Toronto Symphony clears its decks
NewsThe Toronto Symphony has wiped out an accumulated deficit that goes back over four decades.
Successful fundraising for its centennial season has yielded an unexpected surplus of C$901,000.
Things are looking up under new management.
Statement here.
Accumulated “debt”, surely?
That sounds very impressive, but I would be curious to know what enabled the orchestra to run such a large surplus (large in relation to the longstanding deficit that was eliminated). Did they get one or more ‘transformative’ donations? Did they obtain a significantly higher government subsidy? Did they cut costs by tending to perform smaller-scale works (this is pure speculation on my part — I have *not* analysed their recent programmes to see whether this might be the case)? Or did the two months’ worth of cancelled concerts mentioned in their report result in significant savings (I suppose this would depend on whether the musicians are salaried or freelance, and, if the latter, whether they got paid for cancelled events) without a loss of philanthrophic income?
No disrespect to Mark Williams, but he’s only been the CEO since April. Surely one has to give credit to many people there.