The Shreveport Symphony is in financial trouble – again.

The orchestra’s deficit is up to $500,000. After reviewing reports from two consultants, the board recently announced its decision to eliminate all full-time musician positions, and to revert to a wholly “per-service” orchestra. Predictably, the distraught musicians are fighting back.

We have seen this scenario before – several times – the last in 2001 when this writer, executive director of the Shreveport Symphony from 2000-2001, was the one doing the recommending.

After studying its troubled financial history, I came to the conclusion that the Shreveport Symphony was operating not only way beyond its means but also beyond the means of the community it served, and that if it was to survive at all, its budget would have to be drastically cut to reflect reality. Having made the most obvious cuts, the only area left to prune was the cost of musicians, by far the largest item in the budget.

I presented the board with the choice of eliminating the orchestra core (full-time contracts) or drastically reducing its size. My recommendations were approved in the summer of 2001, but after I left, the musicians persuaded the board to ignore them.

It comes as no surprise to me that the Shreveport Symphony is in trouble again. I hope the board members have finally come to their senses, but I doubt it. Everyone sympathizes with musicians wanting to earn a decent living, but there is a limit to how many concerts can be given and how much money can be raised in a community such as Shreveport-Bossier City; surely by now, history has shown that its demographics are simply not favorable to the maintenance of a large symphony orchestra.

Paul E. Robinson

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