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KW Chamber Orchestra & KW Symphony - panamaniac - 09-20-2014

KW Chamber Orchestra


Re: KW Chamber Orchestra - panamaniac - 09-20-2014

K-W Chamber Orchestra announces new artistic director and new season

http://www.therecord.com/whatson-story/ ... ew-season/

RE: KW Chamber Orchestra - Chris - 09-18-2023

Well fuck...

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/kitchener-waterloo-symphony-cancels-upcoming-concerts-and-practices-1.6565702

Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony cancels upcoming concerts and practices

RE: KW Chamber Orchestra - panamaniac - 09-18-2023

That's terrible news.

RE: KW Chamber Orchestra - ac3r - 09-18-2023

The loss of the activity programs for the public is sad to see. Not surprising though...very few people care about higher order cultural stuff anymore.

RE: KW Chamber Orchestra - panamaniac - 09-18-2023

If so, Kitchener has lost an historic part of its cultural identity.

RE: KW Chamber Orchestra - bravado - 09-18-2023

Not to mention no refunds which won’t go down well.

RE: KW Chamber Orchestra - panamaniac - 09-18-2023

That is surprising. I'm guessing the money is already spent?

RE: KW Chamber Orchestra - nms - 09-18-2023

This should probably be put into a separate thread since the KW Chamber Orchestra is a different organization than the KW Symphony.

I think it will take a few days or weeks to sort this one out. We've been down this road once before in 2006 (albeit not this drastically). The Symphony is one of the prime beneficiaries for both old money and new money in this town. Something big must have happened to shut everything down so quickly. I would not be surprised if it rises out of the ashes.

RE: KW Chamber Orchestra & KW Symphony - Spokes - 09-20-2023

I saw that. That's sad. And if memory serves they were already being subsidised fairly significantly by city council.

RE: KW Chamber Orchestra & KW Symphony - panamaniac - 09-20-2023

The latest news is that they are looking at all options, including insolvency. One hopes that a benefactor will come to the rescue, although the $2million they need is quite the ask.

RE: KW Chamber Orchestra & KW Symphony - tomh009 - 09-20-2023

(09-20-2023, 07:07 AM)panamaniac Wrote: The latest news is that they are looking at all options, including insolvency.  One hopes that a benefactor will come to the rescue, although the $2million they need is quite the ask.

How did they suddenly end up $2M short since the end of last season?

RE: KW Chamber Orchestra & KW Symphony - nms - 09-20-2023

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched with a goal of $2 Million Dollars by "Musicians of the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony."   They were are $94,000 Wednesday morning and by 9:45pm Wednesday evening had passed $170,000.

From the GoFundMe page:


Quote:How will the money be spent?
The best possible outcome for musicians and staff is an orchestra that retains KWS’s endowment, government funding, donors, and patrons. The only reasonable scenario where that happens is if KWS survives in its present form. However, the options available to us depend on the amount of funds received.

If the proceeds of this campaign are able save the KWS in its present form, the musicians will discuss with the Board of Directors possible next steps to save the 23/24 season. An agreement for restructuring must be made. If that is not possible, funds raised will go directly towards replacing the musicians' lost wages and benefits, and towards presenting musical activities in the community. We will also consider using the funds for starting a successor orchestra. In the extremely unlikely event that the money cannot immediately be used for any of these purposes, it will be directed to the Mary Cornfield Musicians' Relief Fund, which provides emergency financial assistance to KWS musicians as approved by the Trustees of the Fund.

Interestingly, while the list of Board of Directors is still active on the KWS website, both the "Governance Policy" page and most recent Annual Report are currently unavailable.

Something isn't adding up as despite everything else, they did not run deficits between 2017 and 2021; they ran a small deficit in 2021-2022.  From their T3010 2022 Charity return for the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra Association Inc, on the CRA website (filed July 31, 2022, for August 1, 2021 to July 31, 2022):


Quote:Income
  • Receipted donations $661,422.00 (13.45%)
  • Non-receipted donations $0.00 (0.00%)
  • Gifts from other registered charities $367,680.00 (7.48%)
  • Government funding $2,792,592.00 (56.80%)
  • All other revenue $1,095,051.00 (22.27%)
              Total revenue: $4,916,745.00

Expenses
  • Charitable programs $0.00 (0.00%)
  • Management and administration $0.00 (0.00%)
  • Fundraising $0.00 (0.00%)
  • Gifts to other registered charities and qualified donees $0.00 (0.00%)
  • Other $5,088,251.00 (100.00%)
              Total expenses: $5,088,251.00


For that $5 Million, here is the salary breakdown:


Quote:Total compensation for all positions:  $3,451,764.00
  • Full-time employees: 62
  • Part-time employees: 85
Professional and consulting fees:   $372,509.00


Digging a bit deeper into their last five years of T3010s, the KWS didn't run a deficit except for the most recent reporting year where the deficit was $171,500, which was 3.4% of their overall revenue, compared to the previous year (2020-2021) where they ran a surplus of $541,000.  However, in their last full pre-Covid year (2018-2019) they had $2.2 million in ticket sales; in 2021-2022, they had $1.09 million in ticket sales. Maybe the 2022-2023 season was worse?  

I also don't know what the rules are for the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Foundation for which I can't find any information beyond this "Statement of Intent" donor form from from 2017 (PDF).


Quote:Unless otherwise specified, KWSF has the option to capitalize endowed gifts for 10 years at which  time the capital of the gift can also be accessed. Gift capital is only accessed under extreme circumstances, for example $0 endowment income draw due to poor market performance.


(Note: I am not an accountant, I just play one on WRC.)

RE: KW Chamber Orchestra & KW Symphony - tomh009 - 09-20-2023

Thanks for digging! Government grants at roughly 60%, ticket sales at 20% and donations at 20% of revenue. A drop in half of ticket sales would still only drop the total by about $500K, and presumably they would have access to prior years' surplus even then. And there has been no mention of government funding cutbacks.

So, the $2M gap is still a mystery.

RE: KW Chamber Orchestra & KW Symphony - dtkvictim - 09-21-2023

Just got this in the mail. Can't wait to go!

[Image: 4EgB3SL.jpg]