In Sunday’s (9/1) Columbian (Vancouver, Washington), Scott Hewitt writes that Washington’s Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is set to perform its first free outdoor concert in five years on September 8 at Esther Short Park. “ ‘We are so happy to be able to give the gift of music back to the community after such a long absence,’ said VSO board chairwoman Kathy McDonald.… The free concert isn’t really, free, of course; it’s been facilitated by a round of targeted fundraising by the auxiliary Friends of the VSO organization. ‘It’s a healthy sign that the community put up the money for this,’ said board member David Smith, who noted that orchestra support from local businesses all but disappeared when the Great Recession hit.” Executive director and clarinetist Igor Shakhman had “barely begun his new job, he said, when the orchestra ‘hit a huge crisis.’ In May 2011, the organization’s bookkeeper broke the news that the orchestra was ‘over $100,000 in arrears’ … In its 35-year history, McDonald said, the Vancouver Symphony has never come closer to shutting down completely. Instead, the Friends of the VSO group launched an emergency fundraising drive that hauled in $144,000…. During that summer 2011 scramble for emergency donations, [Smith] said, it was individual donors—not businesses—that came through.”
Posted September 5, 2013
