Salem Chamber Orchestra In Bankruptcy

The Salem Chamber Orchestra is in tatters, with its season canceled and a bankruptcy proceeding underway.

“It wasn't anything that happened overnight," said Terra Hurdle, who served as the group’s executive director starting in January 2014, first on an interim basis, then on staff for a full year. "We continually had some holes on the revenue side.”

Hurdle left before the orchestra board made its decisions. Current and former board members declined to speak about the situation.

But others who were familiar with the orchestra's season and finances told us a story of budget overreach, fragmented management and a disappointing year for major gifts.  

Nik Caoile of Ellensburg, Washington, had entered his fifth year as the orchestra's artistic director. He said the season started out strong.

“All Classical has shared a lot of our recordings," Caoile said. "We attract musicians from Eugene, Portland and Salem. So I think people would say things are going well.

Musicians who spoke to OPB said they got a lot out of playing with the Salem Chamber Orchestra.

The structure of the orchestra was a big part of what made it unique. The group was founded, in part, to bring Willamette University music faculty and students together to play. Another half of the orchestra's seats were held by paid musicians who'd auditioned for their jobs. Volunteer players from the community rounded out the rest.

Sarah Tiedemann, a flutist who played in the orchestra and an instructor at Willamette University, said it was an amazing — not to mention rare — experience playing side-by-side with her students.

"I actually went to Sweden for one of my grad programs to get that experience," Tiedemann said. "It was also a tremendous recruiting tool. There are so few places you can do that. It was a big selling point in convincing students they should come to Willamette."

Payroll made up roughly 60 percent of the orchestra's expenditures last fiscal year. The orchestra also paid fees to visiting soloists, rented musical scores, and supported one full-time executive director and a part-time staffer.

Like many small- to mid-sized arts group, Salem Chamber Orchestra has no endowment. That meant it didn't suffer some of the problems bigger ensembles had during the stock market crash. But it also meant there wasn't much of a safety net.

The American Federation of Musicians Local 99 represents those Salem Chamber Orchestra musicians who are professional players. Bruce Fife, the union's president, said certain aspects of the story are common to many performing arts groups.

"In any group you have the artist vision and then you have the money issue — how do you finance it," Fife said.

But the Salem Chamber Orchestra tried strategies that many classical ensembles have only considered.
 
"We entered our 30th anniversary season and decided to go for a heavier budget," Caoile said. "One of our goals was attracting younger audiences. We decided to create a new series, 'Late Night with SCO' — concerts put on by SCO musicians in non-traditional venues. ... People could drink and eat during the concerts."

Caoile and the musicians wanted to do these events, and the board voted to approve them. But the fundraising that would have been needed to support the extra events did not materialize.

"In the past year," Caoile said, "I think fiscal management was not as strong as it could have been."

Terra Hurdle, the former executive director, said she and the board made the effort, but not enough money came in the door.

"A lot of Salem is a very low- to mid-income population," Hurdle said. "When you're fundraising, your gifts may vary a lot, compared with what an organization might receive in a larger metropolitan area."

The musicians felt subsequent decisions to cancel the season and begin bankruptcy proceedings were made behind closed doors.

"I think part of that was the intention to fulfill a contractual agreement, to the best of our abilities," said Hurdle, who had left before these decisions were made. "All the musicians are contracted at the beginning of the season. We have an obligation to them — also our patrons. The work of bringing an organization into a healthy state has to be done over a long period of time. But in the end we got to a point where results we needed for the long term couldn't be accomplished quickly enough."

The musicians and Caoile volunteered to give up pay for the rest of the season, and make other program changes that would have saved money. But the board did not change course.

Caoile says it's a big loss, all around.

"There were many musicians who truly loved being in the orchestra," Caoile said. "We laughed during rehearsals, we had fun during rehearsals. It was so easy to work together."

It's unclear what may be left of the orchestra's assets. Bruce Fife of the musician's union says he's not sure whether musicians will receive any compensation.

"I know if they file for bankruptcy the musicians are at the top of the list for being paid anything owed to them," Fife said. "Does that mean money owed based on contracts in place and performances not done yet? Technically, yes. The musicians signed the contract. But if there's no money there, there's no money there."

Flutist Sarah Tiedemann says she still believes any outstanding debt could still be raised, if the board had the will to do it.

"I think the organization had the right idea," Tiedemann said. "They wanted to find a way to reach a younger audience. What I take away from that is, if you're going to experiment, you have to be prepared not to freak out afterward if there's a loss from it. That one expensive season has sent everyone going like Chicken Little, as if there's no place for the group to thrive in Salem. We tried it, and maybe it didn't work, but we could have tried any number of other things."

But for now, the Salem Chamber Orchestra's board believes the only way forward is to shut down and see if there's enough will to reorganize after the bankruptcy is complete.