by Rachel Witkowski
Staff Writer
Gerald Pollack was never able to become a profound musician or singer, but his passion for music has led him recently to become the 2006-07 Jacksonville Symphony Association chairman.
Pollack has been a member of the JSA board for more than six years while working as the senior vice president and chief financial officer at Rayonier Inc., for nearly 20 years. But in February, the former New Yorker decided he would leave the corporate world and move to a cubicle on the second floor of the Times-Union Center.
“When I retired, I didn’t want to stop working,” said Pollack, who grew up in the Bronx. “And I wanted to return more of what I’ve done for the community.”
Pollack has served as the president-elect for the past two years, and treasurer and chair of the finance committee for JSA since he became a member — meaning he is a “very generous” donor to the Symphony. But Pollack, as well as many other board members, have lately focused their attention on modernizing the symphony from strictly classical music to a variety of musical styles in order to accommodate the changing demographics and pull the symphony out of a huge financial deficit.
A year before Pollack became a member, the symphony had a budget deficit of about $1 million. In June, JSA announced at its annual meeting that individual contributions were more than $1 million, an increase of 16 percent from the previous year. Single-ticket sales for the 2005-06 season also increased by 22 percent from the previous season. The ticket sales totaled $994,500.
“We’ve done a lot but I think we can do some more,” said Pollack.
The primary goals that Pollack and the board have to benefit the future of the symphony are to widen the dynamics of the programming, expand its geographical audience, monitor expenses and focus on revenue lines, said Alan Hopper, the executive director of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.
“The main change that we have obligated to find out is what the community wants,” said Hopper, who added that many large symphonies in the nation have not undergone a program change like the Jacksonville Symphony. “The challenge is adapting to how the people buy.”
One of the ways JSA adapted was by creating ways of selling smaller ticket packages and allowing customers to pick a variety of different music shows in one packet, said Hopper. Of the audience members who attended a contemporary show for the first time, about 13 percent of those who came back attended a different music style performance, according to Hopper.
“Our basic mission is to present great classical music, but our obligation to the community is still in the experimental stage,” he said.
Pollack said he will also focus on a better endowment campaign and trying to resolve the orchestra labor contract starting this fall before the contract expires in August 2007.
“We want to still give a certain level of programming while delivering fair wage to the staff and orchestra members,” he said.
Pollack spends at least three days a week at his cubicle in the T-U Center and working with the board. His other days during the week are spent playing golf and volunteering with the synagogue he attends, where he recently filled in for the weekend rabbi. But for the most part, JSA is always on his mind.
“I wake up in the middle of the night and I think symphony issues. Then I try to think of a relaxing game of golf and it comes back to the symphony,” he said. “I love music, though I can’t sing and I can’t play. It just came to me like a calling.”