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Roth convenes retired journalist Jim Becker, long-serving Symphony Society board member Betsy Chapman, and Hawaii Symphony Orchestra executive director Tom Bennett at a moment when the two organizations share a civic purpose but are practically split: the ninety-year-old Honolulu Symphony Society holds a $5 million endowment but no musicians, while the one-year-old Hawaii Symphony Orchestra employs the musicians but has not paid them since January. Becker proposes a Year of the Symphony—a coordinated civic push modeled on Green Bay's support of its NFL franchise—to rebuild credibility and corporate funding. Chapman warns that without a unified face the corporate community, which already pulled back significantly, will not return. Bennett counters that only 9 percent of arts donations nationally come from corporations; individuals account for 81 percent, and even sold-out concerts cover only 50 to 55 percent of costs. The debate over whether to downsize the orchestra to a financially sustainable core divides Chapman, who sees it as realistic, from the musicians, who argue it would devastate the education programs that reach every Oahu school.
Transcript
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Companion newspaper commentaries
Commentaries by the guests, published in The Honolulu Advertiser around the broadcast.
