Email
Print
Symphony asks for help in saving Summer Pops
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: June 5, 2009
CHARLOTTE - Just as they've done every Sunday in June for years, people by the thousands will converge on
SouthPark this weekend to be serenaded by the Charlotte Symphony. In tradition-loving Charlotte, the free Summer Pops concerts are among the most beloved of all.
This year, the orchestra hopes the crowds will help the tradition survive.
To put it bluntly: The Charlotte Symphony, which throngs of you have been hearing free of charge for years, is asking adult concertgoers at SouthPark -- the main Summer Pops location -- to donate $5 apiece.
The orchestra, after years of financial struggles, has been hit hard by the recession. On top of that, the Arts & Science Council recently decided to cut more than $1million from its funding for the orchestra next season.
Asking the SouthPark audience to chip in is part of "what we have to do to keep the orchestra alive," president Jonathan Martin said.
"We're looking for people to make this choice as an investment," he added, "not as a handout."
Here's the little secret about free concerts: They cost money. Counting expenses ranging from the musicians' salaries to rentals of portable toilets, the month of Summer Pops costs more than $500,000. Yet sponsorships and donations cover only a fraction of that.
At the other Summer Pops venues, local governments or other groups hire the orchestra and have required that the concerts be free. So only at SouthPark does the orchestra have leeway to ask for your help.
Here's another way to look at this. The orchestra has always passed the hat at SouthPark. The results typically average out to a buck or two a head. Is that the generosity that Charlotte is so proud of?
Email
Print
ADVERTISEMENT
Advertisement
