WFSO Musicians Agree to One Year Deal

On October 17, the musicians of the Wichita Falls Symphony ratified a one-year agreement which runs through May 2026. Due to uncertainty over the status of the orchestra’s home, Memorial Auditorium in Wichita Falls, the musicians agreed to a term limited to one year, as the venue has been closed to the WFSO for two seasons, due to maintenance and renovation to the building. It is understood that with early 2026 new information will become available which will allow the company to plan for the upcoming seasons, with the hopes that its season will be back to normal after two years of concertizing in alternative locations.

While limited to a one-year term, the new agreement is more than an extension of the prior agreement. Wages for the 2025-26 season has increased by 3%, hotel reimbursement for traveling musicians has risen by approximately 20%, and pay for travel has increased slightly.

In addition to the economic improvements for this year, the roster of core musicians has been clarified better defined. And with core positions more clearly defined, new rules for how changes in position can occur and revisions to dismissal procedures were negotiated.

Additional opt-out rules for core members of the orchestra who have already been contracted for the season have been established – creating new flexibility –  and some opt-out restrictions for titled players have been exempted for the 2025-26 season.

In addition, language throughout the agreement has been updated and modernized from the original document which was initiated only a few years ago.

Finally, it is understood by the parties that conversations will begin in February 2026  regarding the status of future venues for WFSO, the reduction of scheduling conflicts with other performance organizations and talks for a successor agreement.

The negotiation team consisted of orchestra members Dwight Anderson, Kristin Van Cleve, Nancy ,  James Sims and Susan Younghans with Local 72-147 President Stewart Williams.