U.S. Symphony Orchestras

The ultimate answer is to broaden the cusomer base. Make it more attractive to young people. Any endeavor, that does not attract succeeding generations, will die. Simple logic. These may help: Relax the dress code. Play more 'popular' classics. The stuff everyone will like. Overtures & light classics etc... Travel around the state or area to be seen by more people. I see where the New York Phil went to NORTH KOREA a few years ago. I wonder how many cities in this country would have liked to have had them come to town. Stop all the rehersals for EVERY concert. This saves money. The experience is the thing, not the artistic level of the performance. Every performance does not have to be perfect, esp when the main objective is to expose and gain new adherents. Play outside when possible. Children welcomed! Gotta figure out a way to get'em hooked. If not, soon everyone in the audience will have blue hair.

The best orch is down to europe and the U.S. 7 of 20 means they have twice as many good groups as we do.

Markets have crashed before and orchestras did not go out of business. I suspect something more fundamental is at work. Is the model of philanthropic financing still viable? How far can anything go relying upon the kindness of strangers?

Also does corporate/philanthropy sponsorship influence the musical programming? I'm speculating, but people giving millions to orchestras probably want to hear music that they know about and not something on the adventurous side.

BTW, a few examples of how to do it is, The 4th of July thingy yearly in D.C. and look at Andre Rieu and his orch. Thye probably make more money than all the 'best' orchs combined. And his performances are like a party. Just a thought.

Part of the problem here is to define what it is we are trying to save. Save the whales by turning them into catfish? No thanks. It would be tragic if we lost the Cleveland, Philadelphia, or Chicago either by outright failure, by erosion of artistic standards, or by turning them into pops orchestras.

Roc2id,
You have stated some commonly held assumptions. They may or may not be true. I don't know. I don't think there is any question that successive generations must learn to appreciate the music or it all falls apart. Its the commonly held assumptions about how to do that that I wonder about. Dress code? Are people turned away if they attend in jeans? Do you propose to refuse admittance to anyone wearing a suit? Or do you refer to the orchestra members? What data is there to support an assumption that young people are turned off by formal attire? Play more "popular classics." I think there is some data to support this. Surveys tend to show a preference for Beethoven and Brahms over and over and over and over and over again. Some of us seek out music that is unknown and aren't motivated to go hear Beethoven's 5th for the eleventy-second time. Can't please everyone, but I admit I'm outnumbered on this one. Traveling is a very good idea, but very, very expensive. You won't fund trips by cutting a few rehearsals. Your next statement seems to me to be a circular argument.
Onhwy61---The current economic downturn is the most severe since the great depression. 3.5 years is a lot different that 9-12 months. Philanthropic financing had better be viable, because ticket sales will never sustain a modern orchestra, even if every concert sold out. People will stop buying tickets if you double or triple the prices. As for corporations, I doubt they care one bit what is programed. its about tax write offs. As for individual contributions. those people are more likely to be very serious about music. I think they would be more likely to prefer "adventurous" music.
Classical music radio stations are also hurting. Milwaukee no longer has one I understand. You are right, something more fundamental is at work. This very bad economy has just put a very bad strain on an already tenuous situation.

"Some of us seek out music that is unknown and aren't motivated to go hear Beethoven's 5th for the eleventy-second time. "

We aren't trying to get you interested in classical music. You already are. I was speaking of Mozart, Rossini, Tchaikovsky ... the warhorses. And not every night. You won't get the result needed and not change anything at the same time. But you will have to drop 'down' to get the young. As an analogy, you wouldn't try to get people interested in jazz by starting them off with Ornette Coleman. Besides I don't know the answer, but the OP said there is a problem. So the current program ain't working. I don't live near an orch, so it's CDs for me, and almost all of them are by European Orchestras.