The New York Times raised an interesting point today; namely that (historically speaking at least), charities rarely go bankrupt. What’s different about 2009 is that donors are now expecting non-profs to run themselves as businesses…basically being “for profit” without making any profit. What’s worse is that, while companies like Baltimore Opera are going the route of Chapter 11 (which will allow them to recover and, hopefully, re-emerge like a Puccinian phoenix, author Stephanie Strom points out that other companies are choosing to completely disband and go for Chapter 7.
Meanwhile, the Des Moines Metro Opera has chosen to eliminate the position of Executive Director as part of some ongoing “re-evaluation.” Say what you want, there’s a bottom line and it’s what Mefistopheles sings about in “Le veau d’or.” The cash cow is running out, and while Melinda Gates is insisting that the B&MGF money is not going to the Met because enough people seem to care about it, it seems that no one really cares these days. The elimination of this position, while an obvious funds-saver, also means that the company is being run by an artistic administrator, the director of development, and (purportedly) the artistic director (and founder, Robert Larson).
Board of Directors president Wendy Carlson says “We’ve got an organizational structure that has the artistic director and executive director as co-equal leaders of the organization and that can be difficult to make work,” however it’s kind of difficult NOT to make it work at almost any cost. The pressure is on to be a business. The pressure is on to deliver artistic quality. The pressure is on to make these two coalesce.
Meanwhile, Placido Domingo (who recently gave up his LA Opera salary) made up for his own personal budget cut by winning the inaugural Birgit Nilsson Prize (and the $1 mil that goes with it). Perhaps he’ll send a coupla bucks over to help with the Ring Cycle fundraising at LA Opera. Kind of like the divorcee father who doesn’t spend nearly enough time with his kids but sends the best birthday gifts.
Lewin's Change Model
Tough times are going to require most companies to reevaluate their organizational structure. Many will do well to not become too chameleonic; post-French Revolution the country tried nearly every form of government in existence in a concentrated period. That’s how Napoleon got in on the action. Companies should recall Lewin’s Change Model of Unfreeze-Change-Refreeze. Give employees at least some semblance of stability after the first axe falls and there’ll be a smoother transition.
I first read about Lewin (along with a slew of other related topics) in Burt Spector’s Implementing Organizational Change: Theory and Practice. A new edition comes out later this month, just in time for administrators (and new presidents) everywhere as a part-theoretical, part-anecdotal how-to-guide in the guise of an academic textbook.
It, like opera, is also part business.
UPDATE: And now the Asheville Lyric Opera needs $24 K. An amount that shouldn’t normally be an issue.
