lee's different hiring procedure. Lee also
asserted that the SSD steering committee hasn't met, to his knowledge,
in the last three years. This is significant because two of the
allegations made in the closed "town hall" meeting earlier in the
conference were that the AFM violated their bylaws in the hiring of the
current SSD director and that the steering committee is supposed to
meet more often than it currently is.
EMF has been far and away the most divisive and emotional issue ever
seen by the AFM. The AFM felt the EMF members were not unbiased. The
AFM reasserts its policy that issues can and will be discussed with AFM
members and that the AFM will continue to field phone calls from
members wishing to discuss the issues. Some EMF members aren't happy
about such conversations, thinking that the passage of information
during a negotiation may not be in the best interest of the process.
The key is that we must not be divided. Just like this conference,
unity must be our focus. Lee encouraged that members should bring
issues that they have to the AFM right away rather than letting
problems fester.
F. Nelson - AFM won't meddle in internal ICSOM affairs. Frustrations
over EMF need to be confined to caucus. Her door is always open.
Levine - These types of closed sessions are necessary. Not bringing
issues in a timely manner is a function of not knowing what the
delegates think between conferences. A more liquid exchange of
information between conferences might defuse these types of debates
which often are ignited by misunderstandings.
Levine believes the EMF is our best shot at a truly representative body
for our media related negotiations. The SSD candidate lists were
presented to the AFM (this was the consensus of which candidates were
favored for the newly hired director of the SSD, as decided by the
chairs of ICSOM, OCSM, & ROPA) and the AFM hired someone other than
the recommended candidate. ICSOM told the AFM that they would do their
best to make things work with the new director.
END OF CLOSED SESSION
Resolutions -
Resolutions 2-7 passed unanimously. These resolutions include a study
of health care issues, a study of the effects of aging on musicians,
the formation of a pool of shared financial audits from all member
orchestras, increases in the honoraria for ICSOM officers, and ICSOM
bylaws revisions.
Resolution 8 was tabled indefinitely. It involved instituting term
limits for ICSOM Governing Board members.
Resolutions 9-15 passed unanimously except for resolution 11, which
passed but with some dissenters. These resolutions dealt with honoring
ICSOM's founding members (some of whom were at the 2002 conference),
honoring ICSOM's first chairman (George Zazofsky) with some sort of
permanent memorial (TBD), reasserting ICSOM's position regarding the
hiring of future SSD directors, submitting legislation to the 2003 AFM
conference that establishes the inclusion of a rank and file symphonic
musician among the trustees of the AFM-EP (Pension fund), honoring
Robert Grossman (Philadelphia Orchestra) for his brewing talents,
establishing a new financial network to assist ICSOM member orchestras,
and authorizing the ICSOM Governing Board to find any member orchestras
willing to host the 2003 conference and, if none are found by mid
October, that said conference will be held in Vail, Colorado.
Resolution 16 was unanimously defeated. It dealt with forcing the ICSOM
chair to produce a yearly report of every single business dealing,
meeting, correspondence, and phone call at each duly convened meeting
of ICSOM.
Resolution 17 was withdrawn.
[For a complete listing of every resolution (and the exact wording of
same) please see me.]
BREAK
Candidates made their statements
Election & Results:
Chair - Jan Gippo
President - Brian Rood
Secretary - Laura Ross
Treasurer - Scott Weber
Editor - Marsha Schweitzer
END OF CONFERENCE