GV Concert Association will fold after 36 years

After 36 years, the curtain is about to close for good on the Green Valley Concert Association, which announced its intention to disband at the end of the current season in April.

Although known for its for its high-quality, locally performed, reasonably priced classical music concerts, the Concert Association, a non-profit organization, says it can no longer continue the tradition—beloved by many, but unfortunately not enough— to keep pace with rising costs and increased competition.

It’s a tragedy. It’s terrible, but it’s also the the only practical recourse, several board members said in a recent interview, noting that the vote to dissolve the organization was “unanimous” and “carefully considered.”

Board members took about a year and a half to make their painful decision, which they see as inevitable and irrevocable.

Many factors, beyond costs and competition played a role in the decision, including declining audiences. ticket sales, membership, fewer and fewer patrons and dwindling support from local businesses.

Like several other longtime members, Marjorie Gloyd, executive vice president, has served on the GVCA board for more than a dozen years. She and others are ready to retire, and said a concerted effort was launched to recruit new blood.

But the GVCA hit a stone wall in its year-and-a-half-long quest to attract new board members to take on the multiple responsibilities involved, including booking, scheduling and promoting the seven concerts per season the association presents, said 12-year board member Cal Turner.

Other jobs board members perform are preparing programs, getting background information and photos of the performers, preparing and distributing posters and publicity material, setting up the concerts at the site, staffing the concerts to pass out programs, printing tickets, securing donations and grants from local businesses and patrons, and dealing with finances, including monthly rent for space at local venues.

The Concert Association previously presented its programs at the Valley Presbyterian Church, but switched this year to Desert Hills Lutheran Church, which provided a smaller venue for smaller audiences at lower cost, said Nancy Turner, vice president.

Board members also emphasized that the diversification of the arts environment in Green Valley has presented new and difficult challenges, directly linked to the growth of this retirement community and the surrounding area.

Now longer is (the GVCA) the “only show in town” as it had been the case in the organization’s first decade, board members said.

According to the organization’s official history: “There are other sources for classical music, not to mention the competition from local jazz and popular music organizations.

“The Jazz Society, the Chamber Music Society, two dance bands, a large and popular community band in addition to local chorale groups, some sponsored by local churches, a series of Tucson Symphony concerts and other entertainment sponsored by Green Valley Recreation,” musical performances in Quail Creek, plus multiple entertainment opportunities in Tucson “all offer competing options which did not exist 25 years ago.”

“There’s no lack of music or other entertainment here and a lot of people like to go to Tucson, for the symphony, the opera, and theater,” said board member and past president Hara Steiner.

In addition to more intense competition for audiences, there’s more competition for sponsors and patrons. Season ticketholders, who pay the bargain price of $50 for all seven season concerts, are now down below 200, said Nancy Turner. Business donations, and those from individual patrons have declined as well, although Turner noted that patron donations now exceed those by local businesses.

Even so, Cal Turner, board member in charge of programs, said the organization’s demise will definitely be felt by fans of high-quality classical performances, often by young and upcoming musicians with whom the concert association was able to negotiate very reasonable rates.

Gloyd said the rates are a “trade secret” based on the musicians’ regard and long history with the concert association and its Green Valley-area audiences.

But the bottom line is that “we’re not making money; in fact, we’re losing money,” said Nancy Albertson, president, adding that GVCA sold its concert grand piano a few years back, when the Valley Presbyterian Church acquired its own concert grand.

But proceeds from the sale of the GVCA’s piano wasn’t enough to offset continued losses, she said.

In addition to its yearly concert season, priced at $10 per performance, the GVCA provides an annual music scholarship to University of Arizona students as part of GVCA’s annual piano competition in April .

The competition in April will be the final one in Green Valley, unless some other organization opts to continue it in tandem with its other sponsors, the University of Arizona and KUAT-FM and KUAT-TV.

During its 27 years of existence (1973-2000), GVCA provided grants, contributions and scholarships to musical organizations and individual musicians in the amount of $162,052.

In its first 20 years, GVCA’s contributions as as a chapter of the Southwest Pianists Foundation (later the Pianists Foundation of America) totaled $107,596, funds used primarily as prizes for piano contests at UA and grants and scholarships to promising graduate students and young, professional pianists, some of whom subsequently achieved both regional and national recognition.

Since achieving independent status in 1992, GVCA has administered its own grants and scholarships, totaling $54,455. Recent recipients include the Sahuarita Band Booster Club, Ballet Continental, the Tucson Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and the Arizona State Music Teachers’ Association.

Grants have come from the White Elephant, the Arizona Council on the Arts, and Wal-Mart.

Despite its financial losses. the GVCA has continued to remain in the black and will, upon dissolution, donate “a healthy balance” of funds to another organization, with similar goals yet to be decided, board members said.

“It’s terrible that we have to dissolve, but the bottom fell out for us. We tried to keep going, doing our level best. We finally decided that the best thing to do was to go out with a smile,” Cal Turner said.

Albertson said the group has high hopes for the new Performing Arts Center in Green Valley, but stressed that in order to be successful the center’s programming must include very aggressive marketing and a diversity of presentations to attract the audiences it needs to succeed.

Kathy Engle is a freelance writer who lives in Amado. Contact her at Kdengle@earthlink.net

Details

The Green Valley Concert Association Board of Directors is “all about teamwork and working with them has been a pleasure,” said Hara Steiner, past president and current board member. Officers are:

Nancy Albertson, president; Marjore Gloyd, executive vice president; Nancy Turner, vice president, individual patrons; James Reedy, treasurer; Jean Windmiller, secretary; Helene Benedikte, publicity; Eilee Buckel; Carmen Friedman; Sig Friedman; Paul Jehle, stage management; Joann Reedy, hospitality; Jean Richon, professional patrons, programs; Phil Sayre, grants, Web site editor; Hara Steiner, past president; Calvin Turner, programs; John Albertson