In Monday’s (5/23) Grand Rapids Press (Michigan), Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk reports, “The Grand Rapids Symphony projects it’ll finish its 2010-11 season with a $120,000 shortfall for the year, a reversal of the previous year’s $65,000 surplus. But that bit of red ink represents just 1.5 percent of an $8.4 million budget, and officials still hope to whittle away at the anticipated loss by the end of its fiscal year on Aug. 31. Grand Rapids Symphony president and CEO Peter Kjome said recently that he hasn’t given up hopes of balancing the season’s budget. … Private giving is expected to meet its goal toward raising $4.7 million for the orchestra’s annual fund. But concert income is projected to fall short by the end of the summer. Two years ago, the orchestra saw a 4 percent increase in concert income followed by a 1 percent growth last year. … Two years ago, salaries for the Grand Rapids Symphony’s staff were reduced and have remained frozen at those levels. A two-year contract with the orchestra’s musicians, members of the American Federation of Musicians, Local 56, similarly cut salaries. But other expenses have risen.”
Posted May 25, 2011
