I appreciate the Globe’s excellent reporting on the sad state of affairs at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Unfortunately BSO leadership created their own crisis by not preparing a solid organizational change and communications plan. Their naivete and lack of preparation, either with or without external counsel, is surprising, to say the least. Even some of the smallest organizations are savvy enough to hire communications professionals to help plan and communicate major leadership or organizational change.Setting the leadership changes aside, the orchestra’s audience development problems go back a long time. Even in the later years of Seiji Ozawa’s tenure and during the beginning of James Levine’s, anyone surveying the vast percentage of gray hair in the audience could see a looming problem. I often remarked to my friend and fellow concertgoer that the organization sorely needed a major multipronged, long-range plan including educational programs for the coming generations. It was clear from the beginning that Levine might help fund-raising but was never going to be the guy who focused on the community or this Boston institution’s future.

Janey Bishoff
Sharon

The writer is a crisis manager and communications strategist who has worked with nonprofit and for-profit organizations.