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Arts and Culture
Euan Kerr
St. Paul

SPCO reports budget surplus despite drop in corporate support

The SPCO onstage at the Ordway's Concert Hall
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra performing at the Ordway's Concert Hall.
Nate Ryan | MPR 2015

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After facing financial problems earlier in the year the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra celebrated a small surplus on its almost $11 million budget at its annual meeting Wednesday.

The orchestra cut three staff positions and dropped both its Liquid Music series, focusing on contemporary music and collaborations, and its Fanfare pre-concert programs after shifts in corporate giving resulted in losses of more than $200,000 in anticipated operating support.

Managing director and president Jon Limbacher says those cuts were painful but necessary.

"I'm really proud of the fact that as an organization when we saw that challenge we didn't duck it,” he said. “We confronted it, we did what we had to do. We protected the core of our mission and we moved forward. So we feel good about where we are."

Limbacher says the orchestra was able to balance its budget for the year ending June 30, while providing almost 150 concerts primarily at venues around the Twin Cities.

"It's artistically vibrant, It's serving more people in the community, sharing the orchestra with more people in the community than ever before in our history,” he said. ”We are financially strong, our financial house is in order."

The $143,000 surplus will go to the SPCO's rainy day fund. It’s the 24th balanced budget in the last 26 years.

Limbacher says the orchestra’s program of affordable tickets and neighborhood concerts provides world class chamber performances to the local community.

“I think that the definition of a great orchestra is delivering great concerts every night, every day,” he said. “And that’s what our orchestra does.”

The organization is also reaching out to a worldwide audience through its free online performance library, which continues to build with new concerts added every year.

The SPCO appointed five new permanent members in the last fiscal year, three of them to principal positions.

It also launched a festival called “Tapestry,” designed to reach out to the community around a central question. For the first festival, that question was “how do I recognize my home?”

The festival featured several concerts involving music, spoken word, and dance. Limbacher said the central theme drew a great response.

“I think this first Tapestry festival was a great success and resonated and has given us something to build on” he continued.

The SPCO intends for the festival to occur every two or three years, and has not announced plans for the next one at present.