In Saturday’s (9/12) Journal Courier (Lafayette, Indiana), Tim Brouk writes, “The Lafayette Symphony Orchestra announced Friday evening that it finished the 2008-09 season with a $24,000 budget surplus. … ‘This is our third year in a row finishing in the black,’ [Executive Director Ken] Bootsma said. ‘It’s only a 5 percent budget surplus, but it’s a positive thing.’ The surplus came from the combination of higher than expected income as well as cutbacks. The LSO performed one less traditional concert at Long Center for the Performing Arts and booked fewer rehearsals. This means less paid out to the 72 musicians and for renting the historic Long Center. … The LSO has a full-time employee equivalent rate of 2.6 with a handful of part-timers and only one full-timer, general manager Melissa Boeckman. Bootsma is at two-thirds time and conductor Nicholas Palmer is half-time as he still conducts the Owensboro, Ky., symphony. Due to the economy and the loss of sponsorships, the LSO’s budget for 2009-10 is down 10 percent, $548,000.”
Posted September 14, 2009
