Symphony in Trouble
The Failure of the Fine Arts
By Daniel Muniz
Not too long ago while I was at a barbecue, a
colleague of mine profusely lamented that the local fine arts, such
as the San Antonio Symphony, was going down the tubes and nobody
cared. He asserted that the city had a moral responsibility and an
obligation to ensure the survival of the symphony and the other
fine arts in town.
My colleague also insisted that much of the
downfall was attributed to the city itself because of Hispanics.
Although San Antonio Texas is predominately Hispanic, I didn’t buy
that line of reasoning. And it was not because I am a Hispanic
although I did find his remarks rather disparaging.
Another friend piped in explaining that plenty of people
in San Antonio don’t mind paying forty dollars or even a lot more for a ticket
to see a Toby Keith concert.
In fact, San Antonio has the AT&T Center as well a rather large
empty football stadium, the Alamodome, which routinely hosts a
number of country, pop, R&B, Tejano, and rock stars. And the
city
also has the Verizon amphitheater where plenty of people
consistently pay astronomically high concert ticket prices to bake
in hot humid weather to enjoy their favorite bands. In addition,
there are many of other smaller venues in the city that hosts music
events in which people pay through the nose for tickets.
So if people are willing to pay the big bucks
for a rock concert in a hot sweaty outdoor theater, then why the
dismal failure of the fine arts?
And it is not for lack of trying.
The San Antonio Symphony has engineered an amazing number of
marketing approaches from "singles night" to "pack the house night"
but none of those efforts have ever taken hold. The audiences and
their money just aren’t there.
The local symphony, like many other
similar organizations, always seems to have to be bailed out by some
sort of well-heeled benefactors as well as by local governments.
But why do the masses prefer watching a truck and tractor pull in
a football stadium instead of indulging in timeless culture?
In all reality, symphonies and orchestras have
not really failed. The law of supply and demand, which dictates its
true strength, governs their livelihood. In other words, they are
the size that matches its audience even if its supporters are
miniscule in number.
Unfortunately, applying real world economics
is not exactly what the fine art advocates want to hear.
But the real world applies to everyone else in
the music industry regardless if you are a rap, rock, pop, or
country star. If people want to see an artist’s concert and purchase
his or her CDs, then that musician will continue to be successful.
Inversely, if people don’t want to see a certain musician perform or
want to buy his or her CDs, then whose fault is it?
Does the government have a moral responsibility for rock or
country artists who have not succeeded?
Michael Jackson's musical career has gotten flushed down the
toilet. Should our tax dollars support his next CD?
Or how about pop or rap musicians who had the one-hit wonder but
cannot generate any additional success past that? Does the
government an obligation to them?
Obviously not! People either clamor for things
or they don’t.
Does it mean that money is killing our
nation’s symphonies and orchestras? Well, yes it is and there is
nothing wrong with that. If a demand does not exist, then a
community is under no obligation to subsidize a supply.
It does sound cruel and heartless but how many
countless unheard rap, pop, country, and rock artists have
experienced the same thing?
Symphonies and orchestras will survive but not
in the venues that they are currently propped up in. If certain
wealthy individuals want to support their existence, then more power
to them. However, if such an organization wants our tax dollars, then a
community is entitled to vigorously oppose them. Regardless of its
cultural appeal, a symphony has no more of a claim to our tax
dollars than washed up artists such as Vanilla Ice or Quiet Riot.
Overall, I don’t feel particularly bad that
certain fine art establishments have failed; or at least not any
more so because people have stopped purchasing Michael Jackson’s or
MC Hammer’s CDs. If that genre has passed from this generation, then
so be it. Our tax dollars are not under any moral obligation to
finance it.
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