Save classical music

With the Grammy award ceremony the cultural talk of this week, the values of the music business are on display more than at any other time of the year. Although the Recording Academy calls the Grammys “the only peer-presented award to honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position,” the commercial implications are tremendous.

It’s not just Beck and Beyonce who matter: concert bookings and ticket sales boosted by a Grammy (even a nomination) may be the most crucial outcome for classical artists, because most of their income comes from live performances. But ticket sales cover only a fraction of the cost of a concert. Even with the private funding obtained by many arts organizations, the sparseness of government support is the main problem facing live music performance in the United States today. When the performing arts struggle to survive, we risk losing a common good. 

{mosads}The spectacular failure of the New York City Opera in 2013 is a case in point. The venerable company, long known as “the people’s opera,” folded when key donors withdrew; there was no safety net. The principal lesson to be learned from this tragedy, even more than the dangers of mismanagement, is the vulnerability of music organizations that rely too heavily on private funding. This was news to no one; the end of Opera Boston (that city’s second-largest company) in 2011 was seen as a warning sign for New York City Opera, which was already in trouble. Now the small, beloved New York company DiCapo Opera Theater is also gone. Even the Metropolitan Opera, with its robust donor pool, has difficulty making ends meet. State and federal governments must recognize that music performance cannot pay for itself through ticket sales and funding from private donors.  

Increasing public support for music might not seem the best use of funds in tough times, but research shows that investment in the arts yields measurable economic results. A study released in 2014 by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies cites demonstrable civic, health, educational, and economic benefits of the arts. Involvement in the arts promotes the physical and mental health of the population; art in education improves students’ performance in school and prepares them for careers in the global economy. In addition to these direct effects, the study notes that government funding, far from promoting reliance on state support, attracts generous matching donations and taxe breaks. In short, public spending on the arts makes economic sense; it creates a diversified economy, a well-educated younger generation, and promotes the well-being of the community. 

Even those who never attend performances may see their lives improved by public support for the performing arts. Arts centers create jobs and enhance both urban and rural areas; cultural tourism associated with the arts generates considerable revenues. One study of the city of Liverpool found that government investment in the arts produced a sevenfold return. Where support for the arts is particularly strong – as in France and Germany, where economic slowdowns have not hit budgets as hard as elsewhere on the Continent, and where governments and citizens place a particularly high value on the arts – public spending guarantees the security of musical organizations and enables them to offer low admissions prices. In Berlin, Paris, and Vienna, opera tickets are available for a fraction of the cost of the least expensive seat at the Metropolitan Opera. Greater public access to performing arts means that the younger and less affluent sectors of the population can become the audiences of the future. 

State infrastructure is key to the survival of opera, which has never been commercially viable. Under Louis XIV, a monopoly on all performances at the French court enabled Lully to stage lavish productions of his own works. In early eighteenth-century London, Handel’s Royal Academy of Music (financed by private underwriters) went bankrupt under pressure from the  competing Opera of the Nobility, which itself soon slid into bankruptcy. One indirect result of the fiasco was that Handel turned to writing oratorios, which were cheaper to perform because they were not staged. His pragmatism yielded works such as Messiah. Meanwhile, in France, royal patronage continued alongside a growing commercial sector. In the nineteenth century, new states took over where previous regimes had left off. Today there are 83 publicly-funded opera houses in Germany, where an exceptional level of government investment has created continuity for institutions that originated long before unification in 1870, persisted through the Cold War, and after 1990 were invigorated by re-unification. Public-private partnerships ensure stability; the thriving opera scene in Germany attracts talented singers from all over the world. 

In the United States today, musical performance relies too heavily on private funding and opera companies under duress simply cannot take chances. According to the 2013 report of Americans for the Arts, investment in the arts has lagged behind recent improvements in the economy. Opera companies have closed in the past few years in Connecticut, Baltimore, New York, Orange County, Orlando, and San Diego, and not all because of the financial crisis of 2008. How many more before the tide turns? The Grammy has a charitable foundation that is intended to “bring national attention to important issues such as the value and impact of music and arts education and the urgency of preserving our rich cultural heritage.” If the Recording Academy can claim this role, then local, state, and federal governments must increase public funding for the performing arts  — or we all lose out.

Boynton is chair of the Music Department at Columbia University.