The good news is in – the Oregon Symphony has significantly improved its earned income over the previous season. Why is this news so good? Let me ask this question: if you were a major prospective donor, would you rather give to an organization improving its earnings on its own, or to one that is not?
Here’s the thumbnail sketch:
The Oregon Symphony’s fiscal year-to-date ticket sales have exceeded the $5 million mark, almost $500,000 more that last year’s sales by this time, and has already exceeded the total ticket revenue for last season. It also ends a five year run of declining ticket sales (the last years in which a season to season increase in ticket sales was seen was between the 2001 and 2002 seasons).
According to the Oregon Symphony, the rise in earned income is also being reflected in the increasing numbers of butts in seats:
While the encouraging figures are crucial to the orchestra’s bottom line, equally important is the fact that they also represent more people in the audience as well. For the 43 Oregon Symphony performances in Portland’s Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall so far this season, the average paid attendance has been 1,662, an increase of 20.5 percent over last season’s average crowd of 1,379. That represents an additional 283 people in the audience at each concert.
There are 35 concerts remaining in the OSO’s 2007-2008 season. We’d love to see you there.
Click here to find some concerts to attend.