by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra is streamlining its staff, production and performances to overcome a $2 million debt, the executive director said Thursday.
Alan Hopper said increased competition and reduced State funding has made it difficult for symphonies across the country to ride out a three–year economic downturn. Not–for–profit organizations rarely make money he said. Even in boom times, symphonies and other cultural ventures are structured to break even.
“Since Sept. 11, the arts have been hurt the most,” said Hopper. “We’ve faced some dramatic problems in the last couple years.
“There’s almost no margin for error; you aim to break even and if things go even a little bit wrong, it can be tough.”
The economic slide has bankrupted symphonies in Savannah, Ft. Lauderdale and San Antonio in the last two years, said Hopper. To avoid that fate, the JSO started handling some of its own marketing and computer services. The guest conductors and lavish productions that have characterized previous JSO programs have been pared.
Increased competition in the performance marketplace has raised appearance fees for guest performers, and Hopper said past programs like the Starry Night Series were crowd pleasers whose cost just couldn’t be justified.
“We had to basically look at every program from a mini profit–and–loss–analysis perspective. We tried a number of innovative things that were not effective ways to use our resources,” said Hopper. “We’re offering a more traditional series this year. We’re much more about delivering what the customer wants.”
Symphony–goers wanted quality music a marketing team said, and Hopper said a decision was made to cut back its staff and administrative costs to preserve the musical product. The JSO is renowned internationally, having played twice at Carnegie Hall and once hailed by The Palm Beach Post newspaper as “the standard to which all other Florida orchestras should strive.”
To keep the music playing at the accustomed level, the Symphony cut their full-time staff to 19, a “minimum crew,” said Hopper. Staff members learned to fix their own computer glitches, — a full–time IT service having been scuttled — and do their own telemarketing. Those cuts save the JSO $400,000 annually.
A marketing consultant told the JSO where to direct its marketing effort. Previously, the JSO used everything from postcards to the Internet to publicize its concerts.
“We knew that 50 percent of our marketing was paying off; we just didn’t know which 50 percent,” said Hopper. “We wanted to know where people in this town look for their entertainment, and it’s really the newspaper. We’ve invested heavily into newspaper ads this year.
“This has paid off and will continue to pay off. We’re investing less money and getting better results.”
That’s music to the ears of downtown restaurant managers. Bigger audiences at the T-U Center on weekends translates to dinners, drinks and deserts sold before and after the concerts.
Juliette’s, the restaurant inside the Omni, partnered with the JSO this year to offer discounted, international–flavored food to accompany the Discovery Series concerts. Louise Wood, the Omni’s director of restaurants, said the crowd at Juliette’s swells noticeably when the JSO performs.
“We’re very much affected by the symphony crowds,” she said. “For five months out of the year [during the JSO’s offseason] we rely on our hotel guests. We’re generally pretty quiet.”
The JSO has enjoyed a near monopoly on downtown entertainment. That could change soon with more venues opening. Eclate jazz club will open soon, and a group of investors have targeted Bay Street as an entertainment corridor. Thursday night, developer Toney Sleiman threw a party to announce his plans to renovate the Landing, which he envisions as a downtown hotspot.
Hopper said the JSO welcomes the company.
“One of the biggest barriers our symphony has is getting people to look at downtown as a common destination,” he said. “A successful, vibrant downtown benefits everybody.”