Barbara Brogliatti does not mince words. But then before coming to head the board of Symphony Napa Valley, she spent 18 years as the chief communications officer for Warner Bros. She was not only queen of flaks but also a clever strategist.
And so she thought for a moment, winding up the words, and then let the thought go off like a well-thrown glider: “You can’t run a business like a nonprofit but you can run a nonprofit like a business. And when you’re running a performing arts center you have to run it like a business.”
Accept that as a promissory note for Symphony Napa Valley and, at the same time, an epitaph for the old Napa Valley Symphony, which went into a coma two years ago, following a fiery crash involving runaway egos, and bad luck — a Lincoln Theater gala fund-raiser that lost money; performance artists that broke the bank; the time Randy Newman broke his wrist and had to cancel; under-funded marketing efforts; poor PR; an endowment fund that got raided; communities ties that were carefully built up and then thoughtlessly severed — and finally after all that, a forlorn and reckless dependence on a single revenue source, the late Donald Carr.
He and his wife, Lonnie, ran both the Napa Valley Symphony and its performance venue, the Lincoln Theater. Carr was killed in an auto accident in August, 2011; his wife was unable to assume her husband’s role as white knight and dictator — Carr had paid Symphony deficits every year largely by himself — and a few months later, the 78-year-old symphony played its last note, and the Lincoln Theater was returned to the state of California, from whence it came.
The 1,214-seat Lincoln Theater was built in 1957 as part of the Veterans Home of Yountville and was closed for renovation in 2000. Then, five years and $22 million later, it reopened as a state-of-the-art venue for the Napa Valley Symphony, among other arts organizations. With demise of the Symphony, the theater was pulled down into bankruptcy, only to be saved by a pledge of financial and management resources from IMG Artists, a performing arts management company, with such clients as Itzhak Perlman, Hilary Hahn, Joshua Bell, and Renée Fleming.
Reorganized and Reloaded
The Lincoln Theater is now taking the name of The Napa Valley Performing Arts Center. Michael Madden is executive director of the Lincoln Theater Foundation, and, as an aside, when the Napa Valley Symphony went into bankruptcy, Madden bought up the assets, including stands, chairs, instruments, a band shell, and the symphony’s music library.
Symphony Napa Valley’s music director is Ming Luke, formerly assistant conductor of the Napa Valley Symphony. “This is not a continuation,” he said. “There’s no continuity,” and referring to musicians he added, “We didn’t go back to the old roster. Not at all” — much to the chagrin of many of those musicians.
“We are looking at ourselves as a regional theater,” notes Brogliatti. “Our heart is in Napa Valley, but we plan to appeal to all the surrounding communities: Vallejo, Santa Rosa, Fairfield, Davis.”
“Sacramento,” she added, and as though to top that, her voice rising: “San Francisco.”
Some critics of the old Napa Valley Symphony business model claimed there was always too much effort put on attracting international tourists and not enough on visitors from the Bay Area, particularly people on the peninsula who could visit Napa on a whim.
In the new organizational architecture, the Lincoln Theater no longer stands as a parallel entity with the symphony, but rather as the roof over a variety of programs, one of which is Symphony Napa Valley. The orchestra premiered on Sept. 21 in Yountville, the first of six concert sets stretching out to next May.
“We’re not going to be a standalone symphony or theater. You can’t be a standalone anything these days,” - Barbara Brogliatti, Symphony Napa Valley.
“We’re not going to be a standalone symphony or theater. You can’t be a standalone anything these days,” said Brogliatti. “We are a performing arts center — where education and community are as important as entertainment. Our strategy is to be nontraditional, complementary, and sustainable, with several revenue streams.”
In sum, she said, and there was something nearly vindictive in her tone: “The only thing we share with the former organization is the word ‘symphony’; we are starting from scratch.”
Wait, There’s Another Napa Orchestra?
For a few months in early 2012 it looked as though Napa Valley might go permanently dark. Beyond lawsuits from ticket holders and musicians, people said ‘well, you see the valley just isn’t as wealthy as people think. And the fact is, there just aren’t enough people to support a high-quality symphony.’ Others said, ‘You’ll never get an orchestra to succeed now with the Green Center’ — referring to the new performing art complex at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park. The Green Center is home to the Santa Rosa Symphony.
But then, out of a top hat, white rabbits, and now there are actually two symphonies, in name at least, and possibly a competition, a race, in the offing. Symphony, Napa Valley is has clearly won the first heat, and the competition is still with the trainers.
The other orchestra is the New Napa Valley Symphony Association. Note the word ‘new’ — it may save you a headache later on.
“The only thing we share with the former organization is the word ‘symphony’; we are starting from scratch.” - Barbara Brogliatti
Eldon Sellers, is a revered old hand in the Napa Valley classical music scene and served on the board of the former Napa Valley Symphony. He now advises the board of the New Napa Valley Symphony Association. He’s also perhaps best known locally for his personal ties to Hugh Hefner and for helping to find investors to launch Playboy magazine.
“A lot of people are confused,” Sellers said the other day, “there is no connection between the New Napa Valley Symphony Association and Symphony Napa Valley. The use of ‘symphony’ is misleading. The New Napa Valley Symphony Association is a new corporation that has been completely reorganized and renamed. It’s a 100% professional orchestra.”
It may come as news to some that the old Napa Valley Symphony, as wounded as it was, survived in any form. But it did, although now reorganized with a brand new legal status. It still features the iconic Martha Wise, who was with the symphony long before ‘the troubles,’ and now heads the new board as she did the old. The board has seven members and there is a search to find more.
The conductor is Tom Conlin, musically accomplished and credited with having grown the West Virginia Symphony’s tiny annual budget to $3 million a year. Moreover, the Association has a commitment from approximately 50 musicians, all are union members who have agreed to collective bargaining.
Startup Troubles
No performances have been scheduled, however; there’s not even a website and the symphony is still looking for a venue.
At one time, despite its small size, the Napa Valley Opera House might have been suitable, but it’s being turned into a cabaret theater. The district auditorium at Napa High School might be a venue, but no connections have been made. Napa College is another possibility. And then there is the elephant in the closet, the Lincoln Theater; and that is viable. Indeed, it’s conceivable, although not likely, that both orchestras might one day share the venue.
“We’ve had discussions,” said Mark Nemoyten, chair of the Players Committee of the New Napa Valley Symphony Association. “They broke off, but I think we could work together.”
As to the question why there was no effort to combine the old orchestra with Symphony Napa Valley, Sellers replied, “They insisted on getting rid of tenure, they wanted to be independent. Ming wanted all his own people. We felt we had an obligation to the old members and we wanted to keep the symphony intact.”
Sellers and others trying to revive the Napa Valley Symphony had hoped the organization’s endowment fund would provide foundation money. And that would have been conceivable under the bylaws. But when the old Napa Valley Symphony Association filed for Chapter 7 protection, it was put in the hands of a bankruptcy trustee who is now suing the symphony’s endowment fund to pay off creditors, including the musician’s union, which claims money to cover pension obligations, unpaid salaries, and contributions to unemployment insurance. The endowment fund’s total assets came to about $1.245 million in 2011.
That was bad enough. But now the endowment fund appears to be liable for a $550,000 penalty brought by the national office of the American Federation of Musicians — Employer’s Pension Fund, which is mandated by federal law to collect it, on the grounds that pension payments were not made for several years. It turns out a missed $5,700 payment set the penalty in motion.
Some critics of the local union say that it’s trying to have it both ways with the endowment, encouraging collection of the penalty and at the same time asking for help in setting up the New Napa Valley Symphony Association. The head of the local musician’s union, Bob Williams, said that is absolutely not true.
“We do not want to see the endowment fund damaged by this. I have argued with the pension fund to get them to withdraw the penalty. I’ve even said we would guarantee that the penalty is paid over time. But the pension fund wants to be sure this is going to succeed. And that’s the problem, everybody has to agree and at this point nobody wants to take the first step. Of course, there are all kinds of attorneys involved whose interest is not necessarily to help the musicians get back to work. At this point, my hands are tied. The battle is not over, but the chances of getting the pension fund to drop the penalty are slim.”
What’s in a Name?
And then there is the matter of the musicians.
“Some are very pissed they weren’t asked to be part of Symphony Napa Valley,” Nemoyten said.
“Some are even calling for a picket. The problem is this: We had tried to work out a deal whereby they would become the core of a new symphony but that didn’t work. But now there is this confusion. From the musician’s point of view Symphony Napa Valley is being billed as a successor to the Napa Valley Symphony. It’s not stated that way but it’s implied in the publicity. And so, for example, when musicians from the old orchestra meet people in the street the assumption is that they’re with the new organization. ‘So you’re with the new orchestra, when does it begin?’ ‘Well, no, actually I’m not …”
It can only be hoped that no one ever thinks up a Napa Valley New Symphony Orchestra or some such. The situation already has Monty Python overtones.
“We felt we had an obligation to the old members and we wanted to keep the symphony intact.” - Eldon Sellers, New Napa Valley Symphony Association
Nemoyten added that some union musicians have long had doubts about the intentions of Michael Madden to include them. One musician who asked not to be identified said Madden’s was an “ideological position.”
Asked to respond, Madden replied,
“No, I’m pro-sustainability. And what I’m trying to do with the unions is not unlike what every orchestra across the country is needing to do right now, which is to recalibrate the way we work with the unions, to put both the organization and musicians in a position where we can continue to do this, and some of that has to do with operations, some with logistics, and some with finance. But I’m not anti-union. More than half our musicians in our symphony are local union players.”
The average base service pay for musicians in Symphony Napa Valley is $100. Principals and the concertmaster will make up to twice that.“It’s essential that the orchestra interact with the local community in as many ways as possible. And in a small town like Napa, naturally it’s in everyone’s interest to work together.” -Mark Nemoyten, New Napa Valley Symphony Association
“The fear when we first made this announcement,” said Madden, “ — that we were going to open this up to both union and nonunion players — was that I was going to make this entirely a nonunion orchestra. But I think we’ve proven that’s not our intention. I would add that we continue to talk to the union.”
Madden, who has taken angry calls himself, went on to say, “I’m looking to see that Ming is being fair and equitable and artistically challenged by the selection process. On balance, I’m very satisfied with the ways we’re going about this.”
At the End of the Day …
The central question remains, is there enough money and community support to sustain two symphonies? Beyond that, can the New Napa Valley Symphony Association escape its history? And by the same token can Symphony, Napa Valley flourish as a semi-professional orchestra? Does that even matter to people? And finally, is the way these organizations bond with local schools, artists and vendors and community groups going to be the real measure of success and sustainability?
“The bottom line,” says Madden, “is that there’s only enough money in the valley for one symphony. I believe we’ve put together the only viable symphony plan. Everything else is just talk and all these other ‘reasons’ why you might keep another organization around, like the Napa Valley Symphony Association, as well as trying to get attorneys to coerce endowments to give you money, just sound unproductive. It’s certainly not what my donors want to hear. They want to hear about music education and arts education and collaboration with organizations like the Napa Valley Youth Symphony.”
Supporters of the New Napa Valley Symphony Association are equally convinced that the secret to sustainability is in links to the community. “It’s essential that the orchestra interact with the local community in as many ways as possible,” says Nemoyten, “and in a small town like Napa , naturally it’s in everyone’s interest to work together.”
“We don’t want to rush this,” he added. “We're taking our time. We’re putting together a board and a program, and getting everything in order, and if we can do this we will; if we can’t, we can’t.”