New Mexico Philharmonic
| New Mexico Philharmonic | |
|---|---|
| Orchestra | |
 | |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Location | Albuquerque, United States |
| Concert hall | Popejoy Hall |
| Music director | Roberto Minczuk |
| Website | www |
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The New Mexico Philharmonic (NMPhil) is a symphony orchestra in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It started in 2009 after the bankruptcy of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra.
Organizational Description
The New Mexico Philharmonic (NMPhil) is the state’s largest professional classical symphony orchestra, and second only to the Santa Fe Opera is the largest performing arts organization in New Mexico. It is composed of 74 conservatory-trained (or equivalent) professional musicians, five full-time and three part-time staff members, and several contractors referred to as a group as the management staff, a board of directors (BOD) of 15 and over 60 volunteers. It was incorporated in New Mexico by musicians of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra (NMSO) as a non-profit organization on October 21, 2009, when the possible closing of the financially troubled NMSO was recognized. NMSO had functioned successfully from its founding in 1932 until economic challenges came to a head in 2011 following the 2008 recession. NMPhil was dormant as an organization until May of 2011 after the NMSO declared bankruptcy. Following the bankruptcy, community members not affiliated with NMSO joined NMPhil’s BOD and began fundraising. By fall 2011, NMPhil successfully raised over $100,000 to purchase the key assets of the NMSO to begin operations, hired an executive director, retained and granted tenure to most NMSO musicians, and began performing its first season. NMPhil has grown successfully with an entirely new board, staff, volunteers, and a growing set of new musicians. It is the flagship classical music organization in New Mexico, performing for 40,000 audience members and serving 20,000+ students each season, and is a vital part of New Mexico’s cultural scene at a time when orchestras around the country are failing. It is also an important economic driver as a key cultural asset that helps to create the quality of life that attracts and keeps businesses and individuals in the community. NMPhil musicians are also employed by virtually all professional music organizations in New Mexico that use classically trained professional musicians, further enhancing the quality of life in the state. NMPhil continued with virtual performances during the pandemic and is beginning its 2021-22 live concert season in excellent organizational and fiscal health.
Performance Offerings
NMPhil has two categories of performance offerings: concerts provided to paying audience members of the general public; and education programs provided to public school children at no cost to parents or students.
Five types of concerts are offered, with a distinguishing feature being whether the orchestra is “full,” meaning 74 or more musicians on stage, or the orchestra is “medium” to “small,” meaning 20 to 48 musicians. The Popejoy classics, pops, and afternoon concerts are the most important concerts for audience members, with neighborhood and Zoo concerts performed primarily as community service. Ticket sales for concerts for the general public are the primary source of earned income for NMPhil.
Education Programs
Education programs are the key product that supports both NMPhil’s mission and the core value of “service to all our communities” by changing the lives of the youth of New Mexico. They are also essential to developing audiences of the future by creating awareness, knowledge, and the love of classical orchestral music that will create the audience, donors, and sponsors of the future. The education programs are: the youth concerts presented in Popejoy Hall in the fall and spring of each year; ensemble visits of 2 to 5 musicians visiting elementary schools in Albuquerque and elsewhere in the state as funding is available; and the Young Musician Initiative (YMI), an in-depth music education program for economically challenged public school students, based on El Sistema, a revolutionary music education method pioneered in Venezuela in 1975. During the pandemic, education programs were presented virtually. Post pandemic, programs will be presented both live and virtually.
Mission, Vision, and Values
The values of NMPhil were established during the first strategic planning cycle in 2012 and endure unchanged to this day. They drive all actions and decisions and are the foundation of NMPhil’s culture. The values of excellence, responsibility, and service are lived out through the mission of enriching the lives of New Mexicans through music. NMPhil has identified four core competencies: musical and artistic excellence; relationships; business management; and agility.
The core competence of musical and artistic excellence is essential to the existence of NMPhil – NMPhil must provide the highest quality of music programming and performance possible to satisfy the expectations of audience members and the needs of the children served by the music education programs. Relationships are key to NMPhil fulfilling its mission in several dimensions – internal relationships with staff, musicians, and volunteers; external relationships with donors, sponsors, partners, suppliers, and collaborators. Effective business management enables NMPhil to fulfill its mission and meet expectations within an extremely small budget. Agility is requisite for sustainability because revenue streams can change in a single week, visiting artists and conductors can cancel at the last minute, and venues may be impacted by weather and unexpected changes.
Musicians and Staff
The NMPhil is composed of management staff, musicians, and volunteers who are motivated by a passionate love of the music and commitment to keeping classical music alive in New Mexico by supporting the mission and delighting audiences and students. The 74 musicians are members of local 618 of the American Federation of Musicians and are covered by a collective bargaining agreement (CBA). All musicians are chosen through blind auditions and hired solely on the basis of their talent and ability. Volunteers are motivated by the same commitment and passion as the staff. NMPhil has no special health or safety requirements.
To increase the ability of the musicians to play for New Mexico arts organizations and maximize their income, and avoid performance date conflicts, NMPhil collaborates for mutual success with the other arts organizations by scheduling both rehearsals and concerts on dates and times that do not conflict. This same scheduling allows for volunteers to work for multiple organizations simultaneously.
Non-Profit
As a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts and education organization operating in an office and concert hall setting, NMPhil is subject to various state and federal regulations including: reporting requirements to New Mexico attorney general (COROS); IRS regulations including audits; public regulation commission requirements; and business licensing. NMPhil has no accreditation, certification, or registration requirements. Although it has no special health and safety regulations to address, it focuses on safety in the office and concert hall settings with the goal of zero job-incurred accidents. NMPhil has adopted all recommended federal and state guidelines to address the pandemic, including requiring masking and vaccinations of all employees and proof of vaccination / recent negative test and masking for all audience members.
Board of Directors & Advisory Board
NMPhil’s governance system consists of a 15-member board of directors (BOD). NMPhil has an Advisory Board composed of six key stakeholders who possess skills needed by NMPhil and meet with board and staff typically one on one to provide advice and consultation on matters important to the health and functioning of NMPhil. The senior leadership of NMPhil is the Leadership Team (LT) which is composed of the ED (Executive Director), MD (Music Director), and Board President, somewhat unusual but important for this small organization. The ED reports directly to the Board President and participates as a non-voting member of that board. The MD reports directly to the ED. The Executive Committee of the BOD (the president, vice presidents, and secretary/treasurer) confers with the ED on key matters of policy that arise between board meetings. The Advisory Board reports to the President and ED and, as individuals, attend periodic BOD meetings. The musicians of NMPhil are organized internally as the New Mexico Philharmonic Players Association (NMPPA) and governed by a highly structured set of bylaws that define the processes under which the NMPPA self-governs all orchestra-internal matters, such as education, leadership, and collective bargaining. The chair of leadership committee of NMPPA is the primary contact between the LT and the NMPPA.
New Mexico Philharmonic Foundation
NMPhil management and board created the New Mexico Philharmonic Foundation Inc., a separate 501(c)(3) whose sole purpose is establishing a lasting endowment for professional symphonic music in New Mexico, specifically increasing the financial security of the NMPhil. At this time, the endowment is $2.3M.
Music Directors
- Roberto Minczuk (2017–Present)
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