The Minnesota Orchestra is cutting administrative staff and salaries after seeing the value of its $170 million endowment plunge 30 percent between last September and February.

Most of the reductions this year and next are in back-office operations, chiefly in the artistic planning, development and marketing departments, President and CEO Michael Henson said this afternoon. Four full-time administrative positions are being eliminated (two in artistic planning and two in development), and the hours of six other workers are being reduced.

The most visible changes to the public will be a reduction in box-office hours, Henson said. The box office and phone room will be closed Mondays, but patrons can still order tickets online. More than 40 percent of single tickets are already purchased online, he said.

Between staff and salary cuts and other savings totaling $2.3 million, the orchestra's budget will be cut 7 percent. Last year's budget was $31 million.

Music Director Osmo Vänskä, believed to be the highest-paid artistic director in the Twin Cities, will take a 10 percent pay cut. His total compensation package was $813,946 for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 2007, according to the latest filing available in the Minnesota Attorney General’s charities database. Henson, whose pay will be cut 7 percent, declined to say what Vänskä’s salary or his will be after the cuts.

The salaries of senior staff members and managers will be cut 5 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. Other full- and part-time employees will see their wages frozen. Contributions to retirement plans also will be reduced for administrative staff.

As for the orchestra’s 95 unionized musicians, no positions are being eliminated, Henson said. Their pay will not be reduced or frozen because of an existing contract that runs until 2112.   

In making the cuts, the orchestra focused on how to preserve programming, he said. “I think we’re being fiscally responsible. It’s a challenging time for any not-for-profit or for-profit. We have to focus on how to act responsibly and give the fullest range of superb concerts and events at Orchestra Hall.”

The Minneapolis-based orchestra’s budget is evenly drawn from three pots: 33 percent from the endowment, 33 percent earned income and the remainder from contributions. The 30 percent decline in the orchestra’s endowment value is in line with losses in other major arts organizations’ endowments since the stock market’s collapse last fall.

The orchestra’s recent European tour did not have any bearing on the budget cuts, Henson said, adding that an anonymous donor footed the expense.

In announcing the reductions Friday, the orchestra joins the growing crowd of major Twin Cities arts institutions cutting their budgets, including the Guthrie Theater, the Walker Art Center, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Children’s Theatre Company and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. 

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