Introduction

T
afelmusik, Canadas Baroque Orches-
tra, has just celebrated its twentieth
anniversary season. Tafelmusik has
won a vast array of prizes and accolades over
the years for its musical achievements, but
what have been less analyzed and discussed in
the popular or academic press are the manage-
ment structures and practices that have sup-
ported and sustained this artistic success. This
lesser known aspect of the Tafemusik organi-
zation provides excellent examples of manage-
ment best practices that have particular
relevance for small performing arts companies
in start-up situations, although I believe there
are aspects of the Tafelmusik approach to
organizational development that apply to
organizations of all sizes including some
outside the cultural sector.
Tafelmusik was established in Toronto in
1978 by Kenneth Solway and Susan Graves.
The orchestra was originally organized as a
musicians collective, dedicated to historical
performance practice and producing concerts
of baroque music played on period instru-
ments. Within the short space of three years,
the organization took four major steps
towards institutionalization it incorporated
as a nonprofit organization and registered as a
charity, it developed a regular season of
Toronto concerts, it moved into a permanent
home in a historical church in downtown
Toronto (Trinity-St Pauls), and it hired both
an artistic director and an administrator.
Today, Tafelmusik has grown to include 18
permanent orchestra members (they are
joined by a much larger group of musicians
from around the world according to the
demands of the concert and recording reper-
toire), a chamber choir that performs with the
orchestra in Toronto, and a full-time adminis-
trative staff of eight. The budget has grown to
just under $3 million annually. The orchestra
plays 50 concerts in Toronto every year, and
over 50 abroad. Tafelmusik discography boasts
over 50 recordings, many of which have won
awards and honours around the world. The
Toronto concert series has attracted over
3,500 subscribers, to the point that it is now
often difficult to purchase a single ticket for a
Tafelmusik performance.
In addition to the statistics cited above, the
awards and critical acclaim seem endless: five
Canadian Juno Awards; Germanys top
recording tribute, the Echo Klassik Award for
best orchestra; the Cannes Classical Music
Award; the Jury of the Premio Internazsionale
del Discos award for best Vivaldi recording;
and the Canadian Music Councils Ensemble
of the Year. The orchestra is regularly invited
for prestigious residencies and performances
on every continent. Jeanne Lamon has
VOLUME 2, NUMBER 1 FALL 1999 77
Achieving Stability and
Success in Crowded Markets:
The Case of Tafelmusik
Brenda Gainer
Brenda Gainer is the Royal
Bank Professor of Nonprofit
Management at the Schulich
School of Business at York
University in Toronto, and
Co-Director of the Arts and
Media Management Program.
Her research interests focus
on cultural management and
marketing; consumer behav-
iour and philanthropy; and
community and gender
studies. Previous to her
university appointment, she
worked in the fields of
performing arts management,
heritage, and native rights.
OMPANY PROFILE
C
received an honourary doctorate from York
University, the Muriel Sherrin Award for
international success in music, the Joan M.
Chalmers National Award for Artistic
Direction, the Alliance Franaise Award and,
most recently, the Canada Council for the
Arts Molson prize for Lifetime Achievement.
Less well-known than this outstanding
record of artistic success, however, is the fact
that the organization and its administrators
have also been singled out for recognition of
their management practices. Ottie Lockey has
received both the prestigious Joan M. Chalmers
National Award for Arts Administration and
the Association of Cultural Executives Award
for excellence in cultural management.
Tafelmusik recently won its second Lieutenant
Governors Award for the Arts for excellence
in developing both private-sector and com-
munity support. The orchestra has been writ-
ten up in the business section of The Globe
and Mail, Canadas national newspaper, as
well as appearing in a feature story in the
Canadian Airlines inflight magazine. Lockey
has also been appointed to a teaching position
in the MBA program at the Schulich School
of Business at York University in Toronto.
As a teacher and consultant in the area of
arts management, I know how difficult it is to
launch a new arts organization no matter
how artistically brilliant its work in markets
characterized by large, established, well-
funded and widely recognized cultural institu-
tions. Such was the situation in the Toronto
market when Tafelmusik was launched
organizations like the Toronto Symphony
Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company, the
National Ballet of Canada, the Canadian
Stage Company, the Stratford Festival and a
large number of other, smaller companies had
been in existence for years and were already
extremely adept at Danny Newman-style
advertising and subscription campaigns, and
well-versed in grantsmanship and in corporate
and individual fundraising techniques. Faced
with this stiff competition in the performing
arts sector, and particularly with the dominant
market position held by the Toronto
Symphony Orchestra among consumers and
supporters of live classical music concerts, the
mere fact of Tafelmusiks twenty years of sur-
vival in Toronto calls for some explanation.
Tafelmusik has not only survived, however;
it has risen to become one of the most suc-
cessful baroque ensem-
bles in the world. This
raises a larger issue than
merely trying to explain
survival in a particular
geographic market.
Tafelmusik faced more
obstacles than simply the
market-leader position of
the Toronto Symphony
Orchestra. This orchestra was not only small
and unknown, but it played a repertoire lim-
ited to one historical period, in a style and on
instruments unfamiliar to Canadian audiences
and of which local music critics were openly
scornful, in an odd old church associated with
left-wing political and social causes and
despite all this went on to become a much-
loved local institution and an enormous inter-
national success story! How did this happen?
Of course, Tafelmusik demonstrates musi-
cal excellence. But it is my contention that
Tafelmusik offers other arts organizations sev-
eral important lessons about management
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTS MANAGEMENT 78
This paper describes the management practices of an extremely successful small performing arts organization,
the Canadian baroque orchestra Tafelmusik. Three particular aspects of the orchestras approach to management
are singled out as being unique and as contributing to its success: an emphasis on individuals, community-
building and personal relationships; a flexible approach to structure, hierarchy and power; and a focus on devel-
oping and managing a portfolio of multiple products and markets. The paper suggests that the external and
internal strategies adopted by Jeanne Lamon and Ottie Lockey, Music and Managing Directors respectively, can
provide guidance to other small performing arts organizations engaged in the task of establishing themselves
in crowded local and global markets.
Performing arts management, strategic management, leadership, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra
ABSTRACT
KEYWORDS
Tafelmusik is lucky to have
outstanding leadership
in both the artistic and
administrative arenas.
structures and processes that go beyond the
fact that the Tafelmusik musicians play beau-
tiful music and play it extraordinarily well.
There are many organizations with excellent
products that fail, not just in the arts but in
every sector of the economy. It is said by
experts in new product development that the
vast majority of new products fail, and that
they fail for reasons that have nothing to do
with the excellence of the product, but
because the other aspects of the business the
marketing, the finances, the human resource
systems are inadequate to develop and sus-
tain markets for that product.
The days when it was enough to simply
build a better mouse trap (or orchestra!) in
order to achieve success in consumer markets
are gone, if they ever existed at all. At the end
of the twentieth century, the market for the
live arts, like markets for a wide array of other
consumer products, is enormously crowded.
The reality of the music business nowadays is
that it is not sufficient simply to produce con-
certs that are good from a musical point of
view in the hopes that sufficient numbers of
people will somehow discover them and con-
tinue to support them over time. Of course
good concerts are a prerequisite for success,
but in addition to musical quality, contempo-
rary musical organizations need to concen-
trate on developing the management structure
and systems that will allow a group of quality
musicians to develop into a sustainable cul-
tural institution if they want to build the
assured resource base that will allow artistic
excellence to flourish and grow over time. In
my view, Tafelmusiks skills in three particular
areas of business management help to account
for their success in this regard.
Team Organization and Structure
The Artistic Director/Managing
Director Relationship
The one aspect of the organizational chart of
most orchestras that is noticeably different
from traditional corporate entities is that there
are usually two CEOs an Artistic Director
and a Managing Director. The holders of both
of these positions report to the board directly
and thus there are two separate administrative
trees that spread below their positions on the
organizational chart. This sharp division of
the artistic and administrative sides of the
business often becomes a source of a great deal
of stress and conflict, since there is little or no
communication between the bulk of the
artists and the administrators in most orches-
tras. The most critical link between the artis-
tic and administrative sides of the business,
then, becomes that between the two CEOs. In
many arts organizations, this relationship is
often the only bridge between the artists and
the administrators. While it is not the only
bridge at Tafelmusik, it is nevertheless of para-
mount importance.
In the case of Tafelmusik, the position of
Managing Director is held by Ottie Lockey,
while that of Music Director is held by Jeanne
Lamon. Lamon and Lockey both joined
Tafelmusik in 1981, just three years after the
organization was founded, and both have
worked there, managing the organization
together, ever since. I believe that in the qual-
ity of this relationship is found the main rea-
son for the enduring success of the Tafelmusik
organization.
VOLUME 2, NUMBER 1 FALL 1999 79
Lauteure dcrit les pratiques de gestion dune petite entreprise du domaine des arts de la scne ayant normment de succs,
lorchestre baroque canadien Tafelmusik. Trois aspects particuliers de son optique de la gestion sont signals comme tant
uniques et lis sa russite : laccent sur la personne, le renforcement des liens communautaires et les relations personnelles;
une souplesse dapproche lgard de la structure, de la hirarchie et du pouvoir; et linsistance sur le dveloppement et la
gestion dune gamme de produits et de marchs. Larticle laisse entendre que les stratgies appliques lexterne et linterne
par Jeanne Lamon et Ottie Lockey, respectivement directrice artistique et directrice gnrale, peuvent inspirer dautres petites
entreprises du secteur des arts dinterprtation souhaitant stablir sur des marchs encombrs, quils soient locaux ou
internationaux.
Gestion des arts de la scne, management stratgique, leadership, orchestre baroque Tafelmusik
RSUM
MOTS CLS
First and foremost, Lamon is a brilliant and
dedicated musician, and Lockey is a brilliant
and dedicated arts administrator, as the number
and quality of their respective awards listed
earlier attest. Each of these women has been
recognized and awarded for outstanding
achievement in their respective fields. So obvi-
ously Tafelmusik is lucky to have outstanding
leadership in both the artistic and administra-
tive arenas, something not all performing arts
organizations can claim, and to have bene-
fitted from their uninterupted guidance for
eighteen years.
Much more important than their individ-
ual talents, however, is the ability of these two
women to work together as a team. I think
what is different about Tafelmusiks top man-
agement compared to that of many organiza-
tions I have observed is the respect that the
two leaders show for each others professional
knowledge and expertise. In particular, Lamon
must be singled out as an artistic director who
is distinguished from a number of her col-
leagues by her belief that management exper-
tise represents genuine and important
knowledge that is equal in importance and
value to artistic knowledge.
That professional respect, however, is
enhanced by the credibility that each also has
in the others field. Lockey knows and is
trained in music. In fact, her years of formal
music training exceed any formal manage-
ment training she has ever undertaken. For
her part, Lamon has made it her business to
learn not only what the marketers and fundrais-
ers and tour managers do, but to understand
why. This is not to suggest that Lockey and
Lamon have not had, and do not continue to
have, important differences of opinion, as do
experts in any field, about both administrative
and artistic matters. They are able to discuss and
resolve those disagreements, however, because
not only does each respect the others knowl-
edge of her proper field, but each respects
the right of the other to speak outside her
official area. Moreover, not only does each
respect the right of the other to do this, but
each believes in the value of the others opinion.
Staff with Multiple Skills and
Expertise
Another characteristic of Tafelmusiks organi-
zational culture is that not only do Lockey and
Lamon have multiple skills and areas of exper-
tise, but that this pattern repeats itself further
down throughout the organizational structure
that is, Tafelmusik employs people through-
out the organization who are not locked into
narrow professional silos, but who have
diverse expertise. For example, Charlotte
Nediger, Tafelmusiks virtuoso harpsichordist,
is the music librarian and also writes, designs
and typesets the concert programs. Many
Tafelmusik staff members are multilingual
and enjoy studying other languages, which has
proved very useful in arranging and conduct-
ing tours. Many of the administrative staff are,
like Lockey, trained in music; the Director of
Operations, Glenn Hodgins, had a career as a
concert pianist for example, and Heather
Clark, the former Marketing Director, held a
degree in keyboard performance. The ability
of many staff members in both administrative
and artistic positions to speak legitimately
on matters outside their narrow professional
spheres increases communication and team-
work throughout the organization as a whole.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTS MANAGEMENT 80
En este artculo se exponen las prcticas gerenciales de una pequea entidad sumamente exitosa, la orquesta canadiense de
msica barroca, la Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Este xito se debe en parte al enfoque de gestin que privilegia la orquesta.
Se destacan en ste tres aspectos singulares: el nfasis puesto sobre las personas y sobre el fortalecimiento de los lazos con la
comunidad as como la importancia dada a las relaciones personales; la flexibilidad con la que se trata todo lo relacionado con
jerarqua, estructura y poder, y finalmente la atencin especial que se le da a la elaboracin y gestin de un conjunto de mltiples
producciones destinadas a una variedad de mercados. Las estrategias, internas y externas, que Jeanne Lamon y Ottie Lockey,
directora musical y director ejecutivo, han adoptado pueden servir de orientacin a otras pequeas instituciones en el mundo de
las artes del espectculo que estn tratando de establecerse en los saturados mercados mundiales y locales.
Gestin de las artes del espectculo, gestin estratgica, liderazgo, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra
RESUMEN
PALABRAS CLAVE
A Relaxed Approach to Hierarchy
While Lockey is technically the head of the
administrative staff and the other members of
the staff all ultimately report to her, she inter-
acts with the other senior managers as only
one member of a relatively flat management
team. The most important dimension of this
interaction is that, rather than assuming the
role of supervising all the functional business
areas that technically report to her (marketing,
fundraising, tour management, accounting
and financial management, human resources
management, concert management), she
largely acts as the manager of only one func-
tion and divests a great deal of power to the
managers of the other functional areas. For
example, a few years ago, there were really
three women running the organization:
Lamon, Lockey and Clark, the Director of
Marketing and Development. Although Clark
technically reported to Lockey, the three
women normally interacted as peers with
respect to senior decision making, each with a
particular area of expertise: Lamon the head of
artistic programming and planning, Clark the
head of Toronto marketing, fundraising and
financial management, and Lockey the head
of international marketing, touring and the
companys large recording business.
There are parallels to be made between
Lockeys approach to flattening the adminis-
trative structure and Lamons approach to
directing the musical side of the business.
Although the ensemble can expand to a 40-
piece orchestra, rehearsals continue to be con-
ducted on the basis of a chamber music
model. A great deal of musical exchange takes
place in rehearsals, although ultimately
Lamon makes the final decisions. Lamon con-
tinues to lead the orchestra from the first vio-
lin chair and often yields the musical direction
to visiting conductors, and particularly to
Ivars Taurins, the Director of the Tafelmusik
Chamber Choir, for choral works. Soloists
include not only visiting artists, but also mem-
bers of the Tafelmusik ensemble, and it is not
only a few senior members of the orchestra
who are featured. A recent performance of
Vivaldis Four Seasons featured four different
Tafelmusik violinists as soloists in each of the
four concertos.
A Flexible Approach to Structure
Not only are the two women at the top
remarkably relaxed about status with respect
to each other and to other staff members, but
they are extremely flexible about changing
organizational responsibilities and reporting
lines as the individuals within their organiza-
tion change, or as the needs of those individ-
uals change. Rather than looking for people
who fit into certain pre-defined job descrip-
tions and categories, they find people (or
develop people) who fit the organizations cul-
ture and then design job roles and responsibil-
ities that fit those individuals.
For example, Clark originally joined the
organization as Acting General Manager when
Lockey was on leave twelve years ago. Rather
than lose Clarks tremendous skills and knowl-
edge of the organization, upon her return
from leave Lockey created a senior manage-
ment position that made use of Clarks mar-
keting, fundraising and financial skills and
enabled her to remain with the organization
for another ten years. Then, when Clark
moved on after ten years at Tafelmusik,
Lockey broadened the senior team to include
Hodgins as Director of Operations along with
Margaret Eaton as Director of Marketing and
Development. Thus, the senior administrative
team was reorganized into three functional
areas instead of the previous two, with Lockey
continuing to focus on international touring
and recording. Most interesting here is the fact
that the controller role is currently held by the
Director of Operations, although previously
the Director of Marketing filled this role.
Recently, the structure of the senior manage-
ment team was changed again, when the mar-
keting and development function was split in
two in order to accommodate a change in the
number of hours the Director of Marketing
and Development could work. In adapting
job descriptions to the talents of each individ-
ual, Lockey has been able to retain skilled
senior managers such as Clark and Hodgins
for over ten years.
In sum, the Tafelmusik approach to organi-
zational structure and culture rests on a com-
mitment to flattening the organizational
hierarchies that are typical of most arts orga-
nizations, an ability to recruit and develop
employees with multiple talents and interests,
VOLUME 2, NUMBER 1 FALL 1999 81
and a relaxed and flexible approach to struc-
tural change. The result of this approach to
structure is that Tafelmusik is able to benefit
more fully from the entire range of skills and
knowledge that each employee brings to the
organization. In addition, since individuals are
able to grow within the organization, turnover
is reduced, along with the associated recruit-
ment and training costs. Finally, communica-
tion across the organization is increased and
teamwork is enhanced.
A Strategic Approach to Markets
F
rom the early days of their tenure with the
orchestra, Lamon and Lockey have
worked to develop an effective balance between
the organizations role on the international
stage and its role within its local community.
They have concentrated on building support
for their Toronto concert season, while at the
same time developing an extensive touring pro-
gram (which includes prestigious European
and American venues as well as less well-
known communities across Canada and
around the world) and undertaking an exten-
sive program of recording on Canadian and
international labels.
Touring and Recording
In order to attract the very best musicians in
the world (Tafelmusik follows normal proce-
dures in auditioning locally and then nation-
ally, but often recruits internationally), the
orchestra must provide opportunities for the
artists, regardless of their country of origin, to
perform at the very highest levels in the inter-
national sphere. Thus, developing interna-
tional tours and prestigious recording contracts
is an essential element of achieving Lamons
artistic goals. In recent years, the orchestra has
played in Londons Barbican Centre, Berlins
Konzerthaus, Amsterdams Concertgebouw
and Ozawa Hall in Tanglewood, not to men-
tion the Bermuda Festival, the Lucerne
International Festival and New Yorks Mostly
Mozart Festival. Signing a multi-million dol-
lar contract with Sony for over 50 recordings
starting in 1990 was possibly Lockeys finest
coup. It has had the result of increasing the
orchestras prestige, creating a world-wide
touring market and earning considerable artis-
tic accolades for excellence.
The importance of musical reputation is
not the only reason Tafelmusik concentrates
on developing touring and recording, how-
ever. A prosaic, but none the less important,
reason for undertaking touring is to provide
valuable income supplements to the annual
salaries the musicians receive for their work in
the Toronto concert season, a consideration
that applies equally to prestige destinations as
well as less established ones. Recording pro-
jects also provide additional income to the
musicians, over and above their Tafelmusik
salaries. In addition to supplementing salaries,
the reputation the orchestra gains in distant
markets has important repercussions in terms
of enhancing its reputation locally. Finally,
Tafelmusik takes seriously its role as Canadas
baroque orchestra, and is committed to tour-
ing across Canada as well as internationally.
Enhancing its national reputation through
touring and broadcasts on the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporations stereo music sta-
tion also helps to secure the federal govern-
ment support needed to send the orchestra
abroad as Canadas cultural ambassadors.
An ideal tour would thus enhance the
orchestras reputation among audiences for
concerts and records, peers and government
funders, supplement the musicians annual
stipends, and cover its own costs through con-
cert fees, government grants and sponsorships.
To meet these goals, Lockey puts together
about twelve weeks of touring every year that
consist of a mixture of well-known and less-
established domestic and international venues.
Although the go/no go decision for a tour
will largely be based on whether she can find
adequate revenue sources to cover the orches-
tras costs, Lockey has to balance all of the
above considerations when making a decision
about a particular tour. For example, despite
the fact that the revenues associated with the
recent tour of China did not cover its costs,
Lockey decided to go ahead on the basis of a
careful assessment of the other benefits associ-
ated with the tour. This Tafelmusik project
received a great deal of media coverage in
Canada, both in the form of advance public-
ity due to Lockeys successful campaign to raise
money to purchase and ship a harpsichord to
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTS MANAGEMENT 82
China that would be left in Beijing as a gift to
the Central Conservatory of Music, and ongo-
ing coverage of the tour by a CBC radio pro-
ducer and a Toronto journalist, both of whom
travelled with the orchestra to China.
Tafelmusik and the harpsichord donor Tamar
Oppenheimer were honoured at a special
reception by Chinas ambassador to Canada
following the tour. Despite the fact that the
tour did not break even financially, in this case
Lockey considers that the excellent public
relations Tafelmusik received in its home
market was well worth the investment of
Tafelmusik funds in the tour. An important
part of Lockeys job consists of this type of eval-
uation of the benefits of cross-subsidization
between the Toronto concerts and the tours.
The Toronto Season
Given the above discussion of the importance
of touring and recording to developing artistic
excellence, the question might arise as to why
Lamon and Lockey did not go the route of
many other chamber groups and concentrate
exclusively on touring and recording markets,
instead of adopting the community model
typical of much larger symphony orchestras
and working to develop a regular and perma-
nent Toronto concert season. From the
moment Lockey arrived in 1981, she began a
process geared towards institutionalizing
Tafelmusik within its own local community.
Despite the difficulties of establishing an
upstart orchestra in a church with rock-hard
pews, inadequate washroom facilities, no con-
cert lighting, and a prohibition on serving
liquor, she developed a mailing list, a scaled
house, a subscription series and an annual
fundraising campaign within her first three
years with the orchestra. Despite the early
scepticism of many professionals in the field,
during the last fifteen years, Tafelmusiks sup-
port in Toronto has grown to astounding lev-
els. The original season of 10 concerts has
grown to over 50, in addition to collabora-
tions with Torontos baroque opera company,
Opera Atelier. Much more important than
sheer numbers, however, is the loyalty of the
Tafelmusik audience. Although exact statistics
are not available from other organizations,
subscriber churn is generally believed to be
the lowest of any other performing arts group
in Toronto, and the percentage of subscribers
who are also donors is the highest.
Lockey believes that there is an important
strategic link between developing a commu-
nity organization and developing an interna-
tional chamber orchestra. In the early eighties,
substantial operating grants from all three lev-
els of government (federal, provincial and
municipal) were available for community-
based orchestras. Lockey was keenly aware
that the stable funding base provided by gov-
ernment grants would allow the orchestra to
pay at least a core group of artists an annual
stipend which would ensure that the same
musicians could stay together and play together
over a period of time. This kind of stability
was absolutely necessary in order to build the
kind of orchestra that Lamon had in mind
one that could aspire to an international
reputation.
Government support for orchestras has
eroded considerably in Canada since the early
eighties, but Tafelmusiks success in develop-
ing local audiences and supporters over the
years now means that box office and fundrais-
ing revenues from Toronto audiences continue
to provide the stable and relatively predictable
revenue base that allows stability in human
resources. Lockey points out, however, that
the relationship between success in the local
community and success on the world stage is
interrelated. There is an important reciprocal
relationship between local success and inter-
national success. Grants, box office receipts
and donations achieved in the Toronto market
certainly provide the revenue stability needed
to develop a world class orchestra. But at the
same time, Tafelmusik has created local audi-
ences that are extremely sophisticated, par-
ticularly in their knowledge of period
performance, and that demand a high stan-
dard from the orchestra. Touring and record-
ing have led to ever-higher levels of musical
quality that are necessary to please an increas-
ingly demanding Toronto audience.
Benefits of Multiple Markets
In sum, then, there are three important conse-
quences of focusing on all three of these mar-
kets at once. First, success in each of these three
markets reinforces success in the others. Most
obvious is the connection between touring
VOLUME 2, NUMBER 1 FALL 1999 83
and selling records in markets around the
world. There is a similar connection between
establishing a reputation as a national institu-
tion and the ability to tour globally. Less obvi-
ous but equally important is the fact that
success in international markets is an impor-
tant aspect of selling Canadian cultural prod-
ucts domestically. Thus, there is a synergistic
effect with respect to the benefits the organi-
zation can expect from investing in these three
markets. Second, investment in three quite
different types of artistic activity reduces the
reliance on any one revenue source and there-
fore reduces the exposure to the risk of short-
falls in revenues as conditions in any one of
their markets change. This is similar to the
idea of reducing the risk associated with
investing in the stock market through a bal-
anced portfolio strategy. Basically, the orches-
tra is able to cross-subsidize its activities in the
short term in order to ensure long-term finan-
cial and as a result, artistic stability. Third,
touring and recording in both the domestic
and international markets have strategic
implications with respect to the artistic goals
and development of the organization, since
top musicians remain loyal to an ensemble
that provides them with these opportunities
for professional achievement.
A Community Based on Personal
Relationships
External Relations
Both internally and externally, the Tafelmusik
organization is characterized by a unique per-
sonalized culture. There is a hominess to a
Tafelmusik concert that is palpable. Audience
members comment about how the orchestra
seems to them to be like a family (and
indeed, there are several families amongst the
musicians and administrators). Audience
members arrive in casual clothes, bringing
their special cushions or knitting with them.
At intermission, apple cider and homemade
cookies are served. Not infrequently, Jeanne
Lamon will speak to the audience from the
stage, telling them a funny story about a piece
of music or the experience of the musicians
while playing it. The church cats, reputed to
be fierce mousers, are often seen fraternizing
in the lobby before the concerts.
In the early days of the orchestras history, a
certain informality was established by neces-
sity because of the restrictions of the church in
which Tafelmusik performed. Audience mem-
bers sat with strangers in the same pews, there
were no facilities to check expensive coats,
there was no lobby in which people could see
what others were wearing, and alcohol was
prohibited by the church board. However, the
brilliance of Tafelmusiks approach to these
problems was to take what other arts man-
agers may have seen as marketing handicaps
and turn them into audience-building assets.
A good example of this approach is found
in how they dealt with the issue of the
extremely narrow, hard and uncomfortable
pews. Clark, the former Director of
Marketing and Development, knew that audi-
ence members found sitting in the pews diffi-
cult, both physically and socially, and that
they expected a different level of privacy and
comfort at a classical music concert. Clark and
Lockey were also aware that atmospherics play
an important part in the evaluation of a clas-
sical music concert experience, and that no
matter how good the music is, concerts played
in shabby and informal settings are often con-
sidered to be of lower quality because the set-
ting seems less legitimate. References and
jokes about the pews not to mention the
tough backsides of the stalwart audience
members began to appear in the Tafelmusik
newsletters, and eventually Tafelmusiks
fundraising staff undertook to raise the money
from the audience to buy cushions for the
church. The fundraising campaign, which
adopted a personal, were all in this together
tone was very successful, and the pews are now
covered with (marginally) more comfortable
cushions. However, the most important aspect
of the campaign was not the fact that the
church was able to buy cushions, but that
Tafelmusik was able to use the pew issue to
draw the members of the audience together
with the musicians and the organization. The
pews became and remain! a sort of family
inside joke that established and reinforced
the bonds of the Tafelmusik community.
Similarly, as Tafelmusiks fortunes have
improved over the years, the idea of moving to
another location with better acoustics and
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTS MANAGEMENT 84
better audience facilities has surfaced. Lockey
believes, however, and periodic audience sur-
veys bear her out, that the audience likes the
church and wants to stay there. The church, as
opposed to being the negative factor that tra-
ditional approaches to orchestral management
would suggest, has turned out to be one of the
organizations strongest assets. The casual,
informal, neighborhood atmosphere that dif-
ferentiates Tafelmusiks concerts from those of
any other classical music group in the city is
directly attributable to its location. Recently,
the church board relaxed the liquor prohibi-
tion, but Tafelmusik continues to serve apple
cider and home-made baking because most
audience members continue to associate the
refreshments with the sense of family that
permeates Tafelmusik concerts a sense often
reinforced by the sight of the musicians slip-
ping in from the green room for a cookie dur-
ing intermission.
This sense of belonging and the removal of
the formality and distance that characterize
the relationship between audience and artists
in other performing arts companies lead to
tremendous financial benefits, of course.
Tafelmusik audiences are noted for being
among the most loyal in Canada; subscriber
renewal rates are very high and it is difficult to
purchase even a subscription for some of the
most popular nights, let alone a single ticket.
As stated above, Tafelmusik audiences also
have a very high rate of donor participation,
which is clearly attributable to their sense of
personal involvement with this organization.
This kind of support provides tremendous sta-
bility in turbulent market conditions. For
example, during the recession of the late
eighties and early nineties, most performing
arts companies throughout Canada were
reporting dropping sales and eroding sub-
scriber bases. Throughout this period, as in
every other year of its history, Tafelmusik
added new audience members and subscribers
and continued to grow both in terms of ticket
sales and donations.
This friendly and informal style is not only
characteristic of Tafelmusiks relationship with
its audience, however. Lockey has a genuinely
warm and engaging personality that translates
into close personal relationships with many of
the organizations other stakeholders. For
example, she attributes much of the pleasure
and the ease with which the Sony contract of
over 50 recordings was completed to the fact
that she and Wolf Erichson, Sonys executive
producer, became good friends during the
years they were working together. Peter
Menzel, President of Agincourt Autohaus, the
organizations most generous and loyal corpo-
rate sponsor, regularly sends flowers on con-
cert nights to Lockey as well as to the guest
artists and Lamon. Over the years, her busi-
ness contacts with many of the granting offi-
cers with which she has worked have turned
into close personal friendships.
Of course, many arts managers have engag-
ing personalities and a warm personal style.
What is unique about Tafelmusik, however, is
that Lockey has developed an organizational
culture in which everyone who works there
demonstrates the same style and creates the
same sense of personal connection with audi-
ence members and other stakeholders.
Audience members frequently comment on
the friendliness of the box office staff, while
donors are pleased that the fundraising staff
know and recognize them on the phone or at
concerts. Volunteers and board members con-
tinue to come back year after year because
working with Tafelmusik is a rewarding per-
sonal experience.
Internal Community
While the development of this sense of com-
munity at Tafelmusik certainly has strategic
benefits, it must be stressed that this atmos-
phere is far from being a cynical marketing
ploy. The larger Tafelmusik community grows
out of Lockey and Lamons original and gen-
uine commitment to the notion of reinforcing
the bonds of community inside the organiza-
tion. From the early days, for example, their
approach to each orchestra member, and later
to each member of the administrative staff,
has been intensely personal. There is no sense
in this organization that the staff or musicians
are interchangeable parts that can be easily
replaced by others with similar skills. Instead,
there is an overwhelming sense that the lead-
ers will go to extreme lengths to solve prob-
lems and accommodate the special needs of
particular individuals in order to keep them as
part of the group. It was mentioned above
how job descriptions are changed periodically
VOLUME 2, NUMBER 1 FALL 1999 85
in order to match the changing needs and
abilities of staff members. The same desire to
accommodate peoples individual needs is
behind the orchestras practice of allowing the
musicians children to accompany them on
tour.
This concern for individuals has resulted in
an organizational culture characterized by an
extraordinarily high level of employee com-
munication and commitment. Lockey and
Lamon have been with the organization for
eighteen of its twenty years, but they are not
alone both the musical and administrative
side of the business are characterized by
turnover rates that are dramatically lower than
those of which most arts organizations can
boast. In addition, this kind of long-term
commitment to the Tafelmusik team extends
beyond the musicians to encompass board
members and other volunteers, many of
whom have been working with the organiza-
tion in one capacity or another since the
beginning.
Although board members are rotated after
six years, for example, a number of current
members have returned to the board after
absences of five or even ten years. Once again,
this seems to be a result of Lockeys personal
approach to important constituencies. The
relationship between management and the
board at Tafelmusik is close and mutually
rewarding. This relatively unusual state of
affairs is, in Lockeys opinion, due to the fact
that she has what she characterizes as a man-
agement-driven board. Lockey is clearly in
charge of building the board, and she has
sought out people over the years with whom
she feels there is not only a professional but a
personal fit with the organization. Over the
course of the last twenty years, she has built
the board she needs on the basis of a shrewd
identification of skills, expertise and commu-
nity links, and also based on an assessment of
personal characteristics that will enable people
to work with the Tafelmusik organization.
The result of this management-driven
approach to board fit is twofold: Lockey
finds it easy to relate to board members and,
therefore, to draw maximum benefit from the
knowledge and expertise they bring to the
organization, while board members them-
selves are able to contribute fully and are
aware that they are making an important dif-
ference to Tafelmusik. Of course, board mem-
bers who are actively involved in contributing
to the organization in this way not only enjoy
the experience, but become extremely knowl-
edgeable and a highly valuable organizational
resource. Lockey keeps in touch with members
in both a professional and personal capacity
after they leave the board and it has come to
be a board joke that Ottie never lets you leave
Tafelmusik.
Building a culture that leads to the kind of
stability that Tafelmusik has achieved in inter-
nal volunteer and paid human resources and
external audiences and supporters provides an
arts organization with a greater ability to cope
with substantial changes in the external envi-
ronment. In the last two decades, for example,
performing arts organizations have faced
declining audiences as a result of increased
price and time pressures, increased competi-
tion from new live arts companies as well as
electronic forms of entertainment, and sub-
stantial cuts to their resource bases as a result
of declines in direct government support and
subsidies. Tafelmusiks response to this envi-
ronmental turbulence has been characterized
by an internal flexibility towards salaries and
salary deferrals, for example, that has allowed
the organization to change budget priorities
and allocations on a timely basis. It has also
continued to experience growth in box office
revenues and donations, while other organiza-
tions have experienced serious losses. This sit-
uation is in marked contrast to the labour
strife, rapid turnover and budget crises that
have characterized the history of some of the
larger orchestras in Canada during the same
time period.
Conclusion and Discussion
W
hile the management practices dis-
cussed here are clearly driven by
Lockey and Lamons business intelligence, it
should be emphasized that the manner in
which Lamon and Lockey have managed their
organization over the last twenty years is also
the result of their personal characteristics and
beliefs. Both women have a very focussed and
clearly articulated sense of vision and direc-
tion for the orchestra, as well as a strong com-
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTS MANAGEMENT 86
mitment to individual rights and equality in
their personal and professional lives. Both
have made decisions, and continue to make
decisions, as often on the basis of instinct,
personal beliefs or values as on the basis of a
careful assessment of the strategic costs and
benefits associated with alternative courses of
action or a deliberate approach to the profes-
sional practice of management.
Nevertheless, regardless of how they came
to make the choices they have made over the
last eighteen years, the fact remains that their
management decisions and the manner in
which they have run the organization have led
to incredible artistic and business success in an
extremely turbulent period for the arts. While
they may not have been conscious of imple-
menting particular strategic choices, certain
aspects of Tafelmusiks approach to manage-
ment can be singled out as distinguishing it
from many similar organizations. This discus-
sion has suggested that there are three features
of Tafelmusiks management practices and
style in particular that are of importance in
explaining the success it has experienced,
while other organizations of perhaps equally
talented artists have foundered. These are:
(1) an emphasis on individuals, community-
building and personal relationships; (2) a flex-
ibility with regard to power sharing, hierarchy
and structure; and (3) an ability to develop
multiple products and associated resources
and to manage them in a global context.
Contemporary management gurus working
in other industries and sectors of the economy
would tend to agree about the importance of
some of these aspects of management. The
importance of relationship management, for
example, has been advocated for some time in
the marketing literature with respect to both
consumer and business markets. Other schol-
ars have pointed to the importance of reduc-
ing hierarchical structures and adopting a
flatter, more networked way of working in
the current business environment. Recently,
the management of individual people has
been identified as the most critical task facing
managers of contemporary knowledge-based
organizations. The leaders of Tafelmusik seem
to have discovered these secrets of success
twenty years ago, and the practices and strate-
gies they have devised to implement them can
serve as a useful model for many performing
arts organizations today.
VOLUME 2, NUMBER 1 FALL 1999 87