ROPA Conference 2011 Report

Portland, Maine

This past August, the annual ROPA Conference was held in Portland, Maine. We received a warm welcome by the Boston Local President Pat Hollenbeck and Portland Symphony ROPA Representative, Richard Kelly. Upon arrival, each delegate received a Whoopee Pie (which is similar to the Moon Pie, but is made of chocolate cake with a marshmellow filling). Yum! The conference was well organized with sessions held during the morning and afternoon and free time at night for socializing and sightseeing.

Topics discussed and general recommendations included:
--keeping lines of communication open with boards, trustees
--building alliances with music education groups, and building solidarity with colleagues and the Local
--bankruptcy filings of Philadelphia and Syracuse Symphonies--done in order to take away pensions
--student orchestras replacing professional orchestras and the AFM creating a Code of Ethics for local schools and arts organizations to sign
--the roll of the board to raise funds
--the relationship between the Local and the Orchestra Committee
--what went into the successful turnaround of the New Mexico and Colorado Springs Symphonies
--a presentation by the musicians of the Detroit Symphony with website videos and explanations of their highly organized campaign during their 6 month long strike
--a presentation by Harvey Mars about what to do “When Talks Break Down”
--a very informative Grievance and Arbitration Seminar given by Rochelle Skolnick
--the election of new officers--Secretary, Larry Gardner and VP Paul Austin leaving with Nancy Nelson becoming the new Vice President. A new position was created for Paul Austin to run the Conductor Evaluation Databank.

The most helpful part of the conference for me was the Member at Large Breakout group sessions. This year all the opera, ballet and pit orchestras met to discuss common concerns and issues and to share possible solutions. Afterwards, all the breakout groups convened to present their solutions to the larger delegation. Some solutions mentioned were:

To increase orchestra visibility:
    1. take an orchestra photo for publicity and/or webpage.
    2. orchestra musicians’ names/bios on opera website
    3. have an orchestra website--ex. Arizona Opera Orchestra’s webpage.
    4. have an orchestra Facebook page w/links to other things the musicians are   doing.
    5. “Pit Pals”--creating a kids newsletter for children who come down to the pit before show or at intermission
    6. stage concerts outside of pit for fundraising
    7. writing thank you notes to donors.

By far the highlight of this conference was that the delegates were treated to an evening cruise on Casco Bay and a lobster bake. The weather cooperated and we landed on Peaks Island where we were served a lobster dinner.

ROPA now has 85 member orchestras. Three new orchestras joined this year-East Texas, Eugene Symphony and the Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra. Next year’s ROPA conference will be held in Minneapolis.

Respectfully submitted,
Beth Larsen, ROPA delegate
Palm Beach Opera Orchestra