In Tuesday’s (4/10) Detroit News, Lawrence B. Johnson writes, “One year after the end of a debilitating six-month-long strike, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra has regained its footing among its audiences. However, long-term financial issues still threaten the orchestra’s future. The DSO is upbeat about its progress. It cites an upswing in ticket sales, plans to expand its successful worldwide webcasts and even a benefit concert next month with chart-topper Kid Rock. And the orchestra has raised nearly $8 million toward its annual goal of $12 million in contributions to its operating fund. That’s 51 percent higher than this time last year and from 36 percent more donors. … Three factors are keeping the DSO’s financial health in doubt: a $54 million building bond for The Max M. Fisher Music Center, on which the DSO has stopped making payments; a fast-dwindling unrestricted endowment; and continued annual deficits. … The DSO isn’t the only orchestra in trouble. ‘Everyone’s endowment has suffered declines,’ said Jesse Rosen, president and CEO of the League of American Orchestras. ‘But there’s no uniformity. The effects have been quite severe to less so. … All orchestras are facing a shift in audiences—what draws and how to adapt to the public’s changing habits. Detroit has been in the forefront of that (adaptation process).’ ”
Posted April 10, 2012
