In Friday’s (11/1) The Street (New York, N.Y.), Carlton Wilkinson writes about several U.S. orchestras that have recently been shaken by serious financial troubles. “Lately the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra has joined those ranks.… These groups are all nonprofit organizations with, on the whole, very little money held in reserve. Operating income consists almost entirely of ticket sales, which almost never entirely cover a group’s expenses. That leads to predictable problems.… The Great Recession worsened the situation by cutting into revenue from charitable contributions.… Those headlines aren’t necessarily a clear picture of classical music performance across the country, according to Jesse Rosen, president and CEO of the League of American Orchestras. ‘In the orchestra field there are 350 to 400 professional orchestras and the vast majority were able to navigate turbulence without labor disputes and bankruptcy,’ Rosen said in an interview last week. ‘If you entered the recession in a weak place, you got hammered. If you had some reserves and could be more flexible, and could find more income streams, you got through it OK.’ ”
Posted November 4, 2013
