If you're tired of being outraged at the continuing damage from the government shutdown (yes, it's Traitor Drumpf's shutdown, but guess who enabled it in the first place by making him POTUS - yes, the purity police who are ready to give him another term next November), there's one bit of small positive reaction from a select niche of organizations, to provide, if not actual financial relief as such, perhaps something closer to psychological relief. Several US orchestras and opera companies, along with other arts institutions like museums, have recently announced offers of free tickets to furloughed government workers during the duration of the shutdown, and even (hopefully) beyond (think about the implications for a moment). As this Reuters article from today by Barbara Goldberg notes at its outset:
"It may not put a meal on the table for furloughed federal employees, but some U.S. museums and symphonies are supplying food for the mind in free admission for workers affected by the longest partial federal government shutdown in U.S. history.
With the shutdown in its fourth week with no end in sight, cultural institutions from Massachusetts to Oregon are moving to help unpaid federal workers spend some of their otherwise idle hours with loved ones enjoying art, science history or music."
Here's a list of orchestras that self the loser has found so far, with related linky goodness. This list also includes past offers that may not be valid in the future, but I want to get a full list in one place that also includes those past offers, to give as many orchestras as possible credit where credit is due:
* Asheville Symphony Orchestra, tonight
* Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, this weekend, and they also offered tickets last weekend
* Bangor Symphony Orchestra, Sunday Jan. 27
* Boston Symphony Orchestra, this weekend and next
* Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, this past Thursday
* Dallas Symphony Orchestra, through Feb. 10
* Des Moines Symphony, through May 2019 (i.e. the rest of the season)
* Elgin Symphony Orchestra, last weekend
* The Florida Orchestra, this weekend
* Grand Rapids Symphony, through what looks like the rest of the season
* Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, next weekend
* Indianapolis Symphony, through Feb. 10
* Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, this past Thursday
* The Metropolitan Opera, through Jan. 31 (except for the Jan. 26 afternoon matinee of Carmen — not sure why, but whatever)
* Minnesota Orchestra, through June 2019 (the rest of the season)
* New York Philharmonic, through Feb. 10
* Orlando Philharmonic, this weekend and the Feb. 2 pops concert (titled "The Second City Guide to the Symphony" - now there's a deal)
* Seattle Symphony Orchestra, through June 2019 (the rest of the season)
* Spokane Symphony Orchestra, this weekend and Feb. 1 family concert
* Talllahassee Symphony Orchestra, tonight only (at least so far)
* Utah Symphony and Utah Opera, through February 2
* Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, January 25
There's also two symphony concerts that got cancelled this weekend because of winter storm Harper, but where the respective orchestras had offered free tickets to furloughed federal workers beforehand:
* Akron Symphony Orchestra
* Hartford Symphony Orchestra
Interestingly, as a slight sidebar, the Kennedy Center in DC has this page on their contingency plans in case the government shuts down, because they are partly under the auspices of the federal government. The irony, of course, is that the highest concentration of federal workers per capita is in Washington, D.C. (well, duh). Even with the bureaucratic nature of the language, it's worth a read.
I found one story also about the Colorado Symphony offering tickets, but I didn't find a link from their website, so I'll leave that off the list for now. I also thought that in Memphis, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra had offered $15 discounted tickets, while the IRIS Orchestra was offering free tickets, but official links there are hard to find. Plus, there have to be more that I've missed, and unless a miracle happens and the shutdown ends, more orchestras may join the bandwagon. But even when you include those two cancelled concerts in Akron and Hartford, this is 20+ US orchestras offering to help out any federal government employees who are interested in going to orchestra concerts, but might not have the cash to spare.
It should be noted that the orchestras themselves can’t necessarily afford to give tickets away, since that’s lost revenue for them. OTOH, it’s not as though US orchestras continually sell out every concert (they don’t, not by a long short, or at least not here in STL, they don’t). And the orchestras and opera houses are being quite careful as to how many of these gratis tickets that they’re offering. The offer is usually two per worker, with a valid federal government employment ID, which strikes me as quite fair. And, at the risk of sounding just a tad cynical, it’s good PR and marketing for the organizations in question. But it also accomplishes the practical task of getting more people in the house, since as a famous opera composer once said, “the theater should be full and not empty”. Plus, even if it’s a short-term financial loss for the orchestras, it’s no worse than if none of those seats sat empty anyway. Those patrons might even treat themselves to one drink at the bar (which they probably need). As well, those workers may possibly show gratitude later by buying a ticket or making a donation, after the shutdown ends and those workers have stabilized their finances.
Clearly the furloughed workers' main priorities are putting food on the table, paying the utility bills, and shelter. (Hopefully any of them who've inclined Republican in the past have figured out that Republicans don’t have their interest at heart, and that they need to vote Democratic in November 2020. But that’s a big and far from guaranteed hope — as is whether #neverhillarys and Bernie-bros won’t eff us again next November.) And 3CM the loser obviously has no idea how many furloughed federal government workers took advantage of these particular cultural offerings. As something a guestimate that could be extrapolated to other institutions, Goldberg did note one number from the Philadelphia Museum of Art:
“Nearly 200 furloughed employees have taken advantage of an offer from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which waived its admission fee for each furloughed worker plus one guest…”
Once, the Latvian conductor Mariss Jansons said that "music is spiritual food". Norman Keyes of the Philadelphia Museum of Art commented in Goldberg’s article in much the same spirit, where the sentiment can apply just as well to classical concerts:
"Museums can offer a place both to get away from the fray and to recharge, and to gain perspective. It will not solve the shutdown crisis, but it can help build positive experiences during a difficult time."
Indeed. The same applies to symphony halls as well.
With that, time for the standard SNLC protocol, namely your loser stories for the week….