By Johanna Keller

-"Around the country, it's never looked so gloomy." (Benjamin Roe, music director of National Public Radio) -"It's astonishing to see the level of naïve optimism alongside the harsh realities." (Susan Elliott, editor of MusicalAmerica.com) -"When the nation is uncertain and the community unstable, it's good for the arts." (George Steel, executive director of the Miller Theater at Columbia University)

These are just three of 13 ways of looking at where the arts are now. Musical America asked 13 people from the field-in management, education, philanthropy, the media, publishing, and presenting-what the greatest challenge is now.

Everyone's list began, predictably, with the economy, which is closely watched by Arlene Shuler, executive director of the Howard Gilman Foundation. This year the Gilman Foundation made $6 million in cash grants with about half devoted to the performing arts in New York City. Shuler said that while the Gilman's grants are derived from business income, most other foundations depend on fixed endowments that, in some cases, have shrunk.

"Foundation payout rates are based on a 12-quarter rolling average," Shuler explained. "So last year's payout from foundations wasn't so bad since the stock market average over several years still was elevated. But if the market doesn't improve, we'll eventually have 12 quarters of negative returns. In that case, many foundations will have to make the hard choices-to discontinue or reduce some funding.

"Last fiscal year," Shuler said, "many organizations in New York City got extra money because of the emergency 9/11 funding provided by the Mellon and Carnegie Foundations. That money helped a lot of arts people through last year. But it was a one-time rescue."

The American Music Center, an exemplary national service organization for new American music, was selected last year to administer $2.7 million of this emergency money to small and mid-sized organizations and artists. The Center's executive director, Richard Kessler, said that through that process he got a bird's eye view of New York City institutions.

"Many are still reeling," he said, "especially the small and mid-sized organizations. I can't put this any other way: 9/11 bankrupted many artists despite the relief efforts. Before they realized what was happening, the jobs disappeared. At first it seemed like just one of the ups and downs of the freelance life, so they ran up their credit cards, then suddenly they are realizing things are not coming back."

Kessler added that the level of arts activity may be misleading and that he feels a substantial level of fear. While artists will find ways to go on making art no matter what, he says, he worries about the ability of the smaller institutions to survive.

"Unfortunately, the media focuses on the larger elite institutions," Kessler said, "while the artistically interesting things are happening in the minor leagues-the small clubs, the composer-led groups, and jazz collectives. These are the proving grounds for new art. And even though they are flexible and entrepreneurial, this is where the ecology is the most vulnerable-and the most fertile." Out on the West Coast, the mood seems decidedly more upbeat. As director of operations and electronic media at the San Francisco Symphony, John Kieser is overseeing the Orchestra's recording and release of a Mahler series on super audio CD.

"It's ambitious to record and distribute it ourselves, particularly at this time," he said. "There's the added risk that this is well-recorded repertoire and we're using a new technology. But when times get tough, we have to resist the tendency to rely on things that worked in the past. It's the time to be adventurous.

"We're in the entertainment business," Kieser added. "And we depend on live events. The performing arts as a whole are not well-represented in new media, like Web-streaming-and that's a challenge for us all."

Edgar Vincent, who wears two hats as an artist manager and a public relations representative (notably for Plácido Domingo, among others), says his biggest hurdle is finding new funds for artistic projects.

"Because of the poor economy, certain people who played a role in funding are conking out-no, I'm not mentioning any names." Vincent also articulated that as a publicist he has to confront the media's lack of interest in classical music (not a new complaint).

"Somehow the media still believe that stupid old opinion that no one is interested in classical music," Vincent said. "They haven't caught up to the fact that opera especially has gained new audiences among young people."

One mass media outlet with a powerful commitment to classical music is National Public Radio, headquartered in Washington, D.C. Benjamin Roe, the network's director of music, programmed eight hours of musical events from around the country on the first anniversary of 9/11.

"At a moment of national unity and community, you heard Yo-Yo Ma playing Bach at Ground Zero," Roe said. "Of all the musical genres, what people wanted at such a somber moment was classical music. Yet there has never been a greater gap between the value of what we do at NPR and the ability to pay for it. Paradoxically we have more people listening to NPR music and news now than ever before."

Roe was dismayed that opening night at the Washington Opera did not sell out this year and observed that economic problems are affecting every institution. "At NPR, we're reporting the San Antonio Symphony players taking a 20 percent pay cut while the same forces are hitting us too. We all have to figure out how to make do with less."

One place audience attendance has actually increased is at The Juilliard School in New York, where free concerts are given on an almost daily basis (giving rise to the question about whether price sensitivity is keeping audiences away). According to Juilliard's president, Joseph W. Polisi, free concerts have had a nurturing effect for audiences.

"On the positive side I saw how people came to performances in order to experience a sense of community. I worried that after 9/11, students might reconsider coming to New York City, but that has not been the case whatsoever."

Polisi said Juilliard received virtually the same number of applicants for this year and had the same percentage of yield (the number of students attending after acceptance by the school). The challenge he sees is to put the performing arts in a wider social context in the classroom.

"We need to understand and teach how the arts influence society," Polisi explained, "especially after 9/11. How can the arts be proactive in framing the American spirit?" He has been bothered lately by the fact that the government has not taken a role in promoting U.S. culture-serious culture-overseas.

"The United States is perceived as Coca-Cola, McDonalds, and Britney Spears," said Polisi. "The last time our government took our culture seriously was when it sent Louis Armstrong to Africa and the New York Philharmonic on tour during the Cold War. There are so many misunderstandings about Americans and American culture. So much could be done by cultural diplomacy."

International affairs are also of concern to Edna Landau, senior vice president and managing director of IMG Artists of North America. Her biggest challenge right now is obtaining visas. In many cases, tours have been canceled with foreign artists unable to enter the country.

"The restrictions on getting visas approved and artists into the country is creating expensive cancellations," she said. "At the very minimum you have to spend $1,000 to get a visa expedited-if you can get it. And because of the economy, many presenters are scaling back. Artist fees are frozen, and some attempts to reduce fees have been made."

The economic pressures also are forcing many halls to book long-run presentations that may be more lucrative than one-night performances, she said. "Many presenters we deal with rent their venue, and it's increasingly not available when they need it. For instance, if we have a solo artist who's available October 13-18, word comes back that, sorry, there's a dance company there for a week. It makes booking a tour even more difficult."

While none of Landau's artists had expressed any fear of traveling, she said that she did perceive an increase in nervousness about security, particularly in New York City. "The biggest personal challenge day-to-day is to remain forward-thinking and optimistic when our very safety may be at risk."

There are others in the field with a more sanguine outlook. Peter G. Davis, music critic of New York magazine, likens the classical-music field to a luxury liner trying to turn in the ocean. He doesn't see much change of direction yet.

"People are more sober, but I don't see anyone suddenly getting weighty thoughts about culture and high art," Davis commented. "Of course creative people are writing works related to what happened to the country this past year. That's to be expected. But the Met Opera won't suddenly commission 300 new operas. They are going to go on as they always have."

In the area of criticism, Davis complains that there are only brief reviews and previews and little serious writing about music, a problem he attributes to the lack of space. "At my own publication, I don't get many column inches, which is pure economics. But space has been shrinking for the past 10 years. It has to be looked at in context."

Pianist Gary Graffman, director and president of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, also takes the long view. Beyond a decline in the endowment, he said there are no changes at Curtis.

"We are trying to do the same thing we have done for the last 75 years-to have the best possible faculty that will attract the best possible students," Graffman said. "We try to resist change in every way. We're just as small a school as ever. When I became director in 1986, there were 170 students. Now there are 160."

Graffman added that for all the dire complaints, he recalls that when he began his career no orchestra in the country played 52 weeks a year, and the Musical America Directory listed only a handful of pianists.

"And only one quartet-the Budapest-made a living playing full-time, and they traveled by bus to save money," he added. "Sure, there's an economic downturn. But the NASDAQ stocks I bought are still worth ten times what I paid for them. And while my New York apartment is worth less this year than last, it's still worth many multiples of what I paid for it originally. In the music business too, you have to keep these things in perspective."

A completely opposite view comes from Susan Elliott, based in Atlanta. As editor of MusicalAmerica.com since 1999, Elliott publishes over 1,500 reviews and news articles annually, filed from around the globe. In her view, many in the music field have not caught up to reality.

"Just look at the four lead stories we published on the site this morning," Elliott pointed out. "The Chicago Lyric Opera broadcasts are being dropped because of lack of sponsorship, the recording industry may be basically over because of file-sharing and downloading, the Pittsburgh Symphony is threatening to file Chapter 11, and the Tulsa Philharmonic has suspended operations. And that's just one day. Worse yet, it's not atypical." At the same time, Elliott said, there are new performing-arts facilities in various stages of planning and construction around the nation in such cities as Miami, Los Angeles, and Atlanta.

"What are they thinking?" Elliott asked. "They can't even keep the current ones in business. Here in Atlanta, the number of homes for sale is double what was available a year ago, and many homes are in foreclosure. But the performing arts seem to be operating on what was happening three years ago when the market was sailing high. It's not to say people should give up on new things, but let's nurture what's already planted."

Another serious concern for Elliott is the continuing erosion of copyright that has seriously damaged the recording industry. On the Web, she said, it sometimes seems as if nothing belongs to anyone.

"There's a new generation that doesn't understand why they should respect copyright," Elliott said. "All they see is free music to be downloaded. I had a conversation with a teenager recently and explained royalties to him. He was mind-boggled. "Oh, he said, I never thought about how composers and artists got paid."

Susan Feder, vice president of G. Schirmer, Inc., is, not surprisingly, also deeply concerned with the copyright issue. At the time of this writing in September, the court case "Eldred versus Ashcroft" was scheduled to be heard a month in the future by the Supreme Court.

"It's the biggest thing to face publishing in a long time," Feder said. "Should the extension of the 1988 Copyright Act be overturned, it would have terrible ramifications for publishers, the movie industry, television, computer software industries, book publishing, the recording industry, and artists of all sorts. We are cautiously optimistic the extension will be granted. But copyright remains regularly under attack.

"If I'm optimistic anywhere," Feder added, "it's in the realm of opera. New works such as Dead Man Walking, A View from the Bridge, and The Great Gatsby are bringing new audiences-young audiences-to serious music."

The cultivation of new audiences is what Kenneth C. Fischer, president of the University Musical Society of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, said will be the result of the closing of one of the university's theaters for renovations. Fischer, known for his boundless creativity, responded by relocating several performances to halls in Detroit, 42 miles away.

"We saw an opportunity," said Fischer. "In Detroit, we'll be gathering new names, addresses, and e-mails. Meanwhile, we are transporting our Ann Arbor audience to Detroit by buses-actually, we call them Luxury Coaches."

Despite his irrepressible energy and ideas, Fischer is no wild-eyed optimist. He notes that his series had its worst year in a decade with a 10 percent shortfall in income, in large part because of canceled concerts in the wake of 9/11. Also he does not dismiss lightly the economic challenges being faced by organizations outside the ivory tower. He is part of a group of top university presenters that met last year in Arizona and will meet again this year in Illinois to discuss mutual concerns.

"As university-related presenters, I think we all realize we have special responsibilities now," Fischer explained. "A decade ago, our job was to book artists. But now we also do educational activities and commission new work. We are inside or affiliated with stable institutions where we have buildings, money, and intellectual resources. We need to put those to use to enrich the field."

Another university-affiliated presenter who belongs unabashedly to the School of Silver Lining is George Steel. In a few seasons, he has become widely recognized for some of the most consistently imaginative programming in his series at Columbia University's Miller Theatre in New York City. Where others might see a worrisome contraction of ever-more-choosy audiences, Steel sees only higher hurdles he wants to jump.

"This is a call for programmers to speak more directly to the culture," said Steel. "The status quo is no longer acceptable. I'm not saying, Yippee, a loss of funding is good. But it can be a tap on the shoulder and good discipline."

Steel observed that audience members, performers, and composers seem ever more aware that there are a limited number of concerts one can attend or perform. Consequently, each event has to be special. "At a time when you can reference almost any musical work on a recording, why attend a live concert? The answer is that a performance is also a social coming together. That's the aspect I really love. And that's what I champion."

Johanna Keller, a freelance writer based in Manhattan, was a 2002 USC Annenberg Getty Cultural Journalism Fellow in Los Angeles. Her writings appear in The New York Times and the London Evening Standard.