Issue in focus: OCSM Delegates from Calgary, Regina, and Victoria report on venue challenges at their orchestras.
In the past year, certain restrictions have been introduced at Arts Commons that have caused inconvenience and stress for musicians. This includes restricted access to our locker rooms, locked or coded doors that used to be unlocked throughout, and very restricted access to our musicians lounge.
A large part of the equation is that Arts Commons is really pushing to have the concert hall booked (to clients other than the Calgary Phil) as much as possible in order to meet budgetary stresses. This has caused the facility to re-evaluate some of the privileges our musicians have come to expect (most notably, free access around the venue). When renting out the facility to other clients, they just can’t have musicians walking around anytime in areas that have been rented to others. Musicians who for decades have been accustomed to having full access to the facility are finding it difficult to adjust to this new situation.
Arts Commons still values the Calgary Phil as a resident company in the concert hall, but it is faced with some very challenging financial issues as they progress to the expansion of the facility. The situation now, however, is that Calgary Philharmonic musicians, who previously were regarded as being citizens of the venue, are being made to feel like tenants, and sometimes even trespassers. Management, to their credit, are working constantly to ease the stress of the situation.
Michael Hope
Calgary Phil Delegate
April 19, 2024