Roger Mastroianni
time: “Donors are, by and large, very rigorous about what they’ll support and what they expect in returned value to the community as a result of their support.” He says the bottom line is the quality of the orchestra, which he believes surpasses just about anything else on stage in Miami. “The audience knows the difference,” he says, with total conviction. That’s why the orchestra’s survival strategy is called “Leveraging Excellence.” Hanson also says Miami has been an ideal place to expand the orchestra’s identity because there’s an “ambition about culture” there. Miami is in the process of expanding its own cultural identity, beyond beaches and nightlife. Hanson says that was evident in the building of the performing arts center itself, as well as Art Basel Miami Beach, which launched in 2002 and is now one of the preeminent art fairs in the U.S., coinciding with more than a dozen satellite fairs throughout Miami Beach and Miami. The annual art fair is an offshoot
“Donors are, by and large, very rigorous about what they’ll support and what they expect in returned value to the community as a result of their support,” says Cleveland Orchestra Executive Director Gary Hanson.
sional training orchestra across the causeway in Miami Beach. Meanwhile, the orchestra performed with Miami City Ballet during a benefit in January 2009 and has discussed future collaborations. Hanson pulls no punches in explaining why he thinks the orchestra has been so good at raising money in Miami, where other arts organizations have had a harder
If Orchestras Have Enriched Your Life… The League of American Orchestras invites you to become a member of the Helen M. Thompson Heritage Society and join others in helping to ensure the future of America’s orchestras by making a legacy gift to the League.
of Art Basel in Switzerland, but quickly developed its own reputation as an international destination for artists and bigticket collectors. Construction began last fall on a new building for the Miami Art Museum designed by the Swiss architecture firm Herzog and de Meuron. Another recent example of the city’s cultural ambitions opened in January 2011: the New World Center, the New World Symphony’s Frank Gehry-designed building in Miami Beach, with an adjacent park where concerts are digitally projected in real time onto the building’s 7,000-square-foot outside wall. Everyone is invited to watch the projected live concerts. Part of why Cleveland works in Miami, says Hanson, is because so many people who live in Miami are from someplace else, so “they have an easier time being supportive of cultural activities from elsewhere.” Supporting the residencies in Lucerne and Vienna has been more challenging, he says. Europe doesn’t have the same culture of philanthropy as the U.S. because there’s so much more government support for the
Helen M. Thompson (1908 –1974), a passionate advocate for symphonic music and American orchestras, was the League’s first executive director.
To learn more, call 646 822 4066 or visit americanorchestras.org.
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