In Monday’s (12/6) San Diego Business Journal, Brad Graves writes, “What holds the San Diego Symphony together? Music Director Jahja Ling, as conductor, keeps the musicians playing in time with one another and sets the artistic tone. However, Ling and the musicians can’t so much as begin a performance without an organization to back them up, and patrons to support it. Those patrons include a who’s who of San Diego philanthropists, but increasingly they include San Diego businesses. Corporations and other area businesses provide roughly $1.2 million of the symphony’s $19 million annual budget. … The symphony’s largest corporate donor is Bridgepoint Education, the locally based for-profit college that offers most of its classes online. Bridgepoint’s annual contribution is approximately $300,000. The company is title sponsor for the symphony’s Summer Pops concerts. The list of largest corporate donors also includes Qualcomm Inc., Sycuan Casino, The Fish Market, The San Diego Union-Tribune LLC, Bank of America Corp. and the bank’s private wealth management arm, U.S. Trust. … Involvement on the symphony’s 47-member board of directors offers access to a group of high-ranking executives, attorneys and other influential and accomplished people. … The symphony is celebrating its centennial, having presented its first concert at The US Grant hotel on Dec. 6, 1910.”
Posted December 7, 2010
