FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: June 6, 2008

THIRD-PARTY STUDY ASSESSES BSO'S FAR-REACHING ROLE OF PROMOTING BUSINESS IN BOSTON AND THE BERKSHIRES, DRIVING REAL-ESTATE SALES, ENHANCING CULTURAL VITALITY, AND BRANDING BOSTON AS A WORLD-CLASS CITY

The Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inc., generates $166.7 million annually in economic activity for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, according to a third-party study conducted by Mount Auburn Associates and released today by the BSO.  Looking beyond the institution’s artistic value in Boston and the Berkshires, external researchers examined the orchestra’s tangential roles as an employer, a market for goods and services, and a tourist attraction to determine the institution’s impact on such divergent areas as local hotels and restaurants, regional real-estate markets, and the state’s burgeoning creative economy. 

“Though the BSO has a truly global reach, the Mount Auburn economic impact report redefines just how much the orchestra itself is inherently woven into the fabric of Boston and the Berkshires,” said BSO Managing Director Mark Volpe.  “In a world where the economic model has many corporations forced to streamline, merge, relocate, and outsource jobs, we promise that the BSO is one $80 million business that will never leave the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”  

Mount Auburn Associates’ research reveals that the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inc. – comprising the BSO, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood – generates $28 million annually in visitor spending statewide and another $138 million annually through its own business activities, which include among other things $33 million in wages and $43 million in goods and services purchased across Massachusetts.  The study also addresses the orchestra’s impact on other fellow cultural institutions, second home sales in the Berkshires, and less tangible factors such as the role the BSO plays in casting Boston as a world-class city and the Berkshires as a premier cultural destination. 

In addition to the state-wide study, Mount Auburn Associates also specifically evaluated the BSO’s economic impact on Suffolk and Berkshire counties. The study conservatively estimates the BSO’s annual economic impact at $136.3 million in Suffolk County and $60.6 million in Berkshire County, home to Tanglewood, the orchestra’s summer music festival. The impact of visitor expenditures for the state ($166.7 million) is lower than the combined figures for Suffolk and Berkshire counties ($196.9 million) because the estimated gains to Berkshire or Suffolk counties includes business and economic activity that is attracted from other counties within Massachusetts. These amounts represent real gains to the individual counties, but not to Massachusetts as a whole, where only business and economic activity from outside the state were considered. 

Complete copies of the economic impact study are available by visiting www.bso.org/presskit or contacting the BSO Press Office at 617-638-9280.

The BSO hired Cambridge-based Mount Auburn Associates and Berkshires-based Center for Creative Community Development to research the orchestra’s economic impact.  Though the report focuses largely on the quantitative factors that influence the BSO’s impact on the state’s economy, it also highlights other factors that produce positive economic benefits that are not easily measured in exact quantifiable terms. Though these factors are described in some detail in the report, their estimated economic impact is not included in the numbers stated above, adding to the reason why these figures are considered to be a conservative estimate of the BSO’s overall impact.  One example of this includes the BSO’s impact on real estate in the Berkshires.  The Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood play a direct role in generating approximately $2.3 million in property taxes for Berkshire County towns through second residences.  Also of note, the report measures only operating expenses and not capital expenditures, such as renovation of Tanglewood and Symphony Hall facilities, for which the BSO spends $3-5 million a year.

The BSO is the world’s largest orchestral operation and Massachusetts’ largest performing-arts organization.  Attendance at all BSO and BSO-produced concerts is estimated at nearly 1.5 million, and the institution’s endowment has topped $400 million, the largest of any American orchestra.  In fact, with an annual budget now exceeding $80 million, the Boston Symphony Orchestra would rank among the top 85 companies in terms of revenue on the Boston Globe’s “Best of Massachusetts Business 2008” list, a compilation of the commonwealth’s leading businesses that does not include nonprofit institutions.  BSO.org, considered the most successful orchestral web site in the country, launched in 1996 and currently receives approximately 7.6 million visits a year.  Since the time of the launch, the site has generated $40 million, with $37 million generated over the last seven years. In 2007, bso.org brought in a record $5.8 million in revenue, a figure which is expected to be surpassed in 2008.  Web sales make up about 30% of the organizations overall ticket revenue, with online sales for Tanglewood reaching 40-45%.

ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDY PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
To quantify the orchestra’s economic impact, the researchers examined several factors beginning with the orchestra’s role as an employer, a market for goods and services, and its crucial presence in Massachusetts tourism, now the state’s third-largest industry.  It also looks at how visitors spend money locally as a direct result of their concert attendance, creating additional economic impact in these communities.  This study only considered spending that was associated with visitors specifically in the area to attend any BSO concert or event.   It did not include spending by local residents or from visitors who were in the area for other reasons, only one of which included attending a BSO event. 
  
            First, they examined the direct impact of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inc., and its constituents as a business entity:

• In 2006, the BSO had non-payroll expenditures of nearly $43 million.  Of this figure, more than 56 percent went to Massachusetts vendors, including $10.6 million to Boston businesses and another $4.1 million to Berkshires-based companies.  This money impacts industries ranging from catering to construction, and insurance to graphic design.
• As an inherently labor-intensive industry, the BSO pays $33.2 million annually in salaries and wages to 284 full-time and 902 part-time or seasonal employees.  Although 70 percent of the BSO’s employees are Boston-based, many relocate each summer to Tanglewood in the Berkshires, thus distributing their personal spending around the state.
• Tanglewood-affiliated educational programs house students in space leased from Berkshire County educational institutions, ultimately benefiting these schools’ budgets.  Miss Hall’s School in Pittsfield receives $400,000 annually in lease payments for housing approximately 150 Tanglewood Music Center fellows each summer, and Great Barrington-based Bard College at Simon’s Rock receives more than $200,000 to house the children and staff participating in the Days in the Arts camp. 

To quantify the BSO’s far-reaching role in the state’s tourism market, researchers also measured the effect of visitor spending by nearly 1.5 million attendees annually who flock to BSO and BSO-produced concerts (such as Tanglewood Music Center and Boston Symphony Chamber Players performances).

Researchers conservatively estimate that BSO-related visitor spending in Suffolk County generates $55.9 million annually in local economic benefits.  Events held in Boston’s Symphony Hall draw 1.2 million attendees, 87 percent of whom live outside Suffolk County.  Based on an e-mail survey of patrons, researchers determined the average visit to Symphony Hall generates $49.93 per person in associated spending, including meals, transportation, shopping, and childcare.  Additional findings include:

• The Boston Pops, nicknamed “America’s Orchestra,” draws a fifth of its Symphony Hall audience from outside Massachusetts and is ranked by the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau as one of the city’s top three attractions for convention visitors.  The Pops’ Independence Day concerts on the Charles River Esplanade attract approximately 500,000 attendees, one-third of whom live outside Massachusetts.
• When divided by industry sector, BSO and Boston Pops visitor spending annually generates $22.7 million for food and beverage businesses, $14.1 million for hotels and motels, and $3.9 for the real estate market in Suffolk County. 
• In the 2006-07 season, the BSO and Boston Pops sold group-ticket packages to 864 tour groups, including 200 groups from outside of Massachusetts. 

The figures are perhaps more significant in the Berkshires, where Tanglewood is the county’s most significant economic generator and draws nearly 320,000 attendees a year to the summer music festival in Lenox.  Of these, 97 percent – more than 310,000 – live outside Berkshire County, and almost two-thirds come from outside Massachusetts.  Results of a recent e-mail survey reveal that the average Tanglewood patron spends $65.44 per person per visit on non-ticket costs ranging from meals and lodging to retail purchases and childcare.  All told, Tanglewood-related visitor spending generates $24.5 million annually in Berkshire County.
 
When divided into industry sectors, the annual external economic impact of Tanglewood in Berkshire County amounts to $9.9 million for hotels and motels, $7.1 million for food and beverage vendors, and $3.8 million for independent artists, writers, and performers. 

• The July and August months of the Tanglewood season account for up to 70 percent of the annual revenue for many Berkshire inns, hotels, and bed-and-breakfasts.  Additionally, Tanglewood patrons tend to fit among the hospitality industry’s most highly coveted demographics: older, more educated, and financially well-off. 
• The Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inc., spends more than $500,000 annually to promote Tanglewood, particularly to New York audiences.  Many hospitality businesses report a dramatic boost in reservations immediately after the orchestra advertises its season in The New York Times.
• Additionally, Tanglewood is a significant factor in supporting its fellow cultural institutions in the Berkshires.  A 2008 survey revealed that almost 40 percent of Tanglewood patrons explored another area arts attraction during their visit to Tanglewood; the most frequently mentioned included the Berkshire Theatre Festival, Clark Art Institute, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, MassMoCA, Norman Rockwell Museum, Shakespeare & Company, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. 

ADDITIONAL, UNQUANTIFIABLE, FINDINGS OF ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDY
In trying to gauge the orchestra’s full economic impact researchers also looked at areas that are not easily quantifiable, casting their net beyond the orchestra’s basic business expenses and role in tourism to highlight such supplementary factors as businesses owned by orchestra musicians and second homes purchased because of their proximity to Tanglewood or Symphony Hall.  The study also highlights the BSO’s roles both in the state’s burgeoning creative economy and in enhancing the image of Boston as a world-class city.  Some of these findings are stated below, though their financial impact is not estimated nor included in the overall number.

A recent survey of Tanglewood patrons revealed that 14 percent of respondents owned or rented a second home in the Berkshires, and 58 percent of these named Tanglewood as a primary or secondary factor in their decision.  Second homes frequently carry price tags of several hundred thousand to several million dollars, and many buyers invest up to an additional 20 percent in renovation and interior design, further stimulating the local economy.  Additionally, these properties generate approximately $2.3 million a year in property-tax revenue for Berkshire County towns, while their owners – many of whom are summer residents only – do not utilize public services like schools.

The orchestra’s benefits to the community are further multiplied by the additional activities of its musicians:

• Several BSO and former BSO musicians operate second businesses, which are Massachusetts-based at least in part because of the owners’ ties to the area through the orchestra.  For example, former BSO percussionist Everett Firth is CEO of Hyde Park-based Vic Firth, Inc., the world’s largest producer of drumsticks and mallets with annual revenues in excess of $17 million.  Among a half-dozen other musician-entrepreneurs are retired, including BSO cellist Luis Leguía, co-owner of a Milton-based company that designs carbon-fiber cellos, and former BSO trombonist Norman Bolter, who runs a Chestnut Hill-based company that publishes sheet music and provides instruction to professional musicians.
• The region’s cultural scene has been enhanced by such BSO musicians as violinist Wendy Putnam, who established the Concord Chamber Music Society; bassist Larry Wolfe, who serves as music director at Norwell’s James Library for the Arts; violinist Ron Knudson, who is the music director of the New Philharmonia Symphony of Newton and Wellesley; and many others. 
• BSO and Boston Pops musicians make up 60 percent of faculty members at New England Conservatory and 45 percent of faculty members at the Boston University School of Music.  This contribution to the region’s pedagogical vibrancy adds to the BSO’s broad education- and community-outreach programs, which provide more than 60,000 students, teachers, and families annually with contextualized, age-appropriate access to the arts.

Finally, the study discussed the BSO’s role in contributing to Massachusetts’ creative economy and in branding Boston as a world-class city.  By contributing to quality of life and cultural vitality, the BSO, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood enhance the region’s attractiveness as a place to live, work, and do business.  The BSO has helped to solidify Boston’s global reputation as a cultural center through decades of recordings and foreign tours ranging from a critically acclaimed European tour last fall to the orchestra’s groundbreaking 1956 tour of the Soviet Union.  Enhancing the role of BSO, Inc., as the city’s cultural ambassador, the Boston Pops – “America’s Orchestra” – has performed in 43 states and at a trio of sports biggest events (Super Bowl XXXVI, the World Series, and the upcoming NBA Finals), on national PBS broadcasts of “Evening at Pops” for almost a quarter century, and on national CBS broadcasts of the Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular.

INSTITUTION BACKGROUND
Founded in 1881, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inc., is the world’s largest orchestral organization as measured by scope of operations.  Now under the leadership of Music Director James Levine, the BSO has long been recognized as one of the world’s leading orchestras and each year performs approximately 27 programs in nearly 100 concerts between September and May in Boston’s acoustically renowned Symphony Hall.  The Boston Pops, under the direction of Conductor Keith Lockhart, performs approximately 60 concerts of lighter classical music between May and early July, as well as a popular concert series during the December holiday season and the nationally televised “Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular” on July 4.  Tanglewood, located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is the orchestra’s summer music festival, attracting more than 300,000 music lovers from around the world for 10 weeks of concerts and recitals by the BSO, visiting orchestras, preeminent guest musicians, and popular artists.  Tanglewood also houses the Tanglewood Music Center, an in-depth summer training program for emerging professional musicians of exceptional ability.  Additionally, the BSO strives to enhance access to the arts through a variety of education- and community-outreach programs such as Youth and Family Concerts, discounted tickets for students, free chamber-music concerts throughout the Greater Boston community, Musicians in the Schools, and the Days in the Arts culture-immersion camp for adolescents.

In 2007, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inc. became the first orchestra to venture into internet television with a broadcast of the Boston Pops’ “Oscar and Tony” program featuring music from award-winning Hollywood and Broadway productions.  The BSO and Boston Pops have a long history of reaching audiences through foreign and domestic tours, an extensive discography, live radio broadcasts, national television appearances, and now through provides free podcasts and online streaming at www.wgbh.org and www.wcrb.com.  The BSO’s recently revamped website, www.bso.org, is the world’s most-visited orchestral website, attracting 6 million visitors annually.
 
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is online at www.bso.org.  The BSO’s online presskit can be found at www.bso.org/presskit and includes a complete history of the institution, fact sheets, downloadable photographs, and biographies of guest artists.

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PRESS CONTACTS:
Bernadette Horgan, Director of Media Relations
bhorgan@bso.org
617-638-9285

Kathleen Drohan, Associate Director of Media Relations
kdrohan@bso.org
617-638-9286

Download this press release:

BSO Press Release, June 6, 2008