A few weeks back, I noted that the Boston Symphony appeared to be flush with cash. An article by Geoff Edgers in the Boston Globe reports, however, that the orchestra has been running deficits for three years in a row. What gives? Writes Edgers: "Two years ago, the BSO's board established a special $40 million endowment fund to pay for music director James Levine's ambitious and expensive programming. But because of the way the BSO draws off that endowment, the symphony won't be able to cash in on a significant amount of the earnings for some time, [managing director Mark] Volpe said." When the fund is removed — let's jokingly call it inaccessible money for inaccessible music — a seeming surplus becomes a deficit. The orchestra adds: "In truth, the current BSO endowment" — now a whopping $370 million — "is not yet sufficient to provide the endowment interest income needed for the future financial stability of the organization in today's challenging economic and market environment." So the orchestra is set to launch a major new fund-raising campaign. Do these deficits spell trouble for the BSO? Or are they a more transient phenomenon? Discussion continues at Edgers's blog.
