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Symphony in Blue
by Jacob Hale Russell
November 2007 Issue
November 2007 Issue
With ticket sales flat and a new arts complex going up downtown, the Dallas Symphony’s board girds for a fundraising battle.
Behind the scenes, an ensemble cast of executives helped build a $93 million modernist temple for Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theater. Read More
A few years ago, in the wake of corporate scandals at Enron and elsewhere, the trustees of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra brought a little Sarbanes-Oxley to the concert hall. In a move that was part of a larger trend in the arts world, they rewrote the orchestra’s bylaws to give the board greater responsibility and make it more like that of a public corporation, as opposed to a traditional nonprofit’s, “where the boards are more of an honorary position,” says trustee and former chairman James Keyes.
Of course, an activist board full of strong-minded businesspeople isn’t always easy for the symphony’s full-time executives to cope with, even when matters seem simple, as when the staff wanted to add signs to the D.S.O.’s signature I.M. Pei building this fall. When the plans were presented to the board, says Fred Bronstein, the symphony’s C.E.O., “there was a tremendous amount of passion, not all positive, about what we were doing.” (After a few tweaks, the initiative was eventually approved.) Earlier this year, the board wrapped up a long search for a new music director, choosing the Dutch-born Jaap van Zweden to replace Andrew Litton, who’d held the podium for 12 years, an unusually long time in the symphony world.
While the D.S.O. has been in the black for four years, ticket sales have flattened out, making the organization increasingly dependent on philanthropy. In the past fiscal year, the group balanced its $24 million budget with $9.3 million in gifts, including donations brought in by a last-minute, four-week fundraising blitz to offset a projected $700,000 deficit. Securing money won’t get any easier. A major new arts complex is in the works for downtown Dallas, heightening competition for the city’s culturally minded givers.
PICTURED ABOVE, FROM LEFT: FRED BRONSTEIN, president and C.E.O., Dallas Symphony Association; DOLORES BARZUNE, civic leader; BLAINE NELSON, managing partner, Deloitte Services; CECE SMITH, managing general partner, Phillips-Smith-Machens Venture Partners; JAMES KEYES, chairman and C.E.O., Blockbuster; NANCY NASHER, president, NorthPark Development; LYNN FLINT SHAW, C.E.O., Lynn Flint Shaw & Associates; RICHARD ANDREW, managing general partner, C3 Management; MICHAEL DAVIS, managing director and regional head, J.P. Morgan Asset Management; BRAD TODD, principal, Richards Group; HAROLD BRIERLEY, chairman and C.E.O., Brierley Group. NOT PICTURED: ROGER ENRICO, chairman, DreamWorks Animation; RANDALL GOSS, chairman and C.E.O., U.S. Risk Insurance Group; HOWARD HALLAM, president, Ben E. Keith Co.; JEFFREY HELLER, vice chairman, E.D.S.; V.J HORGAN, philanthropist; MORTON MEYERSON, chairman and C.E.O., 2M Companies; HOWARD RACHOFSKY, chairman, Regal Asset Management; JEFFREY RICH, C.E.O., Rich Capital; PHILIP RITTER, senior vice president for public affairs, Texas Instruments; MYRNA SCHLEGEL, vice chairman, Pavestone; BILLIE IDA WILLIAMSON, partner, Ernst & Young.
Of course, an activist board full of strong-minded businesspeople isn’t always easy for the symphony’s full-time executives to cope with, even when matters seem simple, as when the staff wanted to add signs to the D.S.O.’s signature I.M. Pei building this fall. When the plans were presented to the board, says Fred Bronstein, the symphony’s C.E.O., “there was a tremendous amount of passion, not all positive, about what we were doing.” (After a few tweaks, the initiative was eventually approved.) Earlier this year, the board wrapped up a long search for a new music director, choosing the Dutch-born Jaap van Zweden to replace Andrew Litton, who’d held the podium for 12 years, an unusually long time in the symphony world.
While the D.S.O. has been in the black for four years, ticket sales have flattened out, making the organization increasingly dependent on philanthropy. In the past fiscal year, the group balanced its $24 million budget with $9.3 million in gifts, including donations brought in by a last-minute, four-week fundraising blitz to offset a projected $700,000 deficit. Securing money won’t get any easier. A major new arts complex is in the works for downtown Dallas, heightening competition for the city’s culturally minded givers.
PICTURED ABOVE, FROM LEFT: FRED BRONSTEIN, president and C.E.O., Dallas Symphony Association; DOLORES BARZUNE, civic leader; BLAINE NELSON, managing partner, Deloitte Services; CECE SMITH, managing general partner, Phillips-Smith-Machens Venture Partners; JAMES KEYES, chairman and C.E.O., Blockbuster; NANCY NASHER, president, NorthPark Development; LYNN FLINT SHAW, C.E.O., Lynn Flint Shaw & Associates; RICHARD ANDREW, managing general partner, C3 Management; MICHAEL DAVIS, managing director and regional head, J.P. Morgan Asset Management; BRAD TODD, principal, Richards Group; HAROLD BRIERLEY, chairman and C.E.O., Brierley Group. NOT PICTURED: ROGER ENRICO, chairman, DreamWorks Animation; RANDALL GOSS, chairman and C.E.O., U.S. Risk Insurance Group; HOWARD HALLAM, president, Ben E. Keith Co.; JEFFREY HELLER, vice chairman, E.D.S.; V.J HORGAN, philanthropist; MORTON MEYERSON, chairman and C.E.O., 2M Companies; HOWARD RACHOFSKY, chairman, Regal Asset Management; JEFFREY RICH, C.E.O., Rich Capital; PHILIP RITTER, senior vice president for public affairs, Texas Instruments; MYRNA SCHLEGEL, vice chairman, Pavestone; BILLIE IDA WILLIAMSON, partner, Ernst & Young.
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