In Tuesday’s (2/3) Charleston City Paper (South Carolina), Lindsay Koob writes, “The news is just out today: the Charleston Symphony has proposed slashing next year’s budget by $500,000—from $2.9 to $2.4 million. Some board members reportedly wanted to cut deeper than that.” Koob speculates that the number of core musicians could be reduced from 46 and wonders about other changes including soloists, staff, venues, and educational offerings. “What won’t suffer, according to the CSO’s powers-that-be, will be the CSO’s vaunted quality and reputation. We’re talking bare survival, folks—and the CSO (and Charleston Stage & Ballet Theatre) are far from the only American artistic entities that teeter on the brink of collapse in these desperate times.” In a Friday (1/31) press release however, the CSO reported that, having received a $75,000 challenge grant in December for gifts of $1,000 or more, “as of January 31, 2009, the organization received a total of $177,410.78 in gifts of $1,000 or more exceeding the $75,000 challenge match goal by over $100,000.” Successfully meeting the challenge allowed the organization “as of January 31, 2009, the organization received a total of $177,410.78 in gifts of $1,000 or more exceeding the $75,000 challenge match goal by over $100,000.”
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