Prompt: EVIDENTIAL SUPPORT & CRITIQUE

The following appeared in a memo to the board of the Grandview Symphony.

"The city of Grandview has provided annual funding for the Grandview Symphony since the symphony's inception ten years ago. Last year the symphony hired an internationally known conductor, who has been able to attract high-profile guest musicians to perform with the symphony. Since then, private contributions to the symphony have doubled and attendance at the symphony's concerts-in-the-park series has reached new highs. Now that the Grandview Symphony is an established success, it can raise ticket prices. Increased revenue from larger audiences and higher ticket prices will enable the symphony to succeed without funding from the city government."

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.

The city has provided annual funding for the symphony for ten years. 

Over the past year, the symphony has attracted private donors and larger audiences.  The success over the past year is partly attributable the hiring of an internationally known conductor and guest performances by famous musicians.  Assuming that the audience base either continues to expand or holds steady at its current state, it has been suggested that the Grandview symphony can succeed autonomously without city funding by increasing their ticket prices.  In order to assess this conclusion, the board will need more information. 

Audience bases change over time.  With each year, people move, and people experiment with new things.  The current rise in attendance may be attributable to these sorts of accidental features of the audience base.  These changes may not last.  Without assessing whether or not the audience base will expand or remain steady, and perhaps even more importantly, what economic demographic the majority of the audience fits into, the board would need to withhold their adjudication.  Therefore, the first piece of knowledge required to assess the argument is that the board will need to know more about the historical, current and projected audience demographics. 

Second, assuming that the newfound success is partially attributable to the current composer, the board must consider the future plans of this key player. 

Next, assuming that the concert-in-the-park series is responsible for drawing large crowds, the board will need more information on this event. 

Then, if, after analyzing the data, the board is satisfied that it would be theoretically possible to function as an independent entity, it would be prudent to ask whether this was desirable for the city.

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