Sunday, April 23, 2000

CSO's diversity efforts fall short of target audience

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        He is a star, as natural at playing the clarinet as Ken Griffey Jr. is at hitting home runs. Everything about the 20-year-old virtuoso — his tone, his personality, his easy manner — makes the audience sit up and take notice.

Anthony McGill | ZOOM |

        Anthony McGill is the third African-American musician in 105 years to be hired by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He'll begin his new job this fall.

        His appointment, African-Americans say, is welcome and overdue. Historically an overwhelmingly white institution, the CSO is reaching out to the diverse Tristate area, now 12 percent African-American. But in 10 years since forming a Multicultural Awareness Council and receiving grants to increase African-American participation in the symphony, the picture is still largely a white one. Publicity for outreach efforts goes unnoticed. When the CSO performs, African-Americans say they do not feel welcome, or well-represented, at Music Hall.

        “I'm more apt to go someplace where I see someone that looks like me, than I am where I don't see anyone there,” says Aurelia Candie Simmons, 54, of West Chester. Ms. Simmons is a retired business operations manager for IBM and a volunteer for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

        The CSO has what it calls the Open Door Series, a package of four concerts in the regular season loosely tied to minority artists or composers.

2000-2001 OPEN DOOR SERIES

Concerts are at 8 p.m. (except March 29, at 7:30 p.m.) in Music Hall.     Dec. 2 — Erich Kunzel celebrates his 35th anniversary with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, with baritone Daniel Narducci, choruses from Winton Woods and Walnut Hills high schools and the May Festival Youth Chorus. Randy Edelman, Fanfare in Celebration of Erich Kunzel's 35th Anniversary with the CSO (world premiere); Bernstein, Olympic Hymn and Selections from Mass; Stephen Flaherty, With Voices Raised; Elgar, Enigma Variations, Op. 36.     Jan. 13, 2001 — Jesus Lopez-Cobos, conductor; Alessandra Marc, soprano; Florence Quivar, mezzosoprano; Jon Villars, tenor; Simon Estes, bass; and the May Festival Chorus. Verdi, Messa da Requiem.     March 29 — Robert Spano, conductor; Terrence Wilson, pianist. Mussorgsky, Introduction to Khovantchina; Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26; Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36. Multicultural Awareness Council members will greet concert patrons at a complimentary buffet dinner in the lobby of Music Hall.     April 29 — Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Jeff Tyzik, guest conductor; Byron Stripling, trumpet. A tribute to the centennial of Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong.     Subscriptions: $70-$85. Single tickets ($12-$49) go on sale Aug. 17. 381-3300.

        Yet the CSO, the largest of Cincinnati's “big eight” arts institutions with a $28.2 million budget, delegates that responsibility to a 40-member committee of volunteers, the Multicultural Awareness Council.

        Founded in 1990, the concil helps select and promote the Open Door Series, this year one Pops and three CSO concerts. The series concludes May 4 and 6 (the CSO will play an overture written by an African-American, William Grant Still).

        “It should reach out, and I think it does,” says U.S. Magistrate Judge Jack Sherman Jr., 61, a CSO trustee. “Everybody should be welcome to enjoy the music our symphony orchestra performs. Music is universal, and certainly African-Americans are a part of everybody.”

        Multicultural Awareness Council members and other symphony-goers stress that the orchestra has featured few African-American soloists, and the intended audience is not getting the word. @subHed:Not spreading the word @text:

        The Open Door Series has a seven-year history, but Marcella Trice, 70, of Silverton, a retired school administrator and a member of the Cincinnati Opera board, has not heard of it in her African-American organizations.

        “I did not hear about it at my church, I did not hear about it at my sorority, I did not hear about it other places where I attend that are predominantly African-American,” Ms. Trice says.

        Part of the difficulty in making outreach a success, members of the African-American community say, is that in the past decade, the CSO has had just one or two African-American soloists a season. In its 2000-2001 season announced last month, three of 22 concerts will have African-American soloists.

        “I don't believe it is a priority. Because if it was at the top of the list of priorities, we would no longer be needed,” says Ms. Simmons, who chairs the Multicultural Awareness Council.

        “If you're going to attract a new audience, you've got to be innovative and risk-taking,” says Christopher Kinard, 57, a founder of the awareness council and former CSO board member. “That's the key. ... When I got on the board, it was mentioned. But it was never really high on the agenda for the overall marketing.”

        When Multicultural Awareness Council members started the series in 1993, it was called the Basic Black Series. The council changed the name to Open Door two years ago to make it more inclusive: A woman composer, a Japanese conductor, an African-American pianist. The council often sponsors parties after concerts, for symphony-goers to meet the featured artist.

        “I'm sure that there are more people of color — not necessarily African-American — who would enjoy the symphony, and participate in all aspects of it, if they were more involved and felt welcome,” Ms. Simmons says.

        This year, the council struggled to find four concerts to fill the series. There are no African-American artists. The conductor James DePreist, scheduled last November, canceled because of illness.

Terrence Wilson | ZOOM |

        The CSO has presented African-American artists such as pianist Terrence Wilson, who will return next year. But big classical stars with drawing power visit only occasionally. Pianist Andre Watts has not appeared with the CSO since 1987. Diva Kathleen Battle last sang with the CSO in 1996. Conductor/vocalist Bobby McFerrin led a Riverbend Pops concert in 1992.

        Community members mention Cincinnati Pops conductor Erich Kunzel's efforts to use African-American choruses and guest artists in his concerts. The Pops' Amen: A Gospel Celebration album, with the Central State University Choir and others, was nominated for a Grammy.

        Some African-Americans want to see more than two African-American musicians in the orchestra.

        “To me, that would make all the difference in the world,” says Louisa Dickey, 65, of North Avondale, a soprano soloist in the 1976 Cincinnati May Festival.

        Cellist Norman Johns is the CSO's only African-American player. Former bass trombonist Marshall Carson played one season, in 1989. The CSO's only other black member (not an American) was violinist Johann Helstone (1974-76), a citizen of Suriname.

        Hiring musicians of color is a challenge that is not unique to the CSO. Real change, CSO president Steven Monder says, “takes time. It has to work its way up through the education system, it seems to me.” @subHed:Bring product to them @text:

        The CSO's intentions may be good, says Johanna Byrd, 68, of Evanston, but the news does not reach the target audience.

        “To get the word out would mean something; to have more participation of African-Americans in the arts would mean a lot,” she says.

        This season, the sensational African-American conductor William Eddins (who was not on the series) made his CSO debut. Last month, he won the prestigious $50,000 Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award.

        “I have not heard of him,” says David Michael, 36, a brand manager at Procter & Gamble and an opera singer. He says that tells him the CSO is not reaching young minority professionals with an interest in music.

        “You've got to bring your product to them on their own turf, whether you're letting them sample a toothpaste in their own home, or sample a type of music or type of artist in their own churches or their own venues,” Mr. Michael says.

        The CSO sends mailings and announces the Open Door Series in the Cincinnati Herald, the African-American newspaper. Still, MAC members know they are not reaching everyone.

        “It's a real challenge, and that is something we're still trying to get a handle on,” says council member Herbert Allen, 77, of Mount Auburn. “I'm not satisfied, but I don't know how we can do better.” @subHed:Good business @text:Another incentive for orchestras to reach out is funding.

        Outreach programs, and evidence of diversity in staff, volunteers and boards are among the criteria that funding institutions scrutinize when allocating money.

        “Of course, we're interested in reaching all citizens. But it's also good business in terms of building new audiences, and every organization is looking for new and bigger audiences,” says Susan Neumann, deputy director of the Ohio Arts Council. This year, the council granted the CSO $600,000 for operating support.

        Still, she says, “it's going to take some time and looking over several years of applications to determine whether they are showing success in that area.”

        The Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts (which runs the Fine Arts Fund) allocated nearly $2.5 million to the CSO this year. Although there are no “hard and fast rules” for showing how effective the CSO's outreach is, CIFA approaches diversity outreach “in the form of incentives,” executive director Mary McCullough-Hudson says.

        If the organization exceeds expectations, it could be awarded even more money, she says.

        Will the Open Door Series continue?

        “We've asked each other, why do we bother? Why are we still here?” Ms. Simmons says. Nevertheless, she and council members have put together next season's four-concert series.

        “I want to see more diversity onstage. I want more talent showcased. Other cities and other orchestras have them. If we're serious about diversifying the artists, we'll find them.”

        For Multicultural Awareness Council members, “the idea is to keep a presence, until someone realizes that it should be a priority,” she says, “Then, when we can come to any concert at the symphony, and I can see different people of color, not only in the audience but performing, we won't be needed.”

1970 series a model for other orchestras
Lack of minorities a national dilemma
What some other orchestras are doing

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