“Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: a Merger Proposal”
Financial Strengths and Weaknesses of the Utah Symphony Before the Merger
The financial state of the Utah Symphony before the merger was grim. It was understood by the symphony’s chairman of the board, Scott Parker, that the situation was getting worse. This was aggravated by the downturn of the economy and the event of 9/11. However, even before the economic downturn and 9/11, the symphony was very close to a deficit situation (Delong & Ager, 2005). Scott Parker assumed the chairmanship to try to mitigate the situation.
The average endowment or contributions for a Group II orchestra like the Utah Symphony is $8.8 million in FY 2001-2002. The endowment for the symphony is considered in
She had proven herself with the Utah Opera by increasing its annual budget from $1.5 million to $5 million. She is known to be energetic, enthusiastic, and capable. (Delong & Ager, 2005). Her financial shrewdness is an attractive selling point to present her strategy.
Customarily, symphony orchestras in the United States rely on three standard sources of income:
* Performance revenues
* Private philanthropy: private donations, pledges, and corporate givings
* Government grants
* Investment income
Currently, the Utah Symphony earns income from concert performance revenues. Anne Ewers should ensure that performance revenues exceeded performance expenditures. A strategy is to expand the performance income by supplementing it with sales of symphony recordings. Such recordings should be downloadable into iPads, MP3s, etc. Recordings should be available through the symphony website, Amazon, iTunes store, etc. This is also an access-based strategic positioning that will serve a subset of fans who cannot attend symphony performances due to time and location. She can also expand the portfolio of concerts, such as those offered by other orchestras. The potential is now quite broad. In addition to regular season concerts, the symphony orchestra should expand or diversify into doing special concerts such as pops, summer, and educational. Recently, many “cross-over” classical works have become popular and successful. It has become a hit