UC Davis will not pursue plans to develop a campus-based regional orchestra, in large measure due to the recent resurgence of professional symphonic music in Sacramento, Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef said this week.

The proposed orchestra, which had been termed the California Academy of Music, was advanced by the campus’s music department as a way to revive a professional symphony orchestra in the Sacramento region after the Sacramento Symphony concluded its final season in 1995-96. Under the proposal, the orchestra’s musicians would have performed in concerts and taught music on campus as well as in K-12 outreach efforts.

Since the time of the initial proposal, attempts to establish new symphony organizations have seen some success, creating new opportunities for regional classical music audiences.

"Our original goal, among others, was to fill the void…. UC Davis should not create a new organization that might compete with or impede the progress of any efforts to bring professional orchestral music back to the region," Vanderhoef said. "Indeed, I am aware and supportive of the fact that our Department of Music has been helpful to the new Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra."

Campus faculty and administrators had studied the impact and finances of the proposed orchestra during the past year, concluding that it might adversely affect other campus priorities.

"It is at least possible that a significant public fund-raising program for the California Academy of Music … might compromise our fund-raising efforts for the UC Davis Center for the Arts," Vanderhoef said.

It had been hoped, too, that California State University, Sacramento, might be a partner with UC Davis in such a regional orchestra, Vanderhoef said. But early in the process finances proved to be a significant obstacle.

Finally, for the campus’s future, music department faculty members have stated a goal of achieving new levels of excellence in the department’s traditional areas of strength. To develop the orchestra might detract from that priority, Vanderhoef said.

Elizabeth Langland, dean of the College of Letters and Science’s humanities, arts and cultural studies division, said she, too, supports music faculty members’ goal.

"I share the music department’s commitment to growth of their ladder faculty as their first priority. Although resources alone cannot drive our decision-making, we have an obligation to choose where our resources can most effectively achieve the highest levels of excellence and advance our mission as a university.

"The California Academy of Music was initially proposed at a time when there was no professional orchestra in the region. With its recent resurgence, I believe it is appropriate for UC Davis’ music department to focus again on developing its core strengths. I trust that outreach to K-12, which was such an attractive part of the CAM proposal, can be accomplished through expanding some of our other programs like ArtsBridge," Langland said.

ArtsBridge is a new K-12 outreach program for the visual and performing arts launched by the UC system; UC Davis this fall has 22 arts students working with children in 20 schools in the Sacramento area that have limited or no formal art curriculum.

"I am disappointed, but I understand the proposal represented a significant financial commitment by the university," music department chair Wayne Slawson said this week.

"There was always a question whether the university could take on that commitment."?

The campus remains committed to enhancing cultural arts opportunities for the region. Ground will be broken this spring for construction of UC Davis’ Center for the Arts, which will contain two performance venues, including an 1,800-seat main hall and a 250-seat studio theater, as well as space for production, rehearsal and hospitality.

The $53.5 million center is expected to open in 2002. The center will serve as a valuable cultural resource for the entire regional arts community. It is to be funded by a combination of non-state campus funds, loans and private gifts raised by a $30 million campaign.

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Dateline UC Davis is the faculty and staff newspaper for the University of California, Davis.