2006-07 Financial Kick-Off by Maryellen Gleason
Welcome to our 2006-20007 season and greetings to everyone on the blog. We have had some interest on the blog regarding how the fiscal 2006 year ended and so here is the story from another part of our site on the third year in a row for a balanced budget and some news about the fiscal 2007 year as well.
-Maryellen Gleason
The Phoenix Symphony hits high financial note
Third balanced budget, record opening sales start season on high note
(PHOENIX) - The Phoenix Symphony announced at its annual meeting on Sept. 16 that its 2006-07 season started on a high note, with record-breaking good news in its financials. The 59-year-old organization recorded a third balanced budget in as many years, and set a new sales record of $55,000+ on the first day of single concert ticket sales, August 28. These indicators, along with excellent artistic offerings, are setting the stage for a great season said Maryellen Gleason, President and CEO of the Symphony.
"We're in the business of making music," noted Gleason. "Our patrons, our musicians, our donors all expect sound fiscal management from the Symphony to keep the orchestra successful. Obviously, these are good signs."
Overall, the Symphony's ticket sales were up in 2005-06, selling more than 122,000 tickets to 115 performances, the highest total paid attendance in the history of the institution. The season ended with a 26 percent increase in ticket revenue, supporting a 6 percent overall revenue increase from last season.
In addition to its strong early showing, The Phoenix Symphony has marked the 2006-07 season as a time for financial growth, setting a more than $10 million budget for the organization, which includes musician salaries, marketing, donor development and operations. As the largest performing arts organization in the state, The Phoenix Symphony takes seriously its role as an arts leader, said Symphony board chairman Gerald Murphy.
"We all understand how important the Phoenix Symphony is to its audience," said Murphy. "As chairman, I am committed to keeping the Symphony artistically stimulating and financially healthy. The results from the 2005-06 season prove we are meeting that goal."
-Maryellen Gleason
The Phoenix Symphony hits high financial note
Third balanced budget, record opening sales start season on high note
(PHOENIX) - The Phoenix Symphony announced at its annual meeting on Sept. 16 that its 2006-07 season started on a high note, with record-breaking good news in its financials. The 59-year-old organization recorded a third balanced budget in as many years, and set a new sales record of $55,000+ on the first day of single concert ticket sales, August 28. These indicators, along with excellent artistic offerings, are setting the stage for a great season said Maryellen Gleason, President and CEO of the Symphony.
"We're in the business of making music," noted Gleason. "Our patrons, our musicians, our donors all expect sound fiscal management from the Symphony to keep the orchestra successful. Obviously, these are good signs."
Overall, the Symphony's ticket sales were up in 2005-06, selling more than 122,000 tickets to 115 performances, the highest total paid attendance in the history of the institution. The season ended with a 26 percent increase in ticket revenue, supporting a 6 percent overall revenue increase from last season.
In addition to its strong early showing, The Phoenix Symphony has marked the 2006-07 season as a time for financial growth, setting a more than $10 million budget for the organization, which includes musician salaries, marketing, donor development and operations. As the largest performing arts organization in the state, The Phoenix Symphony takes seriously its role as an arts leader, said Symphony board chairman Gerald Murphy.
"We all understand how important the Phoenix Symphony is to its audience," said Murphy. "As chairman, I am committed to keeping the Symphony artistically stimulating and financially healthy. The results from the 2005-06 season prove we are meeting that goal."
7 Comments:
well that's nice to know that an orchestra is doing OK in these hard times to stay afloat.
Still, it is curious to hear of the good sales and see so many empty seats on Thursday night. I hope the last couple of concerts were exceptions that way; the music was very good yet they were playing to a half empty house.
Hello again. In regard to the house on last Thursday and Saturday, we did have many subscribers switch out of the concert into other programs. I can only speculate that they might have been afraid of the Shostakovich or they wanted to secure Midori or another artist not in their package of 8 or 4. In terms of Sonny the Cat's thoughts, we actually measure part of our success in paid total attendance and last week was not what we had in mind at all but those who attended heard a great concert. We actually had both ASU and community college kids there last week and they were up in the balcony in flip flops and some were located in the back of the main floor. There are often groups of students there on Thursdays because of free tickets and we do focus on bringing students in for the concerts that do not have the best attendance. Frankly, we are always evaluating the best mix of concerts in terms of quantity and frequency and much depends on the repertoire selection itself.
Given the seasonality impact of early in September or our “shoulder months” in hind sight we probably should have only had one concert and combined Thursday and Saturday subscribers into one performance on Saturday nights. Thoughts?
The release was not meant to be self congratulatory at all just factual. Please note that only 50% of our revenue is from tickets and 50% from donations and for many donors it is important that they are investing in a thriving symphony operating in the black. The release just after our Annual Meeting on our FY06 results was a part of our continuing series of positive announcements to signal to our community that we are investment worthy. We need significant additional investment in The Phoenix Symphony and our goals are high because our ambitions for the Symphony and Michael Christie are great. Please bear with us as we evolve into the story of The Phoenix Symphony being about music not money. It was a huge effort to achieve our balanced budget for a third year in a row and kudos to our community and our board for making it happen and making a vote of confidence in our symphony.
Maryellen Gleason
Something to consider when talking about empty halls and cultivating an audience to fill it.
This comes from a blog by Kyle Gann:
"I had coffee yesterday with a rising young orchestral conductor, one of the assistant conductors to the New York Philharmonic. He made the remark that he had never seen an orchestra that showed a strong commitment to new music run into financial trouble. When I mentioned the obvious counterexample of Louisville, he said that they had abandoned their interest in new music (or rather, lost funding for the program) ten years before folding. He also commented that conductors who cultivate new and adventurous repertoire (e.g., Salonen and my boss Paavo Jarvi) seem to last in their posts longer than the average six to ten years. He agrees with what I've been saying (and said it before I did): that for audience members born after 1975, post-Rite of Spring music is a much bigger draw than 18th- or 19th-century repertoire, and the orchestra needs to start pinning their hopes on it."
Does the Phoenix Symphony offer student ticket discounts on the night of the concerts (maybe 15 minutes before the start) for $5 or $7 dollars?
Is there any sort of ticket program offered to the Phoenix Youth Orchetra? (I understand they are not affilicated with the symphony.)
I have heard of a program in a slightly smaller organization (I'm sorry I forget which orchestra)where they have a "concert club". For a $20 one time fee, a parent can join the club and receive $5 tickets to most concerts for family members until the child graduates from high school. Obviously some restrictions apply on special concerts etc. Not a bad deal and the patron makes up the $20 difference by attending just 1 concert even if they never go again.
Just a couple questions and observations on how to fill the seats, reach out to the community and young people and help cover a few of the costs.
The Phoenix Symphony does indeed have a program for Phoenix Symphony Guild Youth Orchestra members. They are able to attend any of our Thursday evening classics concerts free of charge. All they have to do is stop by the Symphony Hall box office during the hour before showtime and let them know who they are so they can get a ticket.
The Phoenix Symphony also has a $10 student rush ticket rate during the hour before any of our regular Classics or Pops performances. A full-time student with a valid student ID just has to come to the Symphony Hall box office one hour before showtime and they can select from most any of the remaining seats for just $10.
Check out this link for more information about student ticket programs.
Sonny the Cat-
We do use Showup.com and in fact we are charter members of sorts. This is a tough time of year for us and typical attendance for the September/October months. This afternoon the Family concert 2:30PM is looking quite positive and should be very full as those customers are year round residents. Sales are looking better for later in the month as well as November and December so far.
I think sonny the cat should be running marketing for the PSO. :-) Whouldn't that be refreshing? Someone who is willing to do the work to fill the halls!
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