Opportunities and Challenges for the Bellevue Philharmonic
The largest classical ensemble on the Eastside is the Bellevue Philharmonic, which has a rich 40-year history. But with an ever changing landscape of cultural diversification and financial challenges, the new CEO, Jennifer McCausland, has a significant task ahead of her in helping the ensemble adjust and thrive. We recently sat down with her to talk about the road ahead.
The challenges that the Bellevue Philharmonic are experiencing, like that of nearly every other arts institution in this country, eventually come down to money. McCausland soberly explained, “The business model of performing arts only being able to get 10%, 20%, or even 30% of their operating costs from ticket revenue is just not sustainable, particularly now with the financial sector and whole economy flattening out.”
This is an acute problem as the primary performance space that the Bellevue Philharmonic is utilizing has a seating capacity of 400, suggesting that not even a full house would be sufficient to sustain the entire organization. However, there is the very real potential for some expansion. By 2011, if the financiers continue to support the cause, Bellevue will be home to the Performing Arts Center Eastside. PACE will be a mixed use space, as McCausland explains, which will house “the ballet, the opera, the Seattle Symphony will perform there, we will, and I understand that they will be bringing in musicals as well.”
In the meantime, the ensemble cannot continue forcing such a large number of players onto a relatively small stage to perform for a limited-sized audience, so McCausland and the board are in the process of reshaping the Bellevue Philharmonic, trimming its size by half so that it will essentially become a chamber orchestra.
Now, with the potential for greater seating capacity provided by PACE there's another massive challenge: namely, filling those seats with more audience members, and in particular, younger audience members. To this end, the Bellevue Philharmonic has expanded their outreach performances, developing programs for children that used to only exist in Seattle, but, McCausland explained, “We have brought those same concerts over here to the Eastside, and not just in downtown Bellevue, but all over the county, from Village Theatre to Bothell to Sammamish Plateau.”
Even more ambitious, it is possible in the not too distant future that the Bellevue Philharmonic will have its own conservatory as well, training young musicians on the Eastside, expanding their audience base through these students and their families, and moving financially toward a state of self-sufficiency, where the additional revenue from the school can help fund their concert activities. “This is exactly what we should be doing, earning our own money and funding our own activities,” said McCausland This is the future vision, but the current day has its more immediate woes.
The cry for independence is understandable in today’s economic climate, where corporate donors and philanthropic endowments are genuinely feeling the pinch. McCausland referred to the Bellevue Philharmonic as “a barometer for interest and support on the Eastside for the performing arts, in particular classical music,” and is hopeful that the financial might of the area will continue to recognize the importance for developing not just the residential and business infrastructure, but also the cultural establishments, as the success of the Bellevue Philharmonic and the future success of PACE are both dependent upon community support. The wealthy will enjoy a tax benefit for their charitable giving, but the community will gain even more, the deepening of cultural significance that occurs by having a well-funded outlet for human expression.
One of the great opportunities for the Bellevue Philharmonic is their intense desire to embrace the cultural and ethnic diversity that is evolving on the Eastside. McCausland explained her ambitions for this cross-pollination.
“The programming that we could introduce could not only interest perhaps the East Indian community or the Asian community, but also the Western community that wants to learn more about this music," she explains. "We are really excited about doing things like that and we have already planned an Asian music festival in June. This is just the first step as we move forward with our planning and financing, but perhaps next year we can do something with an East Indian component. This is another area where we would like to distinguish ourselves from any other group, without de-emphasizing Western classical music. There is so much more out there that we would like to present to the community.”
McCausland’s final statement poignantly summarized her role, the fate of the ensemble, and her optimism for the future. “I think that the opportunities on the Eastside and the opportunities for the Bellevue Philharmonic are enormous. We have challenges, but they are not nearly as great as the opportunities. I am looking forward to being a part of that transition from the good orchestra that we were, to the fantastic orchestra that we are going to be, taking the music that we present to not only hundreds of appreciative audience members, but thousands in the next couple of years.”
We sincerely hope they succeed.
