“Since the Philadelphia Orchestra exited bankruptcy more than two years ago, several key financial indicators have brightened,” writes Peter Dobrin in Tuesday’s (10/21) Philadelphia Inquirer. “Obligations associated with the orchestra’s Chapter 11 settlement have been paid off, income from concerts is growing nicely, and annual fund-raising is improving more than nicely.” Dobrin notes that since 2009-10, $69 million has been raised for the orchestra’s bridge/transformation fund, but that, as planned, “that income line is diminishing, and … the orchestra is now at the beginning of an endowment campaign…. The orchestra ended its fiscal year Aug. 31 with a modest surplus, about $670,000 on a $39.6 million budget, orchestra leaders reported” at the annual meeting on Monday. “The market value of the endowments owned by and held for the benefit of the orchestra (excluding the Academy of Music endowment) as of Aug. 31 totaled $133.8 million…. ‘I really want to be a part of bringing this endowment money in,’ says president and CEO Allison Vulgamore. ‘I want to feel that this was done with purpose, that the art prevailed, and part of what I did was to underpin it.’ … She expects a contract renewal with music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, whose five-year contract expires in 2017.”
Posted October 21, 2014
