Running an orchestra has always been a precarious business in Britain, writes Derek Warby.
We do not benefit from the levels of subsidy enjoyed by many of our European neighbours and sponsorship is drying up fast. OSJ (Orchestra of St John?s) has, over the past few years, been fortunate in receiving a revenue grant from the Arts Council of England (ACE). However, in March we learnt that we were one of two orchestras in the new ACE London region to have our grants abolished from April 2004.
This was a cruel blow. The level of the grant was not vast (it represented only around 8% of the organisation?s turnover) but it contributed to the orchestra?s core costs ? an area in which fundraising is notoriously difficult. Arts organisations always have to factor in a very small contribution towards core costs in the different projects they run over the course of each financial year. Without ACE?s contribution we realised that we would have to become even more efficient in assigning core costs to each of these projects. The decision by our former Chief Executive and Projects and Marketing Director to leave to form a new arts-based education and community charity called ?Create? presented a valuable opportunity. They have agreed to run ?OSJ Offstage?, OSJ?s projects in that area, in partnership with us so that we can retain their expertise but reduce our overheads. We reorganised the remaining staff positions and are again looking at a healthy balance sheet.
Strategically, the funding cut means that OSJ will have to develop some of its projects more cautiously for the time being, whilst developing new and innovative funding streams. The new ?OSJ Soundynamics? corporate training programme, run in partnership with Create, promises to be a great success and a significant source of income for the Orchestra. We have also developed our annual black tie Gala at Middle Temple Hall in the City. One of London?s grandest, oldest and most historic venues, Middle Temple has proved a real hit with our corporate partners. Such has been the success of the Gala, which generates almost 100% year-on-year repeat bookings, that we are considering holding two from 2005. We will also be thinking on a project-by-project basis to take advantage of the new simplified ACE grants schemes, for which OSJ is eligible to apply.
Looking forward, the Orchestra needs to promote more of its own concerts in central London to lend a platform to its unique artistic policy (whereby OSJ incorporates unjustly neglected music from all periods of musical history into its programmes, including second performances of works by living composers). Losing the ACE grant will hinder this a little as some of the funds intended for events such as these will have to be diverted in the short term. Even so, the long-term prospects are good. With its new branding, artistic policy and products, OSJ is well placed to carve a niche for itself over the next few years and we can look ahead with a fair degree of optimism.
Derek Warby is Managing Director of OSJ e: info@osj.org.uk