Negotiations

I can’t claim to speak to how things work in orchestras in general, but my experience here in Dayton is that (1) musicians can and do have a significant voice in influencing the artistic and economic strategic direction of their orchestra, and (2) for the most part, this voice does not come through or in collective bargaining.

At the risk of sounding silly, the best way for musicians to influence the artistic and economic strategic direction of their orchestra is to participate in the discussion. And I am not talking about a one-shot “vent everything that has been bugging you for the past however many years and expect the world to change” kind of participation, but ongoing sitting at the table in the various venues where strategic direction is discussed.

In Dayton I believe that there are plenty of venues for musicians to participate in these discussions. During my twelve years in Dayton we have gone through four strategic planning cycles, and in each case musicians have had a significant voice on the planning committee.

We have an Artistic Quality committee which invites musicians to give artistic feedback following each and every concert set. This feedback is collected anonymously, screened by a small group of musicians, and then shared with the music director and a small group of musically knowledgeable Trustees. We have a Program Committee which solicits input from musicians about repertoire and programming priorities. At the end of each season we pay musicians who participate in our SPARK (Education) program to attend meetings to evaluate the effectiveness of the SPARK program and discuss how it could be improved in the future.

Beyond this, musicians are welcome to serve on standing committees of the board, which often guide decisions about strategic priorities and goals. I think that this participation is very healthy for the organization, both because it breaks down stereotypes and because it leads to better decisions. When the finance committee talks about what we could do to shave another $15,000 out of the budget, you had better believe that it makes a difference to have musicians at the table to talk about why we really do need that extra rehearsal for a Mahler symphony.

In 15 years in orchestra management I have never had a board member say to me “I don’t care what the musicians think—they have nothing to contribute to a discussion on where the orchestra should be headed and how it should get there.” I’ve heard Trustees express an opinion that at times musicians are naïve or unrealistic (but note that this is no different from the opinion they at times hold of their colleagues on the board, or of management for that matter). I’ve heard Trustees express an opinion that we need to balance the musicians’ priorities with financial realities and market driven business challenges. But never that musician’s opinions on priorities and strategic direction are irrelevant.

In Dayton, the only way I can think of in which the musicians have used collective bargaining to gain a voice in the strategic direction of the orchestra has to do participation in the music director contract renewal and search processes.

Having said all that, I am the first to acknowledge that most musicians do not participate in these discussions—indeed even if they are given a form on which to give input, most won’t fill it out. Why is this? Apathy? Not believing that anyone is going to listen? Not having the time? Perhaps it is because they don’t think they’re supposed to share their individual opinions, but only to speak through the united voice of the players’ committee. I have noticed an increase in musicians’ willingness to be active in these discussions as we have gone from being a very part time job for most of our musicians to being the primary source of income for most of our musicians (which in turn has led to an increasing percentage of musicians actually living in Dayton, rather than commuting from Cincinnati or elsewhere, which in turn has made in more convenient for musicians to find time for the orchestra outside of their paid service schedule).

Of course musicians rarely have a single shared opinion on any issue. Very few issues generate homogenous response from musicians – it is rarely the case that “The Musicians think X” – the musicians are a whole bunch of individuals who think a whole bunch of different things. . . To the extent that some of them take the time to participate in the discussions about where the DPO is headed they are going to impact the outcome of these discussions.