In Sunday’s (6/21) Grand Rapids Press (Michigan), Sue Merrell and Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk report, “Two more Grand Rapids arts organizations have quietly cut back staff in an effort to trim costs. Grand Rapids Civic Theatre has cut two staff positions as part of trimming $300,000 from its annual operating budget. Grand Rapids Symphony has eliminated its public relations manager among other staff adjustments. … Carol Tanis, Grand Rapids Symphony’s public relations manager, left the organization earlier this month, part of a reorganization of the staff of 19 full-time and 11 part-time employees. Grand Rapids Symphony president Peter Kjome declined to elaborate on the staff reduction, citing contract negotiations under way with the orchestra’s 80 musicians. … Grand Rapids Symphony’s ticket sales, since September, are up 5 percent, and annual fund contributions are up 1 percent over last season. Both, however, are below budgetary goals set months earlier. The biggest blow to the orchestra’s $8.5 million budget this season was a sharp drop in revenue from its endowment fund.”
Posted June 23, 2009
