The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra should be in the middle of its busiest time of the year. Instead, the musicians are in the third month of a strike that has canceled performances through the end of the year--and it doesn't look like they’re any closer to bringing back the music.
The musicians were picketing outside Bass Hall Friday and administrators weren't ready to talk to NBC 5 about where negotiations stand.
The musicians said cuts are not the answer. They're pointing to the Fort Worth Opera that raised a million dollars this summer and the zoo that just finished a 90 million fundraising campaign. The musicians said now it's their turn.
You can take the music out of Bass Hall but you can't take it out of a musician.
Members of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra played while they picketed Friday.
"We're here because we need a plan for growth," said Paul Unger, Assistant Principle Bass for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.
The musicians rejected the last contract offer that included pay cuts.
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"In 2010, the musicians took a 13.5 percent pay cut,” Unger said. “That was supposed to right the ship. That was to give management time to increase fundraising, increase the number of donors. They didn't do that."
They said they've already lost a third of their fellow musicians since the first round of cuts.
Now with more possible, Unger said: "We're in danger of losing the best world class musicians we have."
"I felt like I needed to say something," said Fort Worth artist James Talambas.
He’s standing with the musicians, making an art installation on their behalf on Magnolia, where Fort Worth's growth is clear.
"You can see there and there and there," Talambas said, pointing to new restaurants all around him in the Magnolia area.
Talambas is calling on symphony leaders to tap into that momentum to raise money instead of cutting.
"You want it to continue to grow, then you need to focus on your institutions that make a city great," Talambas said.
All to bring the music back to a city of cowboys and culture.
NBC 5 called symphony management multiple times on Friday but they said they're not ready to comment.
In the past, administrators have said pay cuts are the only responsible way to resolve a projected $700,000 dollar deficit caused mostly by lower donations in a slower economy.
Again, all official performances are canceled through the end of the year. But the musicians are holding their own holiday concerts Dec. 13 at Broadway Baptist and Dec. 22 at White's Chapel in Southlake.
