Phase 3: Profit

I think we’re all worried about our local performing arts organizations’ abilities to weather the economic shitstorm. Lately, they seem to be disappearing like Mayans.

Certainly, Miami has not been immune.

Miami City Ballet, which no longer performs to live music, has laid off dancers and pared its $14.8 million annual budget to slightly more than $11 million.

and...

Florida Grand Opera cut its $14-million annual budget about 30 percent, froze wages and canceled a concert series.

and...

And the Concert Association of Florida, once the major presenter of classical music in Miami-Dade and Broward, filed for bankruptcy liquidation in February.

and...

The Concert Association's closure widened the void left by the 2003 bankruptcy of the Florida Philharmonic and the demise of Broward Friends of Chamber Music.

Yikes. It’s sure rough out there. But the young Miami Symphony isn’t giving in to the challenging climate.

''The crisis for an organization like ours was going to be more helpful than damaging,'' [conductor Eduardo Marturet] says, ``because we had no choice but to grow or disappear.''

Hmm. Interesting, if not impossible, opposition. Nevertheless, good for you! I like the arts. Keep them going!

''A fresh approach to orchestra management is really prevailing,'' says concertmaster Daniel Andai.

''It's like a gem that needs to be polished to become a precious stone,'' says Rafael Diaz-Balart, board chairman. ``We are going to get there.''

Like I said, good for you. But how are you going to get there?

Founded in 1989 by Cuban immigrants -- Ochoa, and his wife, Sofia, who recently retired as executive director -- Miami Symphony long recruited board members and musicians who were most familiar to its core leaders.

That meant the symphony, its leadership and its supporters were largely homogenous.

I’m not sure I follow.

Getting there will take more money, Diaz-Balart says, and, perhaps more important, a change in the orchestra's image as a predominantly Hispanic cultural group.

Huh?

''It operated and developed very much as a Cuban-American, Hispanic organization for many years,'' Diaz-Balart says. ``And, I think, as a result of that aspect of the organization, we encountered certain—

[hedge]

--not necessarily obstacles-- but we were not properly represented on the board of directors by all the communities that exist in Miami, and as a result our outreach into the different communities . . .

[think about what you say, now]

was hampered.''

Unless I’m reading into this way too much (which is a possibility), this sounds like...

Well, I’ll just say this: the majority of Miami-Dade’s population is Hispanic, but that’s not where the money is.












Phase 1: Get rid of the poor Hispanics
Phase 2: ...
Phase 3: Profit