Symphony in Orange
Symphony in Orange
Part 1
Do Colombian Symphony Orchestras have a future in the “Orange Economy”?
"Orchestras, like all cultural institutions, do create economic value ... but that's not their primary reason for existence,…Their primary reason for existence, obviously, is to make music…That means it's a different sort of value they're creating, which we can call cultural value or artistic value. It’s separate from the hard numbers of the economic value, from the dollars and cents."
Macquarie University's Professor Throsby.
We find ourselves in what is called in Colombia the “Orange Economy”. I recently had a chance to ask a director of music in one of Colombia’s preeminent institutions for music, arts and learning, about the orange economy, “What exactly is the orange economy” I asked. He stared at me for a number of long seconds and then gave a wry smile and his hands went up to about his shoulders and outward in a gesture of puzzlement, like a shrug but with hands palm up, “Well, I don’t know”, he said at first and then after a stutter he proceeded with an attempt. This ambiguous answer is part of what worries me about the orange economy. There is a book about it called, “The Orange Economy: An Infinite Opportunity” by Pedro Felipe Buitrago Restrepo and Iván Duque Márquez, the later author being Colombia’s current President.
In the introduction to their book, or “manual”, they state, “The creative economy, which we call the “Orange Economy” … encompasses the immense wealth of talent, intellectual property, interconnectedness, and, of course, cultural heritage of the Latin American and Caribbean region (and indeed, every region).”
The authors show the impressive economic value of the creative, or “orange” economy across the world. The amount of GDP that it is worth, they note the use of electronic mediums and and the profits of Broadway shows. “Defining the orange economy” they admit, “is a complex matter “ and that “culture, creativity and the economy are broad concepts that require delimitation.”
I suspect we have examples of the orange economy all around us in mass media. Pop concerts, recording sales of CDs, the movie “industry”, virtual concerts of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera, Broadway shows, television and online streaming. Netflix, for example, recently added a Colombian series to its list.
In an article by Holly K. Sonneland, the Orange Economy, “is the sector whose goods and services are based on intellectual property, estimated to make up about 6 percent of the worldʼs GDP. The Orange Economy, for its part, comprises cultural industries divided into three categories:
traditional works for which there is often an artifact (books, newspapers, magazines, libraries, film, television, photography, radio),
other works that are based more in experience (visual and performing arts, dance, opera, fashion, design, museums, architecture, gastronomy), and
new works that tend to be digital or multimedia and have come about in the last half-century or so (video games, software, advertising, new media). Infrastructure in the creative industries can also include physical spaces such as plazas, commercial and community centers, parks, and stadiums, as well as virtual infrastructure like radio antennas, satellites, and fiber-optic networks.”
At first glance, the appearance of performing arts in the second category seems encouraging but Sonneland also explains, “One defining characteristic of an Orange Economy product is that it has a distinct intellectual property claim”. Property claim? What intellectual property claim can an orchestra use after performing a concert of Mozart and Beethoven or any other classics? Obviously, there are ticket sales but that only brings the age old cultural argument back to the painful fact that ticket sales alone cannot sustain an orchestra. Furthermore, Sonneland explains that Duque sold bonds that are directly connected to the Orange Economy, “ a novel bond auction took place in Colombia, one of the first of its type in the world. But investors werenʼt bidding on traditional projects like highways or ports—they were bidding on bonds to build cultural infrastructure, which could include everything from loans to jewelry makers and software developers to fiber-optic networks.” Sonneland further explains the thinking of Duque, “At the auction, Duque said he didnʼt want the creative industries to grow in an “untamed manner” but rather channel and formalize them so that creators can get their due credit (and royalties) and the country can leverage the industryʼs production and exports.”
This statement really begs the question of where a symphony orchestra fits into this kind of thinking. An orchestra could consider recordings, both video and audio, that could be sold. This however, is going to require some investment. Will the Orange Bonds help such a project? Are investors ready to invest in Orange Orchestra Bonds? In the case of the National Orchestra, the orchestra would first have to be complete. At the time of this writing, the orchestra has around 15 subs every concert to boost the number of the orchestra. But recordings and broadcasts require good quality and a fluid orchestra body without stable contracts is not conducive to that kind of project. Even if that aspect is not considered, there is the cost of good recording and real professionals and conditions. It can be done, but is the investment present for such a project? Loans to jewelry makers and software developers to fiber-optic networks is a different beast from that of fine performance art.
There is a rather compact article that appears in “Investment News in Colombia”. It is interesting to note that while the article is about the Orange Economy, the title of the article is “Institutional Export Promotion Tourism Investment” and the article points to PROCOLOMBIA. This entity which, can be seen at procolombia.co, explains that “PROCOLOMBIA is the entity empowered to promote Turisim, Foreign investment in Colombia, Exports that are not related to mining and the image of the country.” You can see that there is a strong, if not exclusive, focus on investment but not the investment in culture per se. Also the article states, “These industries co-ordinate their activities amongst themselves, transforming ideas into cultural and/or creative goods and services.” How are we going to transform ideas into cultural and creative goods between the orchestra and…Opera? Theater? Who will pay for it? Who will invest? What investor is going to invest in an opera production, for example, with the expectation of actually making a profit?
Ley de Cine
Artículo 16o. (Modificado por el artículo 195o de la ley 1607 de 2012, cuyo texto se transcribe). Beneficios tributarios a la donación o inversión en producción cinematográfica. Los contribuyentes del impuesto a la renta que realicen inversiones o hagan donaciones a proyectos cinematográficos de producción o coproducción colombianas de largometraje o cortometraje aprobados por el Ministerio de Cultura a través de la Dirección de Cinematografía, tendrán derecho a deducir de su renta por el periodo gravable en que se realice la inversión o donación e independientemente de su actividad productora de renta, el ciento sesenta y cinco por ciento (165%) del valor real invertido o donado.
The above “Ley de Cine”, is a law that has been around for 16 years and it stipulates in Article 16 that people who contribute to cinema projects can deduct from their taxes. That seems like a good law. But why isn’t there such a law for music, orchestra, opera or zarzuela etc??
Robert Flanagan, a professor of economics at Stanford University and the author of The Perilous Life of Symphony Orchestras, notes, ”They all run an operating deficit, in the sense that the money they earn from concerts, records and so forth does not cover their expenses,”"Unlike a musical, which has a lot of set-up costs and can then run for a year and a half to cover the initial cost, an orchestra might spend two or three days in rehearsal and then do two or three performances — that's it!” Currently, the orchestras of the world stay afloat thanks to government assistance. In America that comes indirectly, via a tax deduction for people and organizations who donate to orchestras.”
In the article by Nohora Celedón in LaSillaVacia.com, the summation of the change in Ministerio of Culture is this: “Con la llegada de Buitrago, Duque le apuntaría a reforzar la lógica de la economía naranja empresarial por encima de la procultural. Es decir que se vea más como un negocio y una oportunidad de crecimiento económico, que es la línea de Buitrago, y menos como una herramienta para fomentar prácticas culturales y ancestrales, que era más la línea de Melo.”
It seems we have to ask how we are going to patent an orchestra (and performing arts in general). If not that, is the government going to place the function of the orchestra on an oblique line to the orange economy? Is the Colombian symphony orchestra a support group for the orange economy or is it still an investment in society or both?
https://dutchculture.nl/en/mapping/mapping-brazil-performing-arts
https://freemuse.org/news/brazil-sponsorship-of-cultural-activities-limits-freedom-of-expression/
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-04/why-no-symphony-orchestra-in-the-world-makes-money/8413746
END ARTICLE PART 1