Apparently the ballet in OKC is failing and in debt. Now there is a proposal to merge the Tulsa Ballet company with it, to bail it out, and the Tulsa Ballet be a branch of a larger ballet company.
The Tulsa Ballet is one of the few points of pride we have left that people in OKC even say is something we have thats better. Its something we can take pride in even nationally. To now water it down and take that point of pride for Tulsa away...is exhasperating.
Remember the tussle about the new team name and whether it be called the Oklahoma "whatever" or OKC... thing we just had? Names, recognition and points of pride do matter. They are important to the people of a city. And now because they are failing, we are to become a "branch" of a larger program? I think not.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080720_16_A19_hThetw863582
quote:
Originally posted by TheArtist
Apparently the ballet in OKC is failing and in debt. Now there is a proposal to merge the Tulsa Ballet company with it, to bail it out, and the Tulsa Ballet be a branch of a larger ballet company.
The Tulsa Ballet is one of the few points of pride we have left that people in OKC even say is something we have thats better. Its something we can take pride in even nationally. To now water it down and take that point of pride for Tulsa away...is exhasperating.
Remember the tussle about the new team name and whether it be called the Oklahoma "whatever" or OKC... thing we just had? Names, recognition and points of pride do matter. They are important to the people of a city. And now because they are failing, we are to become a "branch" of a larger program? I think not.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080720_16_A19_hThetw863582
I guarantee if the situation was reversed OKC wouldn't even consider it.
Further assimilation of Tulsa's bragging points to the money pit in the middle of the state.
quote:
Originally posted by inteller
quote:
Originally posted by TheArtist
Apparently the ballet in OKC is failing and in debt. Now there is a proposal to merge the Tulsa Ballet company with it, to bail it out, and the Tulsa Ballet be a branch of a larger ballet company.
The Tulsa Ballet is one of the few points of pride we have left that people in OKC even say is something we have thats better. Its something we can take pride in even nationally. To now water it down and take that point of pride for Tulsa away...is exhasperating.
Remember the tussle about the new team name and whether it be called the Oklahoma "whatever" or OKC... thing we just had? Names, recognition and points of pride do matter. They are important to the people of a city. And now because they are failing, we are to become a "branch" of a larger program? I think not.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080720_16_A19_hThetw863582
I guarantee if the situation was reversed OKC wouldn't even consider it.
Further assimilation of Tulsa's bragging points to the money pit in the middle of the state.
+10
The SemGroup debacle makes this more likely. The dumbing down of Tulsa continues.....
I hope we (Tulsa and the Ballet) help Oklahoma City's continuing lackluster municipal arts (Symphony & Ballet). If it means we do performances in Oklahoma City or trying to aid them financially. It is important to sustain the arts on a higher and more broad level for the sake of enabling people to have the experience (and thus gaining future support).
BUT, merging the two is a horrible idea. Not only would it hinder the world image and history of the Tulsa Ballet, it would also intertwine their doom. Even if Tulsa continues to be VERY strong, OKC Ballet has proven to be a cash drain. The best result would be the continuation of Tulsa's Ballet with reduced funding.
How is that beneficial to anyone? A strong Tulsa Ballet can help sustain the arts in Oklahoma City, but not at the risk of being dragged down itself. "When are they going to learn that what's good for [Tulsa] is good for [Oklahoma City]?"
Prediction: Either Tulsa will fund OKC's Ballet or the State will step in (and Tulsa will end up funding it).
Maybe the OKC ballet just needs some volunteer dancers. I have a TuTu (the tag says it is a size fourfour).
Tulsa even has a Swan Lake.
Come on Tulsans! Up on your toes!
quote:
Originally posted by cannon_fodder
I hope we (Tulsa and the Ballet) help Oklahoma City's continuing lackluster municipal arts (Symphony & Ballet). If it means we do performances in Oklahoma City or trying to aid them financially. It is important to sustain the arts on a higher and more broad level for the sake of enabling people to have the experience (and thus gaining future support).
BUT, merging the two is a horrible idea. Not only would it hinder the world image and history of the Tulsa Ballet, it would also intertwine their doom. Even if Tulsa continues to be VERY strong, OKC Ballet has proven to be a cash drain. The best result would be the continuation of Tulsa's Ballet with reduced funding.
How is that beneficial to anyone? A strong Tulsa Ballet can help sustain the arts in Oklahoma City, but not at the risk of being dragged down itself. "When are they going to learn that what's good for [Tulsa] is good for [Oklahoma City]?"
Prediction: Either Tulsa will fund OKC's Ballet or the State will step in (and Tulsa will end up funding it).
Why not just have the Tulsa Ballet perform in OKC on certain dates?
quote:
Originally posted by sgrizzle
Why not just have the Tulsa Ballet perform in OKC on certain dates?
I've got a great idea! Let's call them exhibition shows. [:P]
Tulsa's Symphony currently does the "exhibition" thing in OKC.
I understand why they both want to have their own company and why it would be beneficial for them to have their own. But exhibition shows would be a better option IMHO than a merger. I just don't see that ending well for Tulsa's arts. The next step would be "we'll be based in OKC as the Oklahoma Ballet, it's the bigger city and the capital. But we'll still do performances in Tulsa."
Sorry.
I emailed Marcello Angelini on Sunday, and received the following response from him:
quote:
Mr. Young,
Thank you for your message. We are just considering a collaboration at this time, not a merger. We are very proud of serving our community and just as proud that our community places so much esteem in Tulsa Ballet.
I have personally spent 13 years of my life in Tulsa working for this company and I will in now[sic] way allow any harm to be done to our organization. If there will be a collaboration, it will only be shaped in order to allow the company to continue to grow and prosper as well as to continue to be the pride of Tulsans and Oklahomans alike.
Stay tuned for more news.
Marcello Angelini
I might as well post what I wrote on my blog and on the citydata forums:
Just when I thought Oklahoma City couldn't get any worse, I was proven to be wrong.
Let me explain.
The ballet company in Oklahoma City, aptly named after the state (Ballet Oklahoma), just like everything else in that town, ended last season with around $400,000 in debt. Since then, as I learned yesterday, they have approached the Tulsa Ballet for help. What they have proposed is combining the two ballet companies to form a "state" ballet company, jointly based in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, while both current companies would retain their names. Tulsa Ballet would still be known as Tulsa Ballet, but when they travel to Oklahoma City to perform, they would be called Ballet Oklahoma. It gets worse. According to the July 20, 2008 Tulsa World article "Ballet in state may be cooperative (//%22http://www.tulsaworld.com/entertainment/spot/article.aspx?articleID=20080720_16_A19_hThetw863582%22)", "the Tulsa branch would be responsible for performing the mixed-bill programs, while the Oklahoma City branch would have dancers who would perform as part of a regional touring program."
This is unacceptable, utterly, disgustingly unacceptable.
As it stands, Tulsa Ballet is one of the foremost ballet companies in the United States and has received national and international acclaim. Ballet Oklahoma? Not so much. Tulsa Ballet has received two feature articles in Dance Magazine during the past seven years, has been featured in the New York Times, Pointe Magazine and Dance Europe. In March, 2008, Tulsa Ballet was featured on the cover of Pointe Magazine, a distinction awarded to only one ballet company a year. In 2002, Portuguese national magazine Semanario declared Tulsa Ballet, "one of the best in the world". In April, 2008, Tulsa Ballet celebrated reaching their fundraising goal of $17.3 million with the opening of Kivisto Hall, a 300-seat theatre devoted to the creation of new works.
So there we have it: an internationally-acclaimed, cash-flush ballet company, and a company so disorganized that public support has dwindled to the point of being basically bankrupt.
It's no wonder Ballet Oklahoma wants help from Tulsa.
But there's more.
According to the newsok.com article "Ballet Oklahoma faces uncertain future (//%22http://newsok.com/ballet-oklahoma-faces-uncertain-future/article/3272280/?tm=1216438169%22)", "During the second year of the merger, a group of about 10 Oklahoma City-based dancers would tour the state as part of an educational outreach program. By year three, there would be a single board of directors and one name for the new organization." This is greatly distressing. It's basically the dissolution of the Tulsa Ballet as we know it, and would mean that the promise that the Tulsa Ballet would retain its name while in Tulsa is essentially moot. It is also likely that the new state company would probably be based in Oklahoma City. Believe me, that is how it would end up.
This, again, is simply unacceptable. It is NOT, I repeat, NOT the fault of Tulsans that the Oklahoma City ballet company can't attract an audience. It is NOT the fault of Tulsans that the Oklahoma City ballet is bankrupt. It is NOT the duty of Tulsans to PAY FOR Oklahoma City's ballet company. That's basically what's going to happen. When the two combine, the quite flush Tulsa Ballet will have to compensate for Oklahoma City's financial incompetency.
It is a dilution of the Tulsa Ballet, and a move to obtain one of Tulsa's gems solely for Oklahoma City's benefit. Tulsa Ballet SHOULD NOT become a BRANCH of a state ballet. What we have in Tulsa is a fantastic company. It's the CITY'S company, not the state's. Tulsa built it. Tulsa supports it. Oklahoma City seems to feel that these days, anything and everything in the state belongs only to them, and they will do everything in their power to try to accomplish that.
If this situation were reversed, I can guarantee with one hundred percent certainty that Ballet Oklahoma would not even consider helping. Tulsa's goodwill is abused in this state. In an all-too-recent example, Tulsa's support is what landed the deal for the NBA team to come to Oklahoma City. NBA Commissioner Stern clearly indicated that without Tulsa's proximity, there was no chance that Oklahoma City would have been awarded the team.
On the subject of the NBA, I find it extremely interesting that the City of Oklahoma City approved $125 million in upgrades for their cheap, little brick box (a.k.a. the Ford Center) to be improved for the NBA, but they can't even support their own ballet company. It is ridiculous to approach Tulsa for help when they just approved $125 million in upgrades for their defunct arena. It is outlandish and I will not stand for it. From the comments on the Tulsa World article, it appears that most other Tulsans won't, either.
Any time Oklahoma City can't do something on its own, it asks Tulsa to 'pony up' and support them, which Tulsa has always done. Yet Tulsa has received NO benefit from supporting Oklahoma City's initiatives. We were asked to support an AMTRAK extension from Dallas to Oklahoma City, and on the promise that Tulsa would soon have rail service too, we did. That was ten years ago. Tulsa is still without rail service, and now the Oklahoma City City Council has asked the state legislature to bypass Tulsa in its next extension of rail service, and instead, go north to Wichita, Kansas.
Oklahoma City and the State Legislature have not lived up to their promises, to their ends-of-the-deals. They need Tulsa but refuse to support it in any way.
This morning, I wrote a letter to Marcello Angelini, artistic director of Tulsa Ballet, and the Board of Directors, pleading my case. A few hour laters, I received a response from Marcello himself:
quote:
Dear Mr. Jeffries,
In haste, today is a crazy day, as you can imagine. I can assure you that we are in no way, shape or form considering to water down our wonderful company to help anybody else. There are decades of great history in Tulsa Ballet, many millions of dollars contributed to us by our community, tens of thousands of fans that come to see our company and have shared in the growth, and now international success, of this organization. Just in the past few years, we have 17.3 million reasons not to lower our standards (our Integrated Campaign goal was $17.3 million and was met, thanks to the support of the community). The community has spoken loud and clear to us: we will support you but we want the best of you. This is our intention and the spirit of this collaboration. And no, we are not talking about a "merger" but a COLLABORATION, in which Tulsa Ballet would provide dancers, production and oversight to Ballet Oklahoma . And we will NOT take over the liabilities of another organization.
This entire plan is based on the assumption that the joined forces of two communities can actually grow our company to get even better then what it is now. While I personally love dance, I am offended by bad dance. I cannot stand to sit through a show of bad dance, I would rather change job and go do something else. You also have to know that, during the past few years, I have been offered golden jobs, running organizations between two and five times bigger then our Tulsa Ballet. However, I love this community, I love our company and I cannot separate it from myself. My kids were born here, Daniela and I have enjoyed a wonderful life here with our fellow Tulsans and we are not going to sit here to see all our 13 years of work, building this company to an international entity, go down.
I am afraid I can't say more than that. But please, trust me on this. This company is my life, I will not harm it. The Board, with its large emotional and financial investment in TB, feels exactly the same.
Thanks so much for your message. I really, really appreciate hearing from you.
Marcello
While it was nice to receive a personal letter so quickly, I feel that it's not entirely truthful. I would like to trust Mr. Angelini since he has done so many wonderful things with Tulsa Ballet, but it is impossible to trust anything that happens on Oklahoma City's side. The news articles conflict with parts of his letter to me, and I feel that I and all Tulsans are owed the truth, and we deserve to have a say in whether our own ballet company remains in our own city, that OUR donations don't go to support Oklahoma City.
Why should they? Clay Bennett paid how much money for the Seattle SuperSonics, and how much in legal fees? Chesapeake paid how much for a boathouse? OKC spent how much on Ford Center upgrades for a basketball team? And yet they can't support their own ballet? I guess it speaks for the quality.
Oklahoma City's leaders are a bunch of bandits. They stole the SuperSonics from Seattle, and now they're trying to steal the ballet from Tulsa.
This is a matter of principle, which doesn't seem to exist anymore on the west end of the Turner Turnpike.
Go to the Tulsa Ballet's (//%22http://www.tulsaballet.org%22) and City of Tulsa's (//%22http://www.cityoftulsa.org%22) websites and write them a letter.
quote:
Originally posted by sgrizzle
Why not just have the Tulsa Ballet perform in OKC on certain dates?
Best idea yet. OKC people will never support ballet as long as they refuse to stop pronouncing it "bal-it" instead of "ba-ley." Tulsa Ballet should definitely not give up their name.
quote:
Originally posted by cannon_fodder
Tulsa's Symphony currently does the "exhibition" thing in OKC.
Do tell. I'm curious. When? Where? Why?
I agree with everyone here. NBA commissioner David Stern urged the city of OKC to name the new NBA team "Oklahoma xxxx." The Mayor of OKC came out and said that is not a possibility as it was the money and people of OKC that brought the NBA team to OKC. Well, same principle applies here. It was the people and the money of Tulsans that led to what TB is today. I am vehemently against any merger or dissolution of the Tulsa Ballet.
New AP article: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080722_12_OKLA735778
quote:
The board of directors of Ballet Oklahoma has rejected a possible merger with Tulsa Ballet and instead voted overwhelmingly in favor of a proposal to reinvent the Oklahoma City-based organization.
The article almost makes it sound like the TB was wanting to merge:
quote:
"I think most of the people who attended this meeting were hoping that a reinvention of the organization would be the outcome," said Ballet Oklahoma board member Phil Clayton. "We're very grateful for Tulsa Ballet's presentation, their spirit and their continued goodwill towards resolving this issue."
Tulsa Community College Signature Symphony performs at the Civic Center Music Hall from time to time. OKC also has the Oklahoma City Philharmonic. I was not entirely correct.
I will not trash OKC, they have done well on many fronts. Say what you will about having Tulsa pay for their progress, but the Gaylords, Chesapeake and others have certainly kicked in. I won't take that away from them.
Our Brady District was failing. Did we propose having a tax on Bricktown to subsidize it? They get a shiny new NBA team with $50mil in state funds, can we merge the 66ers with them and have them take our name and be based in our city? The balls to propose it is staggering.
quote:
Originally posted by cannon_fodder
Tulsa Community College Signature Symphony performs at the Civic Center Music Hall from time to time. OKC also has the Oklahoma City Philharmonic. I was not entirely correct.
When has the Signature Symphony performed in OKC? The only Tulsa arts organizations that I can recall on that stage is Tulsa Opera a few years ago and Tulsa Ballet last year and the year before. Tulsa Opera stopped performing there because of a lack of local fundraising.
There has long been an understanding between the orchestras in Tulsa and OKC to not compete in each others' markets. When the Oklahoma Symphony shut down in the late 1980s, the Tulsa Philharmonic did not try to move in. When the Tulsa Philharmonic went under in 2002, the Oklahoma City Philharmonic kept a respectful distance, in contrast to the efforts of the Jacksonville, FL, and Charleston, SC. symphonies to establish concert series in Savannah, GA, after the Savannah Symphony folded. Those efforts, BTW, were unsuccessful.
While the Signature Symphony wasn't necessarily part of the "understandings," I doubt they'd perceive any advantage to performing there. The community leadership in OKC is VERY careful about competition with their orchestra.
As this episode shows, with the exception of Celebrity Attractions here, performing arts organizations depend entirely on local support. This means local identity. There's no question that OKC would have had better dance performances if TBT had been staging their performances, but they'd rather have their own, even at some sacrifice of quality.
Many people in OKC supported Ballet Oklahoma by attending their performances. Sponsorship was an issue, although the Arts Council in Oklahoma City has always been an avid supporter.
Ballet Oklahoma voted against a merger, however. So do us a favor and trash something else, Tulsa.
quote:
Originally posted by okcpulse
Ballet Oklahoma voted against a merger, however. So do us a favor and trash something else, Tulsa.
OK, your skyline's nasty.
Still not sure what happened here. The TW article states...
""The plan would create a single company that would be jointly based in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. The Tulsa branch...""
I just want to know who to hang for this horrible idea, or the mischaracterization of what was actually the real idea if that was the case.
In the letter sent to jeffries, Marcello states that it was to be some sort of "Collaboration" helping the other guy,,, yet the TW said that the Tulsa Ballet was to be a Branch of a single company, suggesting another entity was to be formed. A branch is not merely helping, its a piece of something larger.
For some reason, reading between the lines it seems to me that Marcello did indeed have thoughts of the Tulsa Ballet and the Oklahoma Ballet becoming one organization. The extent of that "collaboration" I do not know. But the mention in one article that said something to the effect that the combined company could be one of the top 5 ballet companies in the US... suggests to me that perhaps Marcello saw an opportunity to become a "bigger dog" in the ballet world by being in charge of a larger company. Part of it also could have been about "bad dance" as he describes it and helping out the Oklahoma Ballet... but he either didnt think through the specifics (namely that those loving and generous Tulsans would quickly turn vicious and have his head if he dared change the Tulsa Ballet into something else.) or we are not getting the full story, or the TW mischaracterized what the actual proposal was.
A single company with a Tulsa Branch is not merely a collaboration. Though the TW article does start out mentioning a "collaboration" the "single company with a Tulsa branch" suggests the extent of that collaboration wasnt merely the Tulsa Ballet helping out the Oklahoma ballet, but exactly as it says, The Tulsa Ballet becoming a branch of a single larger organization.
quote:
Originally posted by Townsend
quote:
Originally posted by okcpulse
Ballet Oklahoma voted against a merger, however. So do us a favor and trash something else, Tulsa.
OK, your skyline's nasty.
Come on now, play nice. Their downtown has developed nicely in recent years. Give credit where credits due (two way street, I hope).
quote:
Originally posted by cannon_fodder
quote:
Originally posted by Townsend
quote:
Originally posted by okcpulse
Ballet Oklahoma voted against a merger, however. So do us a favor and trash something else, Tulsa.
OK, your skyline's nasty.
Come on now, play nice. Their downtown has developed nicely in recent years. Give credit where credits due (two way street, I hope).
OK (shuffles feet)
I had no idea this was still going on. At least Tulsa ballet money won't be redirected down the turnpike.
http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0708/537614.html
The board of directors of Ballet Oklahoma has rejected a possible merger with the Tulsa Ballet. The board met yesterday and instead voted overwhelmingly in favor of a proposal to reinvent the Oklahoma City-based organization.
quote:
Originally posted by Townsend
I had no idea this was still going on. At least Tulsa ballet money won't be redirected down the turnpike.
http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0708/537614.html
The board of directors of Ballet Oklahoma has rejected a possible merger with the Tulsa Ballet. The board met yesterday and instead voted overwhelmingly in favor of a proposal to reinvent the Oklahoma City-based organization.
Ummm, yeah, I guess it's still going on, but only if by "yesterday" you mean July 21, 2008. ;-)
quote:
Originally posted by Oil Capital
quote:
Originally posted by Townsend
I had no idea this was still going on. At least Tulsa ballet money won't be redirected down the turnpike.
http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0708/537614.html
The board of directors of Ballet Oklahoma has rejected a possible merger with the Tulsa Ballet. The board met yesterday and instead voted overwhelmingly in favor of a proposal to reinvent the Oklahoma City-based organization.
Ummm, yeah, I guess it's still going on, but only if by "yesterday" you mean July 21, 2008. ;-)
My thoughts exactly.. [?]
quote:
Originally posted by TulsaFan-inTexas
quote:
Originally posted by Oil Capital
quote:
Originally posted by Townsend
I had no idea this was still going on. At least Tulsa ballet money won't be redirected down the turnpike.
http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0708/537614.html
The board of directors of Ballet Oklahoma has rejected a possible merger with the Tulsa Ballet. The board met yesterday and instead voted overwhelmingly in favor of a proposal to reinvent the Oklahoma City-based organization.
Ummm, yeah, I guess it's still going on, but only if by "yesterday" you mean July 21, 2008. ;-)
My thoughts exactly.. [?]
Awww crap, I'm a turd. I've learned something new today apparently...