A case for support vesting in a long term future - tbso.ca · A case for support TE BAY SPO OESTA It takes $44,000 to make payroll for TBSO musicians every two weeks. Each TBSO regular

A case for support THUNDER BAY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Investing in a long term future

A case for support

Thunder BaySymphony orcheSTra

paul haasmusic director


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We have a dream

We have a dream where every student in Northwestern Ontario has access to a fine musical education, and gains an appreciation of beautifully played classical music.

We have a dream where people of every age and every walk of life have access to the finest classical music performances——at a price they can afford.

We have a dream where the future of our symphony is not threatened by serious cash shortfalls every season, where musicians don’t have to worry about financial security.

We have a dream where Indigenous musical traditions, regional ethnic music, and our

local performers come together to play with professional classical musicians——to create music unique to our region.

We have a dream where the symphony orchestra has an affordable performance space in which to play that’s accessible to all people in the region.

We have a dream where exciting new music is being composed, where new audiences are discovering the power and sublime beauty of the classical music form, where people eagerly await the next concert, and where young people love the music as much as older audiences do.

These dreams are more than dreams. They’re the foundations upon which we build our society. These dreams, when fully realized, are the legacy we leave to future generations.

Together, we can make these dreams a reality!


A case for

30 professional musicians, 62 performances a year


It takes $44,000 to make payroll for TBSO musicians every two weeks.

Each TBSO regular season concert

costs between $50,000 and $62,500.

Ticket sales account for only 21% of

that cost. The other 79% is covered by

grants and fundraising.

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TBSO outperforms its size

With a population of 110,000, Thunder Bay is the smallest city in Canada to have a professional symphony orchestra.

The TBSO serves one of the largest regions in the country. Every year the orchestra performs concerts in towns from Marathon to Kenora, and as far north as Red Lake. It’s a vast, sparsely-populated, and culturally under-serviced region.

When compared to other orchestras in larger cities, the TBSO does things particularly well. Its fundraising is extremely successful, sup-porting 42 percent of the operational costs. And government arts funding agencies

clearly recognize the benefits of having a symphony orchestra in this region, and fund the TBSO generously.

The TBSO’s performances have never been better. The challenge, however, is attracting new audiences to hear the music. Without strong audience support, it becomes more difficult to raise funds.

Today, 80 percent of TBSO’s audience is over the age of 50. Growing younger audiences is extremely important to the future of the or-chestra. Doing that will require an investment of time and money the organization simply doesn’t have, at least for now.

A particularlyuniqueorchestra

A case for

Classical music is at home 1378 km. from Toronto

Average revenues TBSO revenues

CANADIAN ORCHESTRAS COMPARED TO TBSO

Private fundraising Private fundraising

Gov't. grants Gov't. grantsTickets Tickets

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*Orchestras Canada Comparative data, 2015–2016 season


Private donations and government arts funding make the TBSO possible.

TBSO concerts are a valuable

cultural gift to Northwestern Ontario.

Paying audiences alone are not

enough to support a full-time

professional symphony orchestra.

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Beyond the music

The TBSO is a precious cultural resource. It’s recognized as the crown jewel of Thunder Bay’s cultural scene–—and a powerful driver of music in northern Ontario. How do we know that? Audience surveys tell us–—using words like “awesome” and “transformational”.

The Thunder Bay Community Auditorium and other cultural attractions have happened because the TBSO lives here.

What most concert-goers don’t know is just how much value they get for their ticket price. Because TBSO has excellent funding support, tickets are heavily subsidized. With-out that funding the $35 ticket you buy today would easily cost $175.

That is a magnificent cultural gift to our region. It’s worth considering that concerts that bring in $12,000 in net revenues from ticket sales actually cost between $50,000 to $62,500 to put on stage.

Music does more than entertain for a price, it delivers spiritual and emotional enrichment. Although we live in a more secular world, we recognize music feeds the soul, and expresses our spirit. Music is our emotional language. We feel our passion in flamenco guitar. Our movement in swing. Our power in Beethoven. Our freedom in jazz. Our joy in the chorus. The TBSO creates all this and more, all season and every season, right here in northern Ontario.

Beyond expanding culture, the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra adds diversity to the regional entertainment scene. The orchestra presents 27 regular concerts every season, plus regional touring concerts and education concerts in classrooms and schools.

The TBSO truly brings something to everyone!

Composer, conductor, TBSO Music Director Paul Haas

Orchestratingcultural values

A case for


A renewed TBSO experience.

There’s something magical happening

here. You can hear it. You can feel it

in the air. Something different——and

something new.

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Educational. Exciting. Unique.

Education is the foundation of the TBSO’s annual plan. Education touches everything the TBSO does. The work of growing the audience and enhancing the region’s cultural future depends on it.

The desire for great entertainment is what sparked the creation of the TBSO nearly 6 decades ago. The orchestra is now a multi-cultural musical force in the region. That includes staging Indigenous collaborations, touring remote communities, delivering francophone performances and playing new classical music that speaks to our social and geographic place in time.

The goal is to create exciting new music——with a voice unique to our northern region——to attract new audiences and delight older audiences.

The TBSO’s Music Director is alreadydeveloping TBSO’s unique voice. Together, he and the orchestra are creating their own approach to classical music——music that’s special enough to appeal to audiences far beyond our own region.

Education, exciting multicultural entertain-ment, and having a unique voice form the TBSO’s vision for the future. Achieving that vision requires commitment, time, and money. And the financial support of donors.

A threepartstrategy formusic

A case for

Great music comes from players who love what they do

International:Unique music &

world reputation

Regional:Great repertoire &

Canadian excellence

Community:School programs &

youth engagement

UNIQUE

EXCITING

EDUCATIONAL


To overcome challenges, the TBSO’s future lies in identifying and developing its unique reasons for being here.

A primary and ongoing mission is to grow audiences. Between 2012 and 2015 the orchestra spent more on soloists and advertising. And as a result the audiences grew.

But expenses outweighed revenues, and the orchestra’s debt grew to $460,000. The good news is, the TBSO was able to reduce its debt by almost $60,000 between 2016 and 2017. Still, the debt remains a challenge.

Aging audiences pose another challenge for the TBSO and many other orchestras across the country. The TBSO is dealing with that, too.

To meet these challenges it’s not enough to be just another, smaller TSO, VSO or any other SO. The TBSO needs its own voice, one that reflects its unique regional culture, geography, and relationship to the rest of Canada and the world.

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Heavy lifting with style

Education is an important tangible benefit the TBSO brings to the city and region. This year the orchestra will reach over 6,500 students.

TBSO’s Conductor-in-Residence and players deliver a Grade 3 Sing-Along program to 14 schools. They also perform 12 or more school concerts, including an Indigenous interactive project, and side-by-side concerts with the students, who get to sit next to TBSO players during the performances. A Musicians in the Classroom program features the orchestra working in small groups playing and doing Q & A sessions with students across the city.

Link Up is another educational program that the TBSO delivers in partnership with world-famous Carnegie Hall to 3,500 local students.

And then there are the 9 school concerts the TBSO performs in 7 communities across Northwestern Ontario every year!

Many of the TBSO musicians provide an irreplaceable service to the community as music teachers offering private lessons and teaching at Lakehead University. They playa leadership role with the Thunder BaySymphony Youth Orchestra, TBSO Chorus and other music organizations.

The TBSO is also a strong economic engine for the region. It creates a micro-economy—— including grants and fundraising with local businesses——that brings in over $1.2 million annually. That helps support a payroll of $1.2 million dollars, most of which is spent locally, providing a valuable economic multiplier. Plus, the TBSO is the main client of the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium, supporting it through hall rental and box office fees.

Finally, the TBSO is a significant economicdevelopment asset as one of the most visible cultural attractions in the region.

Classical music is the celebration of a region’s success

Tangible benefitsfor everyone

A case for


TBSO’s education programsreach 6,500+ students a year.

The TBSO has more qualified music

teachers than all of the Thunder Bay

schools combined. They provide help

for local teachers, and deliver:

• Musicians in the Classroom program

• Grade 3 Sing Along to 14 schools

• 12+ school concerts

• Carnegie Hall ‘Link Up’ music program

• Concert tours to 7 regional communities

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Your gift has a future here

You’ve read about the TBSO’s vision for the future. To realize that vision the orchestra must eliminate debt. Every donation——unless otherwise specified——must be aimed at that.

The second goal is to grow capacity and audiences. As debt is retired, the TBSO will have more funds to direct toward increasing the capacity to work more effectively. That can mean hiring people to manage databases, improving business systems, streamlining marketing, and developing new programs.

The third goal is creating a permanent endowment foundation. The TBSO is currently in the process of developing an endowment to accept legacy gifts. Specific donations and planned giving will be directed to the new foundation to ensure that the TBSO will be funded in perpetuity. Many orchestras across

Canada have foundations for long-term security, and to offset financial downturns.

The next goal is to expand music education in the region. The TBSO is working to create an El Sistema program to introduce kids-at-risk to classical music. Many other cities across the continent have highly successful El Sistema programs in place. A longer term goal is to enhance K-12 music education in local schools, and to help carry that education into post-secondary school systems, partnering with colleges and universities.

The TBSO’s ultimate goal is to build and occupy its own performance-learning space. The Thunder Bay Community Auditorium is a wonderful hall, but it’s larger than many TBSO performances require. Thunder Bay would benefit from having a smaller performance space with a 600-seat capacity that could be used by the TBSO and other local groups that need a mid-sized space, such as dance groups, the youth orchestra, jazz bands, rock bands, amateur theatre companies, and film society, to name a few.

Donating toachieveresults

A case for

Preparing, planning and performing for renewal

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Five donation objectives:

Eliminate debt

Grow capacity and audiences

Create a permanent endowment

Expand music education

Build a new performance-learning space

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The TBSO has 3 priorities: debt elimination, endowment fund growth, and capital project savings. The first goal is to eliminate debt entirely. (Example below shows what reduction looks like at a rate of $95,000 a year.) The second goal is to build a long term endowment fund. The third goal is to launch a capital campaign to create a new Performance and Learning Centre.

FINANCIAL PROJECTION TO 2O23

Actual Actual Example Example

2016 2017 2020 2023

Revenues $ 2,035,613 $ 1,915,704 $ 2,190,000 $ 2,380,000Expenses 2,031,165 1,862,474 2,095,000 2,285,000Excess 4,448 53,230 95,000 95,000 (Deficit)/surplus start (461,111) (456,663) (213,433) 7 1 ,567 (Deficit)/surplus end (456,663) (403,433) (118,433) 166,567

Endowment* 39,233 40,149 165,149 315,149Combined position (417,430) (363,284) 46,716 481,716

(deficit) (deficit) surplus surplus

Undesignated donations will go to pay down the deficit as soon as possible. Contributions to the endowment fund will not be used for operations or building of new facilities.

Once the deficit is under $300,000, the federal government will match every dollar donated to the TBSO endowment fund. Example above shows this happening by 2019, and the positive effect that annual donations of $25,000 x 2 would have on the fund by 2023.

Not only have TBSO’s finances improved, its concert performances have never been better! There’s never been a more exciting time to be a TBSO supporter!

Well-directedfunds

A case for

We are what we leave for future generations

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*


The goal: A 600-seat performance space and musical arts learn-ing facility that includes teaching studios, recording suites, re-hearsal and experimental space, room for creative, administrative and box office facilities and equipment—all incorporated in one centre of excellence. It’s a holistic approach to building a platform for education, and a high-value cultural hub in northern Ontario.

Estimate for a fully-equipped Performance and Learning Centre:

Architect and design fees: $ 1,230,000Land and existing buildings 350,000Building construction 17,500,000Equipment and furnishings 4,200,000

Total construction cost $ 22,280,000

Annual operating and maintenance costs* $ ( 980,000)Annual revenue (teaching, hall rental, box office) 420,000Annual funding support 560,000 Total annual operating cost $ 0

*Operating costs exclude TBSO staff. Concept and estimates for fundraising purposes only.

Eaton’s centre concept

Footprint: 60,000 square feet

Roof: 600-seat performance hall

Floor below: Learning centre

Ground: Retail & conference space

Basement: Storage, workshops

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Thunder BaySymphony orcheSTra

paul haasmusic director


A case for support

Through annual donations

Specific earmarked donations

Planned giving

Gifting tickets

Attending concerts

Volunteering

PUBLIC SECTOR ARTS FUNDERS 2017-2018 SEASON SPONSOR

Contact

Director of DevelopmentThunder Bay Symphony OrchestraP.O. Box 29192Thunder Bay, ON P7B 6P9

[email protected]

A case for support vesting in a long term future - tbso.ca · A case for support TE BAY SPO OESTA It takes $44,000 to make payroll for TBSO musicians every two weeks. Each TBSO regular

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