In Friday’s (6/24) Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville), Charlie Patton writes, “Given the dire financial expectations with which the Jacksonville Symphony Association began the year, 2010-11 turned out better than expected. But the association will still finish the fiscal year, which ends next week, with an operating loss of about $350,000 on an operating budget of $8.15 million, finance chairman Jim Heinz reported during the annual meeting. At the start, the loss was expected to be about $683,000, he said. … The symphony had a good year in attracting private and corporate donations, thanks in large measure to Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s offer to match $550,000 raised through corporate gifts and private donations to the symphony’s CHAIRitable campaign, which sold naming rights to seats in the Jacoby Symphony Hall for $5,000 each. One area where the symphony fell short of last year was in ticket revenue, executive director Stacy Ridenour said. Although the number of households subscribing to various ticket packages increased from about 3,600 to almost 4,000, many subscribers opted for less expensive ticket packages or took advantage of discount offers, she said. As a result, ticket sales brought in $1.24 million, $60,000 less than last year.”
Posted June 24, 2011
