Edifice complex

The current reevaluation of arts complexes signifies the head-on collision of European-style prestige with American-style commerce, but I suspect these complexes were designed to avoid such questions altogether. All the talk of “how to raise money to fix the air conditioners” implies a loss of faith in (or a transformation in the attitudes of) philanthropists. Money to repair the boiler is tantamount to money that erases the annual operating deficits that orchestras face (with few exceptions). It used to be the case that an orchestra’s board of directors picked up the slack at the end of each fiscal year out of a sense of responsibility to sustain the art. Now the types who sit on such boards come with business ideologies that are simply incommensurable with the needs of nonprofits. These big concert halls are facades hiding the sad truth that we care so little about the status of the organizations they harbor.

When too much emphasis is placed on the edifices themselves, it only underscores the fact that the people who do care about, say, classical music, are only seeing what they want to see. People are living in a dream world, blinded by the big chandeliers and fur coats.

Dan Coleman

Tucson, Ariz.

Dan Coleman is composer-in-residence for the Tucson Symphony Orchestra.