By Tom Weber

Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN 

Rochester Symphony Orchestra & Chorale, which opens its 2009-10 concert season Nov. 14, is launching an immediate fund drive to head off a looming financial disaster.

"Financially, we're in trouble," Laurie Mona, interim executive director of the orchestra, said Monday. "We have to do whatever we can. We're launching this right now."

The orchestra, in its 90th season, is presenting only five concerts this year, instead of the normal seven concerts, but continues to face a shortfall of income from grants and corporate donations.

"We were only able to finish last season by tapping out all of our reserves," Mona said. "Right now, we don't have cash reserves, and that's a bad state to be in."

The orchestra needs $30,000 per month in cash flow, Mona said, and that need is immediate. "We are going to be in the red in December if we don't raise funds now," she said.

Last season, the organization's budget was set at $600,000, and while expenses came in at a lower-than-expected $520,000, income from all sources totaled only $415,000.

After reductions in staff and expenses, the orchestra's 2009-2010 budget was set at $425,000.

Ticket sales and individual donations this season have exceeded expectations. But ticket sales make up only one-third the cost of producing a concert. The organization is lacking in corporate donations and grants, she said.

A new fundraising campaign has been launched to infuse the organization with cash and build up six months' worth of cash flow as a reserve, or about $180,000.

"It's a season of survival," said Jere Lantz, the orchestra's long-time music director. "Many arts organizations have bitten the dust in the current economic downturn, and we don't want to be one of them."

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