Share
RALEIGH The struggling North Carolina Symphony has begun its new season with an unusual fundraising drive, in which it must secure private donations to tap into additional state funds.
In the closing days of the legislative session this year, lawmakers approved a special $1.5 million appropriation to help the financially strapped orchestra. But in order to spend the money, the symphony must raise $8 million in private gifts.
To take advantage of the legislative lifeline, the symphony has launched an extensive fundraising campaign that has included innovative events and unusual personal appeals by music director Grant Llewellyn.
At a fundraising auction recently at Caffe Luna, one music patron bid $10,000 for a private recital - at home - donated by famed violinist Joshua Bell, who will be appearing with the symphony in January.
"One of the heartening aspects of this is the entire community is rallying to help its orchestra through its challenges," said David Chambless Worters, the symphony's president and CEO. "This (state appropriation) was a critical piece of the puzzle."
The N.C Symphony, like many orchestras across the country, has experienced a steep drop in donations during the recession. It lost $2.1 million last year and owes $3.8 million to lenders. Its budget has been cut from $14.1million to $11.9 million.
Since spring, the symphony has taken a series of austerity steps, including a 17 percent cut in compensation for musicians. It has canceled the appearance of major artists and conductors, reduced the number of pops concerts, dropped plans for a European tour, and scaled back plans for performances that require extra musicians.
The symphony receives about 40 percent of its budget from individual and corporate donations, 30 percent from ticket sales, 20 percent from legislative appropriations, and 10 percent from other sources such as local government grants and endowment earnings.
But state funding seemed shaky this year, as the legislature was hit with its worst fiscal crisis since the Great Depression.
The legislature has funded the symphony for decades because unlike most orchestras, it has an education function and plays in schools across the state. The state provides $2.2 million in annual funding and since 2004 has provided an additional $500,000 a year.
But rather than cutting the symphony's budget during the fiscal crisis, the legislature increased it in the form of the $1.5 million challenge grant.
