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Friday, March 11, 2011
Philharmonic drive nears $1 million mark
The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra has launched the public phase of a $1.4 million campaign to sustain the orchestra’s future.
More than $950,000 has been raised privately in the “Protect and Secure” drive, which seeks to put the orchestra on solid footing by 2012-13 — needing no year-end emergency gifts to balance its budget.
Philanthropist and retired Berry Co. executive Charles D. Berry has pledged to match every dollar contributed between now and the $1.2 million mark, which would ensure success. The call for donations caps a three-year process that has seen the DPO downsize staff, reduce pay across the board, cut expenses, focus programming on new, more popular alternatives like rock ‘n’ roll and pursue new audience members.
A total of 20,000 first-timers have come through the doors since March 2009. Season ticket purchases for 2011-12 are running 5 percent ahead of last year, which ended up 2.7 percent higher than 2009-10 sales.
When Paul Helfrich took over as president in November 2008, the orchestra’s budget “had grown beyond what we could cover with year-end fundraising,” he said.
The balanced budget in 2009-10 was the first in five seasons that was achieved without dipping into reserves.
To achieve that, five staff positions were eliminated, Helfrich and music director Neal Gittleman took 10 percent pay reductions, other salaries were trimmed 3 percent and musicians agreed to a reduction in performances.
The orchestra currently has a $5 million budget and an endowment fund of $4 million.
The fundraising campaign “goes hand in glove with our efforts to right-size the orchestra,” board president Wendy Campbell said.
“Barring another financial meltdown like the one that took place nationally in 2008, this will solidify our future. We’ve responded aggressively to new audience-preference demographics and projections for what we can expect in ticket sales and fundraising.”
The DPO has also adjusted expectations. Helfrich said the original plan was to seek $12 million, but a feasibility study in 2009 led to the conclusion that $1.2 million was a realistic target.
The campaign is being chaired by longtime orchestra supporters Leon and Betsy Whitney, who are among 130 donors so far. The Dayton Philharmonic Volunteer Association, and Robert and Barbara O’Hara have both given at least $100,000.
For more information, or to contribute, call (937) 224-3521 or go to www.daytonphilharmonic.com.
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TweetFraze adds Culbertson, AWB, Jazz Attack
Fraze Pavilion in Kettering has announced two more acts for the summer 2011 season:
Jazz/R&B multi-instrumentalist Brian Culbertson, plus the Average White Band, at 8 p.m. Thursday, July 7; and Jazz Attack, featuring Rick Braun, Gerald Albright and Peter White with Fourplay at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13.
Tickets for both go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 19. Prices for Culbertson plus the AWB are $32 for for plaza and orchestra, $22 for lawn and terrace. Prices for the Jazz Attack stars are $40 for plaza and orchestra, $25 for lawn and terrace. Their concert will headline the annual Festival of the Vine.
Tickets can be purchased at the Fraze box office, 695 Lincoln Park Blvd., and through Ticketmaster, (800) 745-3000 or www.ticketmaster.com.
Fraze ticket center hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 3 p.m. Sundays. For more about the venue or the 2011 season, go to www.fraze.com.
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TweetWright State sets theater season
Wright State University Theatre will present a 2011-12 theater season of five blockbusters.
Exact dates are still to be decided, but, in order, the shows will be:
Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” the musical “Hairspray,” the musical “Rent,” Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” and the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “The Phantom of the Opera.”
Department chair W. Stuart McDowell, who will direct “Phantom” and “Rent,” said the other directors will be: Greg Hellems, “Death of a Salesman”; Joe Deer, “Hairspray,” and Sandra Crews, “Merchant of Venice.”
“Salesman” is expected to feature Human Race Theatre resident artist Scott Stoney as Willy Loman and Lee Merrill as Linda Loman.
Productions in the Herbst Theatre, WSU’s smaller performance space in the basement of the Creative Arts Center, will include “Barnaby Rudge, Part II,” a premiere directed by Bruce Cromer.
A play staged by Marya Spring Cordes and a musical directed by Jamie Cordes will also be part of that lineup.
Ticket details will be announced later, but McDowell said subscribers will have the option of four shows (not including “Rent”) or all five.
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