Visual Art of Venzago and ISO

The situation regarding Venzago and the ISO has made it in to all kinds of newspapers and blogs, and has now made it in to visual art as well.

A friend tipped me off about a painting at the Harrison Center for the Arts in Indianapolis. Via their Flickr site, I viewed a stunningly morose piece by Kyle Ragsdale, entitled "Maestro Farewell From the Prairie: The Orchestra Wore Black". I was literally taken aback by this work. The sadness--and depth of it--hit me with a force I did not expect, and brought up intense feelings regarding the whole mess that CEO Simon Crookall created when he fired Mario Venzago, only 5 weeks before the ISO season began.

This painting, for me at least, captures the mourning the ISO and its concertgoers, fans, and patrons felt at Venzago's departure, and are still feeling today. The funeral-like procession the musicians are on in this painting is such a good representation of what is going on with the orchestra right now, in so many ways.

Yes, the orchestra played the national anthem at a recent Colts game, and there's been announcements of a group in residency at the orchestra, and other things, but in general there truly seems to be a cloud over the ISO, and there has been ever since Crookall made his unwise, and foolish move. We now hear of the largest deficit the ISO has ever seen--$2.8 million. Statements are being issued that sound akin to "donations need to be beefed up or there's gonna be serious trouble". People have been let go. The musicians accepted a contract that cut their salary by 12%. (can you imagine how bad that the contract they rejected, 76-0 was??) Rumor on the street is that things at the ISO feel odd, and strange. No doubt many of the musicians are missing Venzago, and very much so. On his site you can read some feedback that people had in response to his dismissal/firing. Some of them are deeply touching, and it's obvious that many of them are from musicians.

This painting embodies all the sadness and pain that has come about since Venzago has been gone. No one can deny how empty things feel without him; how odd, out of place, and just how wrong things seem since his involuntary departure. Kyle Ragsdale's work of art captures these feelings, and more, perfectly.

This painting, and others in the collection will be at the Harrison Center For the Arts through early December. I urge you to see it as soon as you can.

Venzago speaks

It's been over two months since Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra CEO Simon Crookall emailed Mario Venzago, informing him that his contract for 2009/2010 would not be renewed. We have not heard anything from Maestro Venzago until now. You can read his statement via the Indianapolis Star.

As he stated, Venzago and the administration had been planning this upcoming season for two years. While there was no contract signed, there was a contract implied, no doubt. As Venzago said (and many of us has recieved in the mail), brochures were printed. Tickets were sold. Soloists were contacted. On and on...

Crookall decides not to renew a much implied contract, and let's Venzago know this through a short email.

Venzago issues the above statement.

It's not hard to see who's the ass, and who's the gentleman.

More on this later...

ISO musicians reject contract offer

This past Friday, Sept. 11, the musicians of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra voted against the management's most recent contract offer. The vote? 76-0.

Yes, you read that right. 76-0. I've been sitting and thinking about this unanimous vote, and other things surrounding it.

First off, I think it is safe, and very realistic to say that the musicians of the ISO all realize that in this economic climate, they will be taking a paycut of some sort. Look at orchestras around the country---Cincinnati and Baltimore for example---they and others have taken some serious paycuts in order to survive this climate. I remember speaking to a musician in an orchestra which made some serious cuts this past year, saying "Wow, that must have been a hard thing to decide upon. You all took such a big hit!" His response was something akin to "Well, we knew what we had to do to survive, and so we did it. It actually wasn't that hard at all." Musicians obviously know what it takes to keep orchestras surviving, and understand that cuts need to be made.

So, with that in mind, the musicians of the ISO still said no to the management's most recent offer, and that says a lot about the management's offer. I have no clue what the offer was--no one does, save management and the ISO musicians--but it obviously had to have been bad, and unreasonable. Why else would the vote be 76-0?

I do hope in the next contract, if musicians are taking a paycut (which based on other orchestra's negotiations, they probably are), that Crookall takes a paycut. And, not just any paycut. If musicians take, say, a 10% paycut, then Crookall had better be willing to take a 10% paycut as well. Whatever he asks the orchestra to do, he should be willing to do it as well. Otherwise, he looks like a jerk. There's no other way to put it, really. How would you feel if your CEO asked you to take a 10% paycut, yet he only took 5%? AND, he makes substantially more than you do? It makes that CEO look like an ass.

Crookall already made himself look that way with the Venzago mess---I truly hope he doesn't do it again with contract negotiations.

More from Adaptistration on the ISO

More from Drew McManus on the ISO! As usual, it's good stuff, and you can read it here.

More blogging about Venzago and the ISO

Drew McManus of Adaptistration, a most excellent blog, has chimed in on the situation in Indianapolis.

He breaks down CEO, Music Director, and musician salaries in his entry, and you'll be able to see pretty clearly that Venzago was not a highly paid Music Director, in comparison to orchestras with similar budgets. It's a very good read, and I high suggest you check it out, here.

It's time to let the ISO board of directors know how we feel

The gist of all the blog posts I've featured, and many of their comments, is that Simon Crookall made a poor, unwise, and foolish decision in deciding not to renew Mario Venzago's contract six weeks before the season begins.

Then, on Monday, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra held their usual monthly First Monday Music Club, where fans and patrons of the ISO meet up once a month to discuss all things ISO, and often hear from a special guest. There were two orchestra members scheduled as guests, but the first ten or 15 minutes were to be filled by Simon Crookall. He talked briefly and took questions, and that ended up going for approximately an hour! From all the reports I have heard, it was a tense, and nearly uncomfortable evening for Crookall. He heard some difficult questions and faced some very unhappy people. One guest (whose hand I'd love to shake) asked Crookall, "So, will you be taking a 50% pay cut next season?" All in all though, Simon was not well received, and had very few supporters there.

Also, it is more than reasonable to say that the orchestra is not pleased with Crookall either. They liked Venzago a great deal, and under his leadership, they were sounding the best they ever had.

What's the point in telling you all of this?

It's to show you the overwhelming response to Crookall's idiocy. YET, Crookall himself chooses to be blind to this. As an article in the Indianapolis Star article stated on Tuesday,


"Crookall said ISO patrons and the public have been supportive of the recent change."

It's clear that Crookall really has either lost it, or he doesn't care about reaction to his decision, and is just plowing ahead with his foolishness.

It's time to take action. It's time to write in to the board, letting them know how we, the public, ISO patrons and fans, really do feel about this. It's time to let them know that we have no confidence in Simon Crookall as CEO.

Normally, letters addressed to the board of directors would be sent to the orchestra's address. However, in these circumstances, there is a good chance those letters would not be received. Instead, they should be sent to the chairman of the board of directors, Robert S. Kaspar. (I found his work address by doing a simple Google search). Send your letters to:


Robert S. Kaspar
The Windsor Group
500 East 96th street, Suite 450
Indianapolis, IN 46240


After you have done that, please consider writing directly to the architect of this mess, Simon Crookall. His ISO email address is:

SCrookall@IndianapolisSymphony.org


Crookall claims that ISO patrons and the public support him, and nothing could be further from the truth. The board needs to fully understand this. Write in today!

The blogs just keep on comin'....

Yet ANOTHER excellent blog post, although not specifically just about the ISO this time, but certainly about issues surrounding the debacle going on there.

Charles Noble, assistant principal violist of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, maintains a terrific blog, daily observations. (yes, another blogging violist!) In a recent post, he talks about the roles of artistic administrator, and music directors. It's a great read, and you can find it here.