Capital Region Cares Capital Region Cares 2018-2019

n Opinion how mergers can save the arts GIULIANO KORNBERG, DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, SACRAMENTO PHILHARMONIC & OPERA T oday, the arts and cultural climate in Sacramento is ex- tremely robust, and there are an incredible number of organizations doing interesting and innovative things. The Crocker Art Museum is embarking on a $40 million development project to develop 3 acres of unimproved land, aptly named Crocker Park. B Street Theatre is constantly producing performances and utilizing the Sofia Tsako- poulos Center for the Arts for plays, musical shows, events and fundraisers. Capital Dance Project is completely artist driven, with dancers choreographing all the numbers and collaborating with incredible local talent like independent musician The Philharmonik (seriously, check him out — he is amazing). And one group’s resurgence, the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera, mirrors just how incredible Sacra- mento has become as a cultural destination. Both the Sacramento Philharmonic and Sacramento Opera have had trying times. The up-and-down nature of both groups — one had survived two bankruptcies, and one had struggled financially, all while playing for a community that appreciated the art forms but had stopped expressing confidence with attendance — led to the merger of the two groups. Thus, in spring of 2013, the Sacramento Philhar- monic and Sacramento Opera came together to become the Sacramento Region Performing Arts Alliance. The hope was that with one board, staff, musician roster and audience, the newly merged organization could oper- ate strongly on an effective business model that produced high-quality performing art for the Sacramento commu- nity. The reality, though, was that the organizations were too financially weak to successfully merge, and undefined roles, weak direction and overspending in the early stages led to insolvency in the 2014-15 season. Since then, however, the organization has rebound- ed. With some initial outside consulting help, the group focused on small benchmarks to move from insolvency to viability to stability. Individual concerts became full seasons, modest fundraising and ticket sales turned into record campaigns, opera returned to the stage, the group developed a more significant community presence, and the budget has increased every year — all while working to grow and cultivate the staff and board. As John McCann, president of Partners in Performance and one of the early consultants to help the organization come back, says, “The Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera is the resurrection story in this country.” Sacramento can call this group its own and can stake a claim as host city to one of the highest profile rebirths in the classical performing arts world. Sacramento can also say it houses one of the few merged orchestra and opera companies in the country. While merg- ers in the orchestral performing arts field aren’t unprece- dented, they have been rare. Two high-profile cases include the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera merging in 2002, and the formation of the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance after its orchestra, opera and ballet all merged into one organiza- tion in 2012. Yet recent conversations I’ve had at conferences with fellow orchestra managers across the country suggest that this merger model and “new wave” of operating might not be far off. Especially in cities with regional orchestras like Sacramento, the formula beginning to repeat itself — solid philharmonic, financially struggling opera company (opera is the most expensive performing art with singers, musicians, and chorus, plus sets, staging, costumes and lighting) and preliminary discussions about how to bring them together. The field as a whole is already seeing a decrease in en- gagement, especially as it relates to opera, and both orches- tral music and opera are too important to go away. They are some of the oldest performing art forms and have been shown to greatly benefit both individuals and entire com- munities. Without these groups, the cultural bedrock and crown jewel of a region will be gone. Mergers might become more common out of necessity, yet while other groups be- gin to tussle with this issue, the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera have already merged — after an initial break-in pe- riod — and are thriving. Here again, Sacramento can state with authority that it is on the leading edge of innovation in the classical-performing-arts sector. n comstocksmag.com | 2018-19 CAPITAL REGION CARES 23

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