Facing lower grants and donations, the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra was forced to cancel next fall’s Chamber Series in order to balance its $464,000 budget.
“We love the Chamber Series and it was growing,” said RDSO board president Dale Wheeler, but the smaller concerts that attracted up to 100 music lovers and ran mostly in church spaces did not pay for themselves. The difficult decision was, therefore, made to not run the series for the 2012-13 season.
Wheeler hopes more revenues can be raised so the series can be brought back in future.
He made audience members aware of the situation on Saturday at the last Main Stage concert of the season, when he asked for additional financial help.
“We’re not going bankrupt,” said Wheeler, who didn’t intend to ring alarm bells but still wanted to make patrons aware of the financial pinch. “It’s their symphony and we wanted to let them know.”
The final Chamber Series concert will be performed on Sunday in Studio A of the Red Deer College Arts Centre.
Every expense — from flowers to liquor purchases for the annual fundraising gala — had to be reviewed in an effort to trim extraneous costs, said Wheeler.
The RDSO has suffered a $50,000 loss in annual grants since 2008-09, when Alberta’s economic boom ended and the provincial government and corporate sponsors began belt tightening.
Four years ago, the organization received a total of $187,000 in grants, including Canada Council and Alberta Foundation from the Arts and industry-specific grants. This fell to $134,000 in 2010-11.
This year, the RDSO received $135,000 in grants, “so we’re seeing some signs of rebound,” but not enough to gamble on a big turnaround for next year, said Wheeler.
He noted the payoff from local fundraising efforts has also declined: Revenues from the annual RDSO gala, which depends on corporate donations and table purchases, fell from about $94,000 in 2007-08 to $69,000 in 2010-11.
Wheeler believes many cultural organizations are having a harder time making ends meet — The Matchbox concert venue and several local art galleries recently shut their doors and smaller arts groups have also folded.
He hopes the situation will improve as the provincial economy strengthens.
On the positive front, RDSO tickets sales remain strong, although they only account for about 25 per cent of revenues. Wheeler said board members will be looking at various strategies to boost income at the next board meeting.
While the organization would still love to have a larger performing arts centre in Red Deer in order to increase its audience (most concerts at the RDC Arts Centre are near sell-outs,) he believes “it’s a waiting game.”
Launching a feasibility study would depend on getting government grants, which are in shorter supply and are more needed to fund RDSO operations.
The City of Red Deer is considering whether to build some kind of convention/performing arts centre in Riverlands as part of its downtown redevelopment plan, but that would be 10 to 15 years down the road, added Wheeler.
“We’ve had no offer or encouragement to approach the city on this.”
The best bet might be to hope for an expansion to the RDC Arts Centre, which would need to be closed at some point in the next few years for rehaul of its lighting and electrical system anyway, said Wheeler.
He believes it might be possible to add a balcony at that time — but the question remains, where would the money come from? And would this be considered enough of a funding priority?
Wheeler admitted that more than just the RDSO would have to regularly use the larger facility in order to keep seats filled throughout the year.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com