Ingenuity, born of necessity

Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun file

Music Director David Itkin addresses the audience before the Las Vegas Philharmonic’s pops concert in March. Itkin has appealed for help from audiences during performances, and even made calls to subscribers asking them to renew.

By Kristen Peterson (contact)

Friday, June 5, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Last month musicians from the Las Vegas Philharmonic got together to make phone calls to subscribers about renewing for next season.

To the astonishment of some on the other end of the line, the calls began something like this: “Hi, this is DeAnn Letourneau, concert master for the Las Vegas Philharmonic.”

Even David Itkin, conductor and music director, was dialing.

“I heard David say, quite a few times, ‘Yes, it is really me,’ ” Letourneau says with a laugh during a meeting at the Philharmonic offices.

The effort, they figured, connected them more intimately with supporters — better than telemarketers (whom they’d have to pay).

Itkin had done volunteer phone-a-thons with his Arkansas orchestra. According to the American League of Orchestras, it’s a common practice.

But this was a first for the Las Vegas Philharmonic, where new energy and new ideas are steering the 10-year-old organization away from its near crash-and-burn in December, when fiscal challenges, including a $200,000 deficit, and board tension threatened its future.

Board members have created money-saving programs and outreach through collaborations with other organizations. Innovative thinking is the new mantra.

Nobody’s looking back, unless it’s to remedy a problem.

“Everything takes place from Jan. 1,” says Jeri Crawford, board member and interim director. “This is going to be our test season. Let’s try it. Let’s throw it out there and see how it works.”

Crawford works full time at the Philharmonic offices as a volunteer. So does Patricia Pieper Fink, a board member who serves as interim marketing director. There are only three paid staff members. The new budget is $1.3 million, down from $1.7 million.

Creativity is required for fundraising in this economy. This means aggressive collaborations with other organizations. Last weekend the orchestra presented a fundraising concert under the stars at Opportunity Village’s new campus. Musicians performed for free. Proceeds went to the orchestra’s youth concerts and Opportunity Village’s arts enrichment programs, which were in danger of being eliminated in December.

Something like that just wouldn’t have happened before, Letourneau says. “Before, it was the office over here and musicians over there,” she says. “Now, musicians are realizing, ‘Hey, this is our orchestra, too.’ ”

All of this began in January when the revamped board took over and started digging out of its financial mess. In February Crawford attended a rehearsal to tell concerned musicians that concerts wouldn’t be cut and they shouldn’t worry about their pay.

About the same time, the community read reports of the financial challenges and stepped forward to help fund the youth concerts. A challenge grant of $100,000 was given anonymously and Itkin made a plea from the stage.

Checks, ranging from $25 to $2,500, trickle in every week. So far, $65,000 has been raised.

Musicians and board members are writing personal thank-you notes to supporters.

“They have no idea what they’ve done,” Crawford says.” They have given us the cash flow to keep it going, pay off debts, keep us credible.

“Our challenge is to keep the momentum going.”

Part of this is a matter of rebranding. A partnership with the Art Institute of Las Vegas has students creating new logos and designs for T-shirts, mugs and tote bags. Students are also creating commercials that will be aired on local television.

The orchestra moved the Fourth of July concert, which was losing money at Hills Park in Summerlin, to the Las Vegas Springs Preserve, which provides the stage, tent and air conditioning, saving the orchestra money. Mailings are sent to the Springs Preserve’s 15,000 members and the Philharmonic’s 1,200 members — cross marketing for both organizations.

“These are all the things we need to be doing,” Itkin says. “Especially in Las Vegas, where marketing noise is so saturated. We can never compete with (casino) dollars. We need a way to get our message to the community.”

Creative marketing and partnerships weren’t welcomed by the old regime. When ideas came up, Itkin says, he would hear a standard refrain: “That’s not how we do things.”

“I found it so frustrating that an institution this new would be so stuck in its thinking,” he says. Now “things are so much more professional and efficient, so much better spiritually. Everyone feels like they are on the same team.”

Itkin is proud that the orchestra was able to avoid artistic cuts.

Cuts are made in places that “may be painful,” he says, including his salary, but none of the cuts affects the final product — the music. “We’re on an upswing artistically. If we start cutting the legs out from under the orchestra, it would take years and years to catch up.”

So far, things are working. This year’s concerts have sold out. A hundred people were turned away from the last concert, Beethoven’s Ninth, at the box office, Crawford says. That concert brought in 40 new season subscriptions.

Henderson used grant money to bring the Philharmonic to the Henderson Pavilion for a concert June 20.

New outreach programs include a mentoring program that connects high school students with musicians, production staff or financial officers at the Philharmonic. Another program brings Philharmonic musicians to schools. Letourneau was at Nellis recently playing Metallica, Kanye West, country, jazz and classical music on her violin for elementary students.

Many of the Philharmonic’s new efforts have been tried by other orchestras to great success, says John Bence, spokesman for the American League of Orchestras.

“Orchestras are very resourceful. And they’re local. Every orchestra’s needs and business plans are unique, so there is no set pattern. Orchestras have to have their own business model that suits their needs.”

Many of the new programs are simply a result of board and staff members answering the phone and listening to suggestions.

“People have been calling here just to talk. We’ll listen,” Crawford says.