“As its director describes, the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra is poking its head out of a deep hole. That hole was a red number on the budget line,” writes Courtney Spradlin in Sunday’s (8/10) Shreveport Times (Louisiana). “But for the first time in at least a decade, the symphony is in the black for consecutive years. The boost has encouraged the symphony to start considering—although carefully—its options for the future. The symphony was a ‘whisker’ away from folding in 2008 and 2009, director Lois Robinson said. And the Shreveport organization was not alone in this respect—performing arts organizations such as symphonies, operas and dance companies found themselves in financial straits similar to those businesses and families faced in the economic downturn. … The $1.5 million budget was culled to $1.2 million. Cuts were made in several areas, but the symphony held on to its eight-concert-series season that has been offered for many years, Robinson said. … ‘This isn’t just an orchestra that sits on stage and plays with 60 people. It’s 60 musicians that are an asset to the community that can go out and do other things and make their presence felt in other ways.’ ”
Posted August 14, 2014
