I just saw some discussion recently of how much diversity and equity have increased in the television world (amongst writers, production staff, etc.) since internships have largely transitioned from unpaid to paid (just within the last decade or so!) Only hiring from a pool of people who can afford to gain experience with little/no compensation is obviously problematic. There are significant similarities to be drawn between the difficulties of "breaking in" in both TV and classical music. What can be done to improve the "paid internship" situation in the classical music world?
Just spit-balling/food for thought:
1) Festivals - there's such a divide between student festivals and professional festivals. Places like Grand Tetons or Grant Park operate like ordinary pro orchestras, where members come back year after year. Institutions like TMC, NRO, and Music Academy audition new participants every year and have age limits more like an internship, but are unpaid. There seems to be a gap in the middle. Could/should the top student festivals start offering compensation to attract more emerging professionals (and thereby afford fewer opportunities to younger students)? Or should some pro festivals leave specific seats open to be auditioned to fellowship/intern players each summer? Britt Festival seems to be an example currently occupying something of a middle ground, but I get the impression they're aspiring to just be another pro festival, and are only currently providing such regular audition opportunities because they're not in a place financially yet to retain pro players as they advance in their careers.
2) 1-years - These are currently one of the most reliable bridges for players fresh out of school to gain experience, pay for audition expenses, and transition into professional careers... but contracts are often offered in a way that seems arbitrary, and fuels a lot of resentment and perceptions of unfair auditions (see: Rochester trumpet thread). There's no real substitute for that kind of financial base and consistent on-the-job experience, so figuring out system for distributing those opportunities that people can feel good about would be a huge deal. Academy positions with various orchestras in Europe seem to be a great form of building these kinds of "internship" opportunities into the institutional structure, rather than having them merely be the byproduct of vacancies and back-logged audition scheduling. Should US orchestras be mimicking that approach?
3) Training orchestras - New World seems like a promising model for this, but New World was able to exploit the fact that Miami (a large and wealthy city) didn't have its own full-time orchestra. A training orchestra can't really compete for funding in the same city as a major orchestra. Even with the massive population and wealth of New York City, Ensemble Connect only funds meager stipends for a dozen or so people. I'm not sure what TON's funding situation is, or whether it's sustainable/repeatable.
In the absence of these formalized "internship" structures for bridging the gap from student to professional, people are left to their own devices in the freelance world. And this is where a lot of people with family wealth and privilege can weather some sparse months or years and come out the other side with a great career, but our industry loses out on tons of extremely capable musicians simply because they were born to less wealthy parents.
My understanding of the Britt Festival is not that they don’t have the funding to retain pros. The festival has always been pro level so I’m not sure where that info comes from. The reason there have been so many auditions for Britt is because the festival was moved from late summer to early summer because of heat restrictions, which means that a lot of tenured members are no longer able to participate because their orchestras are playing in June. That said, there are still many tenured members playing, and it looks like most people who win the auditions for Britt are pros, not students.
Worth noting also that Cabrillo Festival is “volunteer” with honorariums for food and still retains pros. A lot of pros just want a free vacation and to see their friends, which is why they stay loyal to these festivals that don’t pay super well.
You raise a lot of valid and well-considered points. I don’t think there are any easy answers, as you point out a lot of roadblocks and limitations on the types of opportunities that would bridge the gap between student and professional. The European model certainly comes to mind - each orchestra operating an academy system in which young players audition for paid positions that include lessons, mentorship, and plenty of performance opportunities in a professional environment. We’ve recently seen many US orchestras begin to adopt a similar system, albeit on a much smaller scale (only 4-5 positions per ensemble, rather than a fully fledged-out academy orchestra). Orchestras in Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Detroit, Los Angeles, Dallas, and others have wisely dedicated these fellowship positions to advancing the careers of minorities / POC, and hopefully with time these programs will begin to change the demographics of the orchestral performance industry. Perhaps orchestras should also consider dedicating their vacant temporary positions (1-years and sabbatical replacements, etc) to these DEI efforts as well.
Although this is all encouraging, I certainly don’t imagine a near-term future in which there is a widespread institutional/industry-wide effort to increase the amount of these types of opportunities. Students will continue to have to be creative and resourceful during the interim periods before they secure full-time employment, and sadly many talented players will be forced to abandon the audition circuit for financial reasons.