By Pepper Parr
July 23, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
The sudden and very unexpected firing of Dave Miller as the Executive Director of the Sound of Music Festival could have serious ramifications for the city if some announcements are not made soon
The Festival is basically a volunteer operation with just four paid staff members running a $2 million dollar operation.
Peter Martin, president of the Sound of Music has not made a public statement.
The chairs of the various committees that do the work are upset and ready to make comments on their own, however everyone the Gazette has talked to have asked that their names not be used at this point.
When the music is good the crowds are great – so what happened?
One committee chair has said that “Peter Martin is only selectively replying to requests for information.” This committee chair said: “ I sincerely hope that if he takes on this co-executive director position that he does not draw a salary as that would he a further conflict of interest for him.”
The Festival has 21 committee chairs that make the Festival work.
People directly involved in the organization point out that the Festival gets something in the order of $400,000 in grants annually and that the Sound of Music has to submit reports on what they did with the grant money in order to qualify for future grants.
With the chairs as upset as they are there is some doubt in the minds of many that it might not be possible to hold a Festival in 2019.
Festivals are big business for the communities that hold them – and they are competitive. Burlington has been a leader in the Festival business for a number of years and has worked to expand the size of the event. City council has not been as keen as the Festival leadership on growing the business.
One person told the Gazette that Miller was let go with no explanation to the membership and that there does not appear to be a replacement in the wings.
Dave Miller, former Executive Director of Sound of Music.
Miller is at this point negotiating a severance package.
The people who do the volunteering are a dedicated bunch. Some use their vacation time to work the festival; there is a group that take a room at the Waterfront Hotel and sleep five to six people in the room they rent while they work the Festival.
There is the story of the volunteer who put in 140 hours over a 12 day period.
The Board in place now has four new members that are reported to have little in the way of Festival experience.
The current Board of Directors is made up of:
Peter Martin – President; Peter Van Dyk – Vice President; Scott Newport – Treasurer; Rich Anderson – Corporate Secretary, Andy Porecki – Director; Ashlee Sorochan – Director; Cyrus Jeejeebhoy – Director; Karen Loranger – Director and Pat Leyland – Director.
The Gazette asked one committee chair who elects the Board of Directors? The response was – “I don’t know.”
Crowds were on the thin side during the ticketed events held during a Kick Off weekend.
The Sound of Music Festival is a non-profit organization and has a set of bylaws that sets out who can be a member of the organization and who gets to vote.
The Executive Director of a non-profit cannot be a member of the Board. An Executive Director is appointed by the Board to run the organization.
The Sound of Music is constantly looking for new revenue sources – Sweet Seats was part of an initiative to generate more revenue.
The regulations that set out what a non-profit can do are quite different than the rules that apply to a corporation. The biggest difference is that a non-profit does not have any equity – no one can participate in the distribution of profits. There are no shareholders – just members.
None of the volunteers the Gazette spoke to could say just who the members are.
The Board elects the Board. No one else but a board member can elect a board member. The AGM use to be open to all but 3 years ago that changed and was decided that only the Board can participate in it and they are the only members of the organization .
That sounds a little odd to me Tara that they (the board) would limit the AGM. Now I’m wondering if something is a foul at the SOM.
The loss to SOM is so much greater than that of one man. The executive members of the Board wildly underestimated the volunteers and their loyalty and dedication to Dave Miller. Dave is synonymous with SOM. It is thru Dave’s dedication, tireless work and vision that SOM grew into the festival it is today – a 9 day festival with both paid and free shows as well as featured local talent. The executive do not have the working knowledge to be able to plan, organize and execute the festival and all of its moving parts. Their lack of transparency and communication has and will continue to cost them the very volunteers that make SOM the award winning festival it is. It was more than comraderie that Dave held with SOM’s volunteers. It was mutual trust and respect. Neither of which the Executive board members have or will be able to build or salvage. If reported numbers are correct, about 75% of SOM’s senior volunteer team and staff have left since Dave was dismissed. The City of Burlington, SOM’s funders and it’s community sponsors should seriously reconsider their support of the festival moving forward. The executive board destroyed the very sense of community of which the festival was built upon. Without Dave and the dedicated, knowledgeable and skilled volunteers, SOM will be an abysmal failure.
I’m not sure that this can be true, as a long time volunteer I have noticed that there seems to be a new staff member every year! I could be wrong, but thinking back, at least 5 that I can count in the last 5 years, maybe more! In my many working years, staff turnover is almost always a reflection of day to day leadership. I’ve also never seen a male staff member other than Dave Miller. I don’t know what is going on here, but there certainly seems to be more to this story. And personally, I am not going to stop volunteering with SoM. I am also pretty sure that only a handful of people have resigned – not the 500+ this article seems to suggest.
Editors note: The Gazette did not say nor did it suggest that 500+ volunteers resigned. We did say there were 500+ volunteers and that several did resign. We have since learned from several sources that some have rescinded their resignations and others are re-thinking their original decision.
Is the bad programming a reflection of the executive director or that programmer? He’s not very good at all, is he?
Dave Miller does not pick the bands which play at the festival, that fell on another person.
When the Sound of Music was on this June my friend commented on the state of the festival. He pointed out there didn’t seem to be as many good well known bands this year or as many local bands that people follow. I have to agree with him. When looking over the program I recognized very few of the bands. Admittedly I am older. We also noticed the crowds seemed to be down from what they once were. My friend also observed that the program was not that well done. Perhaps it is time for some fresh blood and a fresh perspective.
I’m sad to hear this. I worked for the first time as a volunteer at the festival in the license areas. For the most part the festival was well run with many enthusiastic volunteers and executive members. The executives and directors work their ass off. Peter Martin and Karen worked alongside me filling bins with beers for the many patrons lined up . Dave Miller also worked during the front counter serving people. He seemed like a good guy although I did not speak to him. It will be a huge loss to the city if the festival doesn’t continue. I hope there is an investigation as to what is going wrong and an announcement as to why he was fired.