Budget cuts to hammer music department

The sound of silence could soon be deafening around Death Valley. Draconian cuts in scholarship funding now jeopardize LSU School of Music’s Top 10 ranking and its international recruitment efforts.

College departments all over the state face grim times. At music schools, though, budget cuts are hitting not only faculty, but also students and the arts community at large. Nearly half of the 450 students at LSU’s music school receive scholarships. Recently, state support diminished from $1.2 million last year to $100,000 for the next four years, before it vanishes entirely in 2015. Attempts to offset the loss with corporate concert sponsorships and other entrepreneurial endeavors have been thwarted by scores of state and university regulations.

“It is a desperate situation,” admits Laurence Kaptain, dean of LSU College of Music and Dramatic Arts. “It’s a lot like sports. One bad recruiting year and you have a horrible season. Then, the remnants [affect] future seasons.”

A reputation eight decades strong is at risk. “It can disappear in four years and take another 80 years to [rebuild],” Kaptain says.

The university risks losing the chance to discover rising stars, like opera alum Lisette Oropesa. It also stands to lose pre-game TV football coverage, which fades along with the big boom of the Golden Band from Tigerland and the Bengal Brass.

Repercussions resound well beyond the campus. While the Baton Rouge Symphony scrambles to fill chairs vacated by LSU professors, the decreased student body and concertgoer spending result in lower sales for area businesses.

And with fewer music educators to inspire children, the city’s future creative capital will be severely compromised. “Musicians, theater people and artists have the transferable skills,” explains Kaptain, and employers “are going to be looking for people with that kind of creativity for jobs that don’t even exist yet.”

With immediate intervention—a large endowment or $25 million naming gift—the school is ready to come roaring back.