From the May 8, 2009 edition of The Charlotte Observer
By Steven Brown
Posted: Friday, May 8, 2009
Orchestra plans to cut costs, renegotiate the musicians’ contract and pursue donations.
Suffering a critical blow from the recession on top of several years of financial troubles, the Charlotte Symphony is turning to urgent cost-cutting and fundraising in hopes of staying alive.
The orchestra this week asked its players to renegotiate the contract governing their pay and benefits. It also hopes to cut administrative costs by about $250,000 through staff layoffs, furloughs and other measures beginning next week, executive director Jonathan Martin said.
A message will soon go out to subscribers, donors and others asking them to open their checkbooks. When audiences flock to SouthPark next month for the free pops concerts that are a Charlotte tradition, “they will leave with a message from us,” Martin said.
“The reality of what we’re facing does not allow us the luxury of a nuanced approach,” he said.
The orchestra, which has had a deficit each season since 2002-03, will have another this season, Martin said. It expects revenue to fall about $780,000 short of its expenses of $8.7million. The deficit would be even larger without a one-time grant of $900,000 from an $83million fund drive run by the Arts & Science Council.
In 2007, Martin noted, the orchestra made a series of changes meant to return it to financial health. Among them: Players agreed to a salary cut, and increased advertising brought in more season-ticket buyers.
But the recession has brought new challenges, mirroring troubles facing nonprofit groups nationwide.
The co-chair of the committee that represents the Charlotte Symphony’s players, bassoonist Mary Beth Griglak, would not comment Thursday on the management’s request for new negotiations.
While executive director Martin said this summer will be crucial to the orchestra’s future, he wouldn’t cite a target amount for the fundraising. He said only that the group needs “a six-figure sum, not a seven-figure sum.”
Nevertheless, Martin sees positive signs. The members of the orchestra’s board of directors recently increased their donations by $300,000 to a total $582,000 for the season – far more than in past years. Season-ticket sales for next season are ahead of where they were at this point in the past three years.
“We see this as a community resource.” Martin said. “It’s threatened, like so many other things in this community. We think it’s worth saving.”
