The Richmond Symphony is taking its show on the road. Photos courtesy of the symphony.
The Richmond Symphony is going mobile.
The organization has received a $500,000 matching challenge grant from the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation that will fund the purchase a large, portable performance tent, allowing the group to take the show on the road from its usual home at the Carpenter Theater.
“We want to be able to branch out into the community,” said Scott Dodson, the symphony’s director of advancement and patron communications. “We can make a bigger impact on Richmond if we can go where those individuals are, but not every place has a facility that is appropriate for us.”
The symphony’s chosen tent, an arched frame tent that fits over a stage at 80 feet wide, can easily hold the 70-piece symphony and its 150-member symphony chorus.
But in order to get the funds, the symphony has been challenged by the Parsons Foundation to first raise the matching portion, another $500,000. It has until November of 2015 to hit that mark, but Dodson said they are hopeful they will reach that goal earlier, getting the tent and starting their performances by next fall.
The symphony hopes to buy this 80-foot-wide performance tent.
Fundraising for the matching half of the grant will include working with individual donors, private foundations and corporate sponsors. The symphony is also considering drawing in more corporate donations by offering naming opportunities for the tent or sponsored concerts.
The grant will cover the physical aspects of the new mobile performance structure, including the tent itself, staging, lighting and sound and a truck to haul the equipment. The matching portion will allow the symphony five years of operation as they adjust to the new, mobile venue.
Dodson said the tent could have a lifespan of 20 years or more. After those first five years, Dodson said, the symphony will have a good understanding of the regular costs of the equipment and can work that into the annual budget.
The symphony already plays between 50 and 75 concerts a year, many at the Carpenter Theater.
Some potential future locations include rural areas near Goochland or Orange counties, as well as places within the city, like Browns Island or Chimborazo Park. Dodson said the symphony hopes to work with Richmond’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities to pinpoint more future performance areas.
“It gives us a lot of possibilities, one of which is going into communities that wouldn’t traditionally have access to the symphony, whether it is for economic reasons or because they are harder places to travel to,” Dodson said. “The real point of it is to be able to provide that live, classical music experience to an audience that wouldn’t have it otherwise.”
The Richmond Symphony gets its funding from a diverse group of sources, including some government entities like the National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia Commission for the Arts. Most of their corporate sponsors are local to Richmond or have a large presence in the area, like Altria, Amtrak and Union First Market Bank.
Dodson said between 35 and 40 percent of the group’s income comes from ticket sales.
The symphony’s most recent tax forms filed with the IRS from 2012 listed their revenue as $4.6 million and expenses as $4.55 million.
The Richmond Symphony is taking its show on the road. Photos courtesy of the symphony.
The Richmond Symphony is going mobile.
The organization has received a $500,000 matching challenge grant from the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation that will fund the purchase a large, portable performance tent, allowing the group to take the show on the road from its usual home at the Carpenter Theater.
“We want to be able to branch out into the community,” said Scott Dodson, the symphony’s director of advancement and patron communications. “We can make a bigger impact on Richmond if we can go where those individuals are, but not every place has a facility that is appropriate for us.”
The symphony’s chosen tent, an arched frame tent that fits over a stage at 80 feet wide, can easily hold the 70-piece symphony and its 150-member symphony chorus.
But in order to get the funds, the symphony has been challenged by the Parsons Foundation to first raise the matching portion, another $500,000. It has until November of 2015 to hit that mark, but Dodson said they are hopeful they will reach that goal earlier, getting the tent and starting their performances by next fall.
The symphony hopes to buy this 80-foot-wide performance tent.
Fundraising for the matching half of the grant will include working with individual donors, private foundations and corporate sponsors. The symphony is also considering drawing in more corporate donations by offering naming opportunities for the tent or sponsored concerts.
The grant will cover the physical aspects of the new mobile performance structure, including the tent itself, staging, lighting and sound and a truck to haul the equipment. The matching portion will allow the symphony five years of operation as they adjust to the new, mobile venue.
Dodson said the tent could have a lifespan of 20 years or more. After those first five years, Dodson said, the symphony will have a good understanding of the regular costs of the equipment and can work that into the annual budget.
The symphony already plays between 50 and 75 concerts a year, many at the Carpenter Theater.
Some potential future locations include rural areas near Goochland or Orange counties, as well as places within the city, like Browns Island or Chimborazo Park. Dodson said the symphony hopes to work with Richmond’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities to pinpoint more future performance areas.
“It gives us a lot of possibilities, one of which is going into communities that wouldn’t traditionally have access to the symphony, whether it is for economic reasons or because they are harder places to travel to,” Dodson said. “The real point of it is to be able to provide that live, classical music experience to an audience that wouldn’t have it otherwise.”
The Richmond Symphony gets its funding from a diverse group of sources, including some government entities like the National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia Commission for the Arts. Most of their corporate sponsors are local to Richmond or have a large presence in the area, like Altria, Amtrak and Union First Market Bank.
Dodson said between 35 and 40 percent of the group’s income comes from ticket sales.
The symphony’s most recent tax forms filed with the IRS from 2012 listed their revenue as $4.6 million and expenses as $4.55 million.