Need for Community Support Stressed : Symphony’s Comeback Plan Told

Leaders of the San Diego Symphony, offering a detailed look at their plan to bring the symphony back to life, acknowledged Wednesday that renewal of operations constitutes “a giant leap of faith” and that the organization has not yet re-established the trust of San Diego music lovers.

“We must have the community supporting us,” Executive Director Wesley O. Brustad said, “or the critics are right: This will never work.”

While saying the financial tenuousness of the new season does not constitute a “crisis,” Brustad said saving the symphony is now an annual proposition.

“The problem in this town,” he said, “is people failing to recognize that symphony orchestras are dependent on contributed income every single year. You don’t save a symphony orchestra once--you save it every single year. It is not self-sustaining.”

‘On the Right Track’

Herbert J. Solomon, president of the symphony’s board, said, “In no way have we achieved long-term stability. But--we’re on the right track. This is in no sense an extension of a bootstrap operation.

“Half the major symphonies in the country approach each year with a carryover deficit. For the first time in 20 years, we’ve eliminated that. Few arts organizations are ever able to say that.”

Brustad added: “If the community decides they won’t support us, that they won’t buy tickets, the outcome is certain--we’ll fail.”

He conceded that much of the symphony’s financial plan is predicated on past performance. In the $5-million budget allocated for 1987-88, roughly $3 million is to come from “earned income.” That means ticket sales mainly, but it also includes recording royalties, rental of Symphony Hall to non-symphony performers, and concessions.

Brustad predicted $3.7 million in revenues for the 1988-89 season. He itemized the figures as follows: $2.85 million in ticket sales; $200,000 in “contract revenues,” such as “run-out” shows performed by the orchestra in venues other than Symphony Hall; $120,000 in hall rentals; $520,000 in concessions, largely from the Summer Pops, and miscellaneous fees of $10,000.

“That’s $3.7 million,” Brustad said. “Put together with $1.85 million in contributed income (from donors, grants, etc.), that’s more than $5 million.”

Contributed Income

Contributed income is another category in which the symphony is betting on hope. Just this week, board members Judson R. Grosvenor and Murray Hutchison made major contributions, as did non-board member Roger Revelle. The three together accounted for nearly $1 million in contributions, which Solomon said will pay back ticket holders to the canceled 1986-87 season as well as vendors.

That puts the slate at zero. Brustad is hoping, however, for $1.9 million in additional contributions for ‘87-88. So far, he has a guarantee of $150,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts, and nothing else.

“Let’s put it this way,” he said. “We have many requests in to other groups and foundations. We have been able to depend on about $1.9 million a year in contributed income in the past.”

He said another difference is that, in past years, even with roughly $2 million in contributions and $4 million in earnings, the symphony spent $8 million to $10 million, giving rise to a hulking debt service and crushing all hope of having reserves.

He and Solomon claim to have trimmed $2.2 million in expenses from the full season, in 1985-86. Much of that came with attrition, however, such as the symphony’s own staff dropping from 43 to its current 4.

Not Alarmed

Brustad said the absence of such monies in the coffers--at the moment--is not a cause for alarm.

He said the “typical orchestra” in the United States earns 45% of its income, receives 45% from contributions, and the remaining 10% comes from its endowment. The San Diego Symphony has no endowment. It also puts on a Summer Pops season, which many orchestras don’t. Brustad said the Pops represents a $2.2-million-a-year, “hope-to-break-even” proposition.

“If you pull out that $2.2 million,” Brustad said, “you end up with $3.35 million needed for a winter season. If you take 55% of $3.35 million, you get about $1.85 million--that’s our contributed income. Go back to the figures. We know that 55% has to come from either contributed income or endowment. Since we have no endowment, we have to have 55% in contributions. Have to.”

Solomon said he was confident that $1.9 million in contributed income, and more than $3 million in earned income, could be raised--not just this year but every year.

“We have in the past,” Solomon said. “If I thought we were in the hole, I wouldn’t have signed the contract (for a 32-week season beginning this fall and 37 weeks in ‘88-89). We’ve got to stop this--meaning the deficit financing of the past. Now, if the public doesn’t give a damn--if they don’t give money--yes, we do have a problem.”

He conceded that non-board members must be tapped for much of the financing of the future. Solomon said he hopes that next year’s contributions will come largely from non-board members.

“We’ve got to re-establish trust and confidence,” Solomon said, “and clearly, we haven’t yet. It’s gonna take a while. It will take our demonstrating that we know what we’re doing. We have made the first big step.”