Dear Alma, A festival excluded me. Now they want me to jump in
OrchestrasDear Alma,
A summer festival that I have been a part of for a number of years has had a change in artistic leadership. I was a loyal performer, and was surprised that I was not invited back this summer. No note or “thank you for your years of service”. I just received a last minute request to replace a sick player. My kids grew up spending every summer here, and now is like it never happened. I am conflicted on accepting. I could use the money, but I feel mistreated.
Taken for granted
Dear Taken for granted,
I hear your struggle. A beloved summer musical experience was abruptly stopped, affecting your pocketbook as well as your ego.
Unfortunately, many summer opportunities do not come with a long-term contract, leaving musicians wondering year to year if they will be re-invited. New management more often than not results in a drastic turnover of artists and office staff. When a new director comes in, they take the opportunity to offer work to friends and colleagues, to pay back favors or try to climb the ladder by offering juicy, high-profile opportunities. The loyal members are pushed to the side, ignored, and often not even contacted with a “thank you but we are going a new direction” note.
Taken for granted, do you need the money, or miss the musical fulfillment or vacation location? If you are happy this year not being a part of the festival, I say “good riddance”. But if you need the work, or crave the opportunity for any other reason, accepting the offer gives you a chance to introduce yourself to the new management and a second chance to have this special summer experience be a part of your life once again.
As musicians, we often have to swallow a bitter pill – suppressing our egos, making nice to people who have treated us without respect. Stay true to yourself, be proud of your work and service, and if you feel like it, take advantage of their offer and have one last trip where you can visit your favorite places and spend time with your cherished memories.
Questions for Alma? Please put them in the comments section or send to DearAlmaQuery@gmail.com
As galling as it may feel to the OP, the fact is that the new management does not appear to have done anything wrong… unless the festival had asked the OP in writing to reserve the dates or had sent other correspondence implying strongly that it intended to invite the OP again. To quote that classic criterion for defining an engagement as freelance, there is “no mutuality of obligation”, and that cuts both ways. My advice to the OP would be to accept the gig this time if it is convenient for him/her to do it, but to seek other work for the following summer (or, at the very least, do *not* decline other work to keep the dates clear in the hope of being invited). Then, if the festival invites the OP back *next* year, the OP will have the quiet satisfaction of saying “I am terribly sorry, but I have another gig” (or, if the OP does not want to pretend to be sorry, just say “Unfortunately, I have another gig”)!
It’s very common. Any time new personnel enter the scene, it is good practice to acquaint with the new folks so they feel you are part of what they are doing. Musical chairs is commonplace in the business. Throughout one’s life, there are doors opened, doors closed, doors never answered. If you can forget about yourself and swallow the ego pill, it might yield relationships with organizations. This is not unusual and perhaps nice relationships can be cultivated. If not, they’ll go with who they know. On the other hand, depending on your relationship with the prior personnel, you have to judge that maneuver separately based on the relationship .
Dear Taken-for-granted,
Jump in, don’t blame, play well, take the money and they won’t forget you next summer.
This is the correct answer.
According to Webster’s, a music festival is where a musician works twice as hard for half as much in order to visit a remote location one would never visit otherwise.
Take your kids to Disneyland instead.
I quote this from the incomparable show The Wire all the time:
“I’ll take ANY muthaf****as money if they GIVING it away!”
Take the gig. Have a blast. Party harder than normal. Enjoy the time with friends and family, make some coin, kids the new leadership’s behind, be a good team member, and maybe they’ll see that you’re a nice part of the orchestra and will invite you back. If not, then you had a great paid vacation.
It seems part of the deal with some summer festivals. They’re fleeting. EVERY summer I went to Lucerne I would tell myself, this could be the last time so enjoy it. And yet, I ended up performing there for 7 or 8 festivals. More than I ever imagined.
Festivals should offer variety each year. Aside big and money names, I can’t understand why same Festivals keep contracting the same artists (with similar programs) every year. Moreover, variety would mean also chances for other musicians to earn some well-deserved money and attention.