Lincoln Center will pay half fees to cancelled artists
mainPress release:
New York, NY, June 10, 2020—The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) announces the postponement of its scheduled fall 2020 Season to fall 2021 due to the ongoing uncertainties of the current pandemic and its commitment, first and foremost, to the health and safety of its audiences, artists, and staff. Rescheduling the fall season as a whole was a conscious artistic decision.
It serves to honor both the artistic effort invested in the programming and the importance of the artists being able to eventually complete these creative endeavors. CMS will pay its performing artists 50% of their fees this season and 75% of their fees in 2021, to not only support them financially during these difficul times, but emotionally as well, by laying out a clear plan for moving forward that aims to inspire hope for the future.
The headline is misleading: The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is but one of many constituent organizations on the campus of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. It’s doubtful that the other constituents–to say nothing of “Linc Inc”–will be paying much of anything to their artists.
The whole industry should follow suit. Since mid-March, freelance artists have been left with ZERO income for the foreseeable future, while concert goers all over the world did not claim refunds on pre-sold tickets, out of solidarity to the artists. Why did freelancers not receive a fair portion of that windfall? Why is this not a scandal?
It’s about DAMN time!!!
Please, again with the misleading headlines! The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is only one of the dozen-plus institutions that make up Lincoln Center. Sounds sensational–and it is for chamber musicians–but falls short of your headline.
The headline is rather…CNN-esque.
It doesn’t need to be factually correct, just attention grabbing for their ‘target audience’ to mindlessly agitate and incite.
It’s pretty standard for this site.
It’s important that the industry is aware of this change of plans for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. But, hard agree that the headline and accompanying image are flat out incorrect. CMSLC is independent of Lincoln Center. And the image is of the Film Festival at Lincoln Center, which is run by another independent organization from Lincoln Center in what is called at Film at Lincoln Center. Lincoln Center, the organization itself, is separate from these two orgs. This should really be changed and characterized correctly.
Yes, the headline is incorrect, but the substance here is not that it is a one-time payout for events that will not take place. The concerts are not cancelled, but rather postponed for a year. The CMS, in recognition of the difficulty that poses for their artists, is paying half of their contracted fee this season–a full year before the re-scheduled performances. Then, when the concert takes place, they will pay an additional 75%. It means that the artists will receive 25% more than their contracted fee to account for the inconvenience of re-scheduling.