RUSSIA     2007  

Yekaterinburg Region
October 19–22, 2007

Michael Brewer, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), and Carole Wysocki, Director of the NSO Education Program and a senior staff member of the Education Department of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (KC), traveled to Yekaterinburg to consult with the staff of the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra on education, trustee, and volunteer activities.

On the first day, Mr. Brewer and Ms. Wysocki met with General Manager Alexander Kolutursky, the CEO of both the Philharmony and Ural Philharmonic, and his senior and support staff, who provided an in-depth briefing of the purpose, mission, history, organization, finances and operations of both organizations. Mr. Kolutursky also provided detailed information on artistic planning, budgets, finances, box office and subscription sales, programming, marketing and education/community service activities. Ms. Wysocki gave an overview of the NSO, including its education program, detailing the types of concerts and training programs they sponsor. Ms. Wysocki and Mr. Brewer both stressed that arts organizations must focus on presenting great art that is well-marketed in order to achieve sustainable success.

Later, Mr. Brewer met with a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, the senior officer of the VTB Bank. They discussed the role of trustees or board members in US orchestras and the opportunities for Boards to use the Orchestra as a community development tool and as a business asset for donors through such activities as touring, recording, and performances/educational activities at its home concert hall. Mr. Brewer strongly emphasized the importance of fund-raising and the avoidance of micromanagement, both artistic and organizational, for trustees or board members in US performing arts organizations. Mr. Brewer also met with Dr. Sergey V. Nudelman, M.D., another Trustee, who seemed to have an excellent understanding of private fund raising.

The second day was spent with the orchestra’s middle and upper management staff. Mr. Brewer and Ms. Wysocki discussed the NSO’s programs in detail and brainstormed as to how the NSO/KC programs might be adapted to suit the Ural Philharmonic’s needs. They learned that a new concert hall/performing arts center was to open in 2010/2011, they suggested that the orchestra consider inaugurating the new facility with a Kennedy Center Honors-type of grand opening, with the idea that such an honors event would become an annual or biennial event. This might provide a way for Yekaterinburg to distinguish itself from Moscow and St. Petersburg and to create, brand, and own a national/international artistic achievement/recognition event.

The third day was spent in Philharmony/Ural Philharmonic offices, reviewing conversations of the previous days and exploring the extent to which the NSO/KC might provide a good model for board member responsibility and education, as well as the limitations of such a model for the Philharmony/Ural Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ms. Wysocki also met with the marketing/programming staff to discuss the NSO’s market segmentation, the types of concerts the NSO presents for young people of all ages, as well as the details of concert production, study materials, and sales. They were particularly interested in this because they will open a new hall in which they hope to present concerts specifically for school children. They were also interested in thematic programming that the NSO offers and the marketing tools it uses.

Meanwhile, Mr. Brewer met with another Trustee of the Ural Philharmonic, Dr. Michael Y. Khodorovsky, Chairman of the Board, SKB-Bank, and a notable professor of economics and accounting at the local university. Mr. Brewer explored ideas with Dr. Khokorovsky about what the Board of Trustees could do for the orchestra, including investing in the skills and supportive technology and facilities of the management team, in the orchestra members and their instruments, and in soloists and guest conductors; undertaking well-targeted touring, recording, broadcasting, and education initiatives, and making creative use of networked, global communications technologies, as well as branding the orchestra via a major national/international artistic awards and recognition ceremony, akin to the Kennedy Center Honors Gala.

Mr. Brewer and Ms. Wysocki also met with the Women’s Volunteer Committee and shared some ideas about large-scale volunteer projects that the group might examine. The volunteers were most interested in three ideas: a decorator’s show house, a summer music institute, and an instrument “petting zoo” (a hands-on activity with the instruments of the orchestra).

Mr. Brewer and Ms. Wysocki met with the Minister of Culture for the Sverdlovsk Region, Mrs. Natalia Vetrova. And they were guests of the US Consul General, John Stepanchuk, at a small dinner that included the managerial and artistic leadership of the Philharmonic, Alexander Kolutursky and Dmitri Liss and its Chairman Vladimir A. Cherkashin.

Ms. Wysocki and Mr. Brewer were impressed by the creativity and professionalism of the Philharmony/Ural Philharmonic management team; the artistry (actual and potential) of the Orchestra and its imaginative artistic leadership; and the talent, abilities, and interest of trustees and key volunteers. They concluded that, with the further cooperation of the regional government leadership, the musicians, management, trustees and volunteers of the Philharmony/Ural Philharmonic could pioneer a new model of governance and could propel these institutions further into national and world class leadership.

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