Canadian Musicians Employment Status Archive LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LONDON FREE PRESS Saturday March 4, 2000
Players should don jerseys to win bigger grants The financial woes of Orchestra London, recently made public, are indeed regrettable. In view of the very modest financial support given the orchestra by the city, it might be thought that our elected officials are incapable of appreciating the arts. I suggest this is not necessarily the case and that they may well have a keen, if dormant, interest which merely needs awakening. To this end, I encourage the orchestra, at all future performances, to wear hockey sweaters and hockey helmets instead of conventional formal attire. For consistency, the conductor would abandon the traditional baton in favour of a hockey stick. With the council's attention thus secured, the orchestra would undoubtedly win meaningful ongoing financial assistance and, as a gesture of their appreciation, would offer to perform between periods of hockey games at our new arena. I visualize these as on-ice performances, which will require the musicians to hone their skating skills during the period when our world-class arena is being built.
A. D. THOMPSON
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