Article on mismanagement of the Academy of Music

The Academy of Music of New York is the worst organized institution in America in regard to the cooperation of the 200 share-holders. The weekly loss of revenue at the ticket office is more than $ 2,000 due to the reserved seats for the share holders for all 5 performances a week. The share-holders also have influence on the stage scenery: their consent is required for the use of every prop; they avoid having new stage scenery be made and instead insist on reusing the old over and over; if the impresario is having a piece of scenery made without discussing it with the directors of the share-holders, it belongs to them. Every restoration and repair back stage and in the auditorium has to be discussed with the share-holders, which causes quite some delay and frustration for the impresario. It also affects the committees that rent the halls of the opera house for balls. These are just a few examples of the directors’ influence at the Academy of Music. We will not go any further into detail especially in the area of engagements. The directors have mentioned recently that they find their influence is not even sufficient yet. There might be more restrictions in the future.

The reason for this dilemma is that the share-holders have a monopole. There is no other opera house or large and fancy enough theater or ball venue in New York. The only way to weaken the influence of the share-holders on the arts is to build a second opera house which hardly seems feasible at this time, unless the situation becomes absolutely unbearable. In the interest of the arts and the audience, we wish with all our heart this will happen as soon as possible.