“Along with its release of the 2017 summer Grant Park Music Festival schedule, the Grant Park Orchestral Association has announced that, as a result of discussions with the Chicago Park District that began five years ago, the Park District has agreed to continue funding the festival for the next 10 years,” reports John von Rhein in Wednesday’s (1/4) Chicago Tribune. “Paul Winberg, the association’s president and CEO, said the Park District has agreed to provide roughly $2.9 million each year—roughly half of the festival’s $6 million operating budget—to cover the payroll for the more than 200 singers and instrumentalists of the Grant Park Chorus and Orchestra. The association will continue to rely on contributions and membership fees to make up the balance.… ‘This 10-year agreement ensures that we have the infrastructure in place to generate and maximize our membership and contributed revenue,’ ” said Winberg. “Premieres, big choral works and American music all have been defining elements of programming at Grant Park under principal conductor and artistic director Carlos Kalmar. The 10-week season will comprise 30 orchestral and choral concerts, June 14-Aug. 19 at Millennium Park and satellite locations in the city.”
Posted January 4, 2017
