Quantcast
Channel: Central NY News: Top News
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 44833

Financially troubled Syracuse Symphony Orchestra faces the music

$
0
0

Only a last-minute donation by a CNY family kept the orchestra from shutting down this summer.

2010-07-10-ll-sso.JPGGrant Cooper, conductor for the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, claps his hands to help fire up the crowd July 10 during the first night of the Armory Square Association's concert series, in Syracuse.

Syracuse, NY -- On the brink of its 50th anniversary season, Syracuse Symphony Orchestra came close to shutting down. Symphony management realized June 29 it would be without funds for its day-to-day operations by July 15.

An “angel investor” rescued the orchestra by committing operating funds for the 2010-11 season, said Nicki Inman, who is overseeing daily operations and is vice president of patron development. The SSO declined to give a figure for its operating expenses.

The music organization has been operating with deficits since 2007, which has “eroded our ability to function,” according to Vicky D’Agostino, director of communications.

At the same time, management has negotiated with the musicians’ union for a shorter 2010-11 season. Musicians are being asked to agree to a change from 40 weeks to 34 weeks during the second year of their three-year contract. Members — 63 core musicians and 14 contract players — will vote on this agreement Friday. Union representatives declined to comment before the vote.

Rumors of the orchestra’s financial struggles circulated earlier in the year. Rocco Mangano, chair of the board of trustees, asked for the public’s support and initiated a fundraising campaign. Board members offered to match donations totaling $300,000. Government leaders also were approached for funding help.

Now, the symphony board is setting a $500,000 fundraising goal for the new season.

“We’re trying to accelerate all our fundraising,” Mangano said. The board is approaching past donors and expanding its base of supporters in search of funds.

Mangano said the “angel investor” was approached about helping the orchestra shore up its finances. He described the donor as a local family that has been a longtime supporter of the SSO.

Other supporters have stepped forward as well. Music director Daniel Hege volunteered to take a salary cut of 14 percent for the 2010-11 season. Hege’s compensation was supposed to increase for 2009-10 but remained flat, according to D’Agostino. His salary and benefits package was $125,000 in 2008-09, according to tax forms filed by the SSO.

In efforts to stabilize its future, the orchestra is receiving help from one of its former executives. Jeffry Comanici was SSO’s executive director before leaving in 2006 for Syracuse University, where he is assistant dean for advancement. He has begun serving as a part-time consultant to the SSO and is considered an executive on loan from SU, Inman said.

SSO management also has contracted with Eric Mower and Associates to conduct market research and to help it re-brand the music organization as it strives to strengthen its operation.

Inman said the board is experimenting with new programming, ticket prices and flexible packaging to attract bigger audiences.

The symphony’s budget for 2009-10 is $7.4 million. Its fiscal year ends Aug. 31. It is staffed with 16 full-time employees.

In August 2009, SSO musicians approved a three-year contract, with a two-year salary freeze and 4.5 percent raise in the third year. For the 2009-10 season, 5,200 concert packages were sold. For the 50th anniversary season, 4,100 have been sold to date.

This fundraising deadline of the board’s matching $300,000 is the end of the month. Inman said $250,000 has been received. These funds will be used for operating expenses for 2009-10.

Donations for 2009 totaled $1.92 million, and for 2010 they are at $1.93 million as of Aug. 6.

The symphony is not alone in having financial problems. Arts organizations nationwide have been hit by the faltering economy. Symphonies in some larger cities have closed or had abbreviated seasons.

The SSO has not been able to touch its endowment since November 2009 because the amount has dropped below its historic value, which is the money given to create the endowment plus any later gifts.

The symphony received $75,000 from the Cultural Resources Trust this year. In
April when Edward Kochian, then the SSO interim executive director, spoke before the Trust, he said the money would be used “to supplement the symphony’s rent” and, with successful fundraising, the SSO would have sufficient operating funds and “break even for this fiscal year,” according to minutes from the meeting.

SSO executives also sought funding help through U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei, D-DeWitt, earlier in the year.

Maffei submitted a request for $200,000 in federal funding. Michael Whyland, the congressman’s chief of staff, said in March the request must go through the fiscal 2011 federal appropriations process, and no decisions are likely until October at the earliest.

Last year, the SSO received $50,000 from the federal economic stimulus package. The funds, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, were reserved for salary support. The SSO used the money for musician salaries.

The SSO hired Buffalo firm E-3 Communications to lobby the state government for funding for 2009 and 2010. The Rochester and Buffalo philharmonic orchestras also hired E-3 Communications as a lobbyist.

The SSO paid the company $6,000 for its services from January to June.

State legislators had directed $140,000 in funds to the SSO for the 2009-10 season. This included member items of $100,000 from Sen. David Valesky, D-Oneida, and $25,000 from Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli, D-Syracuse. Sen. Darrel Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, secured $10,000 for concerts in Watertown, and $5,000 was secured by Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, D-Ithaca, for Cortland concerts.

Because of the state’s budget woes, the 2010-11 budget was passed without approval of any member items.

The SSO has traveled this rocky financial road before. In 1992, it ended its season four months early because of financial difficulties.

“The timing of the economy tanking on the eve of our 50th anniversary was inconvenient, to say the least,” Hege said. “But, I think when people come together at a time of struggle, challenge, I think you can make something really great out of it, which is what we’re trying to do.”

The symphony has been without a permanent executive director since the January departure of Karen Gahl-Mills for a job in Cleveland.

Former deputy county executive Kochian had served as interim executive director until the beginning of July. A search for a new executive director continues, said Inman, who is handling daily operations with five senior staffers.

With a proposed abbreviated season, SSO management is working on the schedule of performances.

It will present a subscribers’ appreciation concert on Sept. 22 and formally start its season with a pops concert on Sept. 24 and classic series on Oct. 1. The special anniversary concert featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma is planned for April 27, 2011.

--Staff writer Michelle Breidenbach contributed to this report.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 44833

Trending Articles



<script src="https://jsc.adskeeper.com/r/s/rssing.com.1596347.js" async> </script>