The board of directors at the Honolulu Symphony, which has brought music to the Hawaiian island of Oahu for over a century, has voted to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and dissolve the organization.
The decision marks the end of efforts to save all or part of the symphony organization, after having filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a year ago. The attempt, according to the Honolulu Star Advertiser, was a failure, and the bankruptcy court case was converted to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation case.
A quickly convened meeting led to the board’s decision just before a scheduled appearance in bankruptcy court concerning a request for a deadline extension for a reorganization plan. The reorganization wasn’t meant to be, however, as the board decided to disband the symphony and liquidate its remaining assets.
Bankruptcy lawyers for the symphony will soon request the conversion to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Among symphony assets is a large music library. The symphony’s endowment would not be a part of the bankruptcy liquidation, according to the Star Advertiser. The endowment has an estimated worth between $8 and $10 million. It is controlled by the Honolulu Symphony Foundation, which operates independently.
Symphony performances were put to a halt halfway through the 2009/2010 season, and at that time the leadership at the organization announced that it was looking for a way to operate that was financially viable. This meant negotiating with unions representing musicians to come up with a new collective bargaining agreement. Symphony officials cited this as one reason for the financial turmoil.
The musician’s union, in response, said that they were disappointed about the conversion to Chapter 7 bankruptcy, but that they would optimistically look for another organization to fill the void in live performance in the area, with a more viable business plan in place to support symphony and live performance in the future.
Musician representative to the symphony board Jonathan Parrish said that he hoped now that innovative thinkers would emerge and push new models for live performance and symphony in Hawaii.
The symphony’s model of using mainly corporate donations and ticket sales no longer sustained it in recent years, as the economic downturn led to drops in attendance. Ultimately, said symphony board chairman Kimberly Miyazawa Frank, it was “a perfect storm” in which the Honolulu Symphony sprang irreparable leaks and sank.
The symphony was around $4 million in debt when it filed for bankruptcy in December of 2009. By that point, performers had already taken a pay cut years before, and were owed 3 months’ worth of back pay though they continued to do their jobs. The symphony worked to reduce its budget and streamline costs, primarily shrinking its performance schedule and therefore performer payouts.
Ultimately, the performer’s union and the symphony organization were unable to agree to terms for a new collective bargaining agreement. The impasse led to a resignation from the symphony by performers.
Last month, the organization’s failure to come up with a reorganization plan led to the quickly arranged bankruptcy meeting among the board.
Parrish told the Star Advertiser that he was eager to move on from the contentious situation, and find a new way to bring performances to Honolulu. “The longer we go without performances,” he said, “the harder it will be to get something going again.”
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