Minnesota Orchestra had $3.8 million deficit last season despite record revenue
The Minnesota Orchestra, the largest nonprofit performing arts organization in the state, announced an operating loss of $3.8 million for the 2023-24 season on Wednesday.
The orchestra's revenues for the year totaled $38.7 million against operating expenses of $42.6 million. However, it reached its highest-ever annual fund donations total at $10 million and highest earned revenue at $11.6 million. The latter figure is a 22% increase over the previous year.
The rising revenue figures arrived during Thomas Søndergård's first season as the Music Director of the orchestra. He's the 11th in the orchestra's history.
The operating report, which spans the season from September 2023 through August 2024, notes the loss of federal pandemic-era grants contributed to the loss. It was the organization's first season since 2020 without support from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
"Our financial results tell the story of an organization that is still climbing back from the pandemic and also achieving key mileposts," interim President and CEO Brent Assink says. "Though our fundraising totals were high, we were not able to make up those PPP funds and ended with a deficit. On the bright side, the Orchestra saw more contributions to its annual fund than ever before, partly due to the tremendous generosity of our Board of Directors, and it achieved record levels of earned revenue too.'
Assink, a former President of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, assumed the role in August when former CEO Michele Miller Burns left to take the reins of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
Søndergård's first season was marked by collaborations with performers like pianist Yuja Wang and local rapper Nur-D, as well as the completion of its recordings of 10 Mahler symphonies and new education programs.
Søndergård has already received acclaim for his first (and part of his second) season at the helm, taking over for Osmo Vänskä, who led the orchestra from 2022 through the conclusion of the 2022-23 season. The record revenue levels are largely the result of rentals and ticket sales, with 75% paid capacity on the season and 83% total capacity, per the Star Tribune.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Legacy High unveils advanced new band trailer features
WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — A brand new band and orchestra trailer has made it home. On Monday, June 9, the grand reveal of Legacy High School's state-of-the-art trailer took place. The money was used from the Wichita Falls Independent School District bond to build the new schools and was custom-built specifically for Legacy's band. The trailer is fully equipped with more lighting, air conditioning and powered ramps and stairs. Several staff members and parents were in attendance to take the first look and the first steps inside the new trailer, including Legacy's band director, Loy Studer, who is excited about all the ways it will improve things for his students. 'The technology they've built in so we can make things safer for kids, with the powered ramps so nobody's lifting anything,' Studer said. 'They did a great job with the graphics, and it represents the new branding for the new school.' Studer added that not only will this trailer allow the band to travel out of town without having to rent trucks, but it will also cut about an hour off the load-in and load-out times. WFISD officials said a similar trailer is in the works right now for Memorial High School's band as well. They'll announce the grand reveal of that trailer at a later date. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Miami Herald
6 days ago
- Miami Herald
Feds bust South Florida ring that collected $34 million in US loans during pandemic
At the peak of the pandemic, a ring of South Floridians jumped on the federal relief bandwagon and applied for more than $34 million in loans from the Small Business Administration to help them survive the public health crisis. Now, six ring members have been indicted on conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering charges after the SBA guaranteed more than 90 of their bank-approved business loans between 2020 and 2021, federal prosecutors said Thursday. A grand jury indictment has charged the six defendants — Elaine A. Escoe, 40; Alfred L. Davis, 51; Gino J. Jourdan, 37; Cher L. Davis, 53; Latoya T. Clark, 39; and James G. McGhow, 69, — with scheming to obtain federal COVID-19 relief funds for their companies in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. The indictment says their loan applications contained falsified employee numbers, payroll expenses and business revenues, along with fabricated tax documents and bank statements. As a result, the SBA authorized disbursements of about $29 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans and millions in other federal relief funds that the defendants allegedly spent on themselves, according to prosecutor Jonathan Bailyn. If convicted, the defendants face several years in prison. Since the pandemic, federal prosecutors have brought fraud charges against more than 3,200 defendants nationwide — including over 250 in South Florida, the worst-hit region — for stealing over $1.7 billion from the approved pandemic loan programs, according to the Justice Department. Congress approved the emergency programs, with about $800 billion in loans, to help struggling businesses meet payroll and other expenses. Among the loan-fraud suspects that popped up on South Florida's radar was Andre Lorquet, whose case led federal investigators to the probe of the six recently charged ring members. Before the pandemic, Lorquet opened a business, Miami ENT, and after COVID-19 swept the nation in March 2020, he used the company to amass a small fortune by obtaining PPP and other federal loans totaling $4.4 million. He spent more than $600,000 on two Teslas, a Lamborghini Urus and a Porsche Panamera GTS, according to Homeland Security Investigations. At his sentencing last year, Bailyn, the prosecutor, described Lorquet as a greedy criminal who fleeced his country at one of its weakest moments in history. Lorquet was sentenced to six years. 'We were in the middle of a pandemic and a national crisis,' Bailyn said. 'There were many people who saw this as an opportunity for charity; this defendant saw it as an opportunity for exploitation and opportunism.'
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Yahoo
Ex-Hanford worker sentenced for COVID loan fraud for solar-powered wheelchair idea
A Kennewick man has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud to obtain money through federal COVID-19 relief programs. David 'Kurt' Schneider, who wanted money to develop a solar-powered wheelchair, also is required to repay nearly $122,000 to the federal government. He was one of three people in the federal court case accused of fraudulently obtaining at least $292,000 in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, funding in 2020 and 2021. Kelly Jo Driver, 43, of South Carolina, pleaded guilty to fraudulent claims and was sentenced to five years of probation but no incarceration after preparing falsified documents for Schneider and the owner of a Tri-Cities gun shop to submit with their loan applications. She also is jointly responsible with Schneider for repaying the money. Leif Gerard Larsen, the owner of Larsen Firearms in Pasco, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced July 30 in the Yakima County Courthouse. 'By stealing nearly $300,000 intended for legitimate businesses, these defendants diverted critical resources at a time when many businesses were fighting to survive,' said Rich Barker, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington. The CARES Act was intended to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who were suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The three defendants also applied for additional payments or loans of about $563,600, but those applications were rejected, according to court documents. They included Paycheck Protection Program loans to small businesses primarily to cover worker paychecks, which were eligible to be forgiven, with no money paid back. The program also offered low-interest Economic Injury Disaster loans Schneider applied for CARES Act loans for his businesses Solar Mobility, RealNZ Water and Tempest Tactical Solutions using documents created by Driver that falsified payroll information and federal tax forms to claim he had up to 10 employees. When Schneider was asked for bank records to confirm his payroll, he said that employees of Solar Mobility, his solar wheelchair company, had asked to be paid in cash during the pandemic. Schneider and Driver also falsely claimed that RealNZ Water, a company to sell water bottled in New Zealand, had 10 employees. The Washington Department of Revenue had no records of the company existing or reporting revenue and no wages were reported to the Washington state Employment Security Department, according to a court document. Court documents also said that his business Tempest Tactical Solutions had no business operations and had only been registered with the Washington State Secretary of State to apply for CARES Act money. The only revenue Schneider reported to the Department of Revenue in 2019 and 2020 were from his wages at a Hanford nuclear site job at the vitrification plant, according to a court document. Schneider was obsessed with the development of a solar wheelchair to be used by veterans, his attorney, Deric Orr, said in a court document. He sought a contract for his invention with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, thinking it would make his solar wheelchair a major success and help veterans. But he came to believe the agency was sabotaging his efforts, according to court documents. Schneider saw the loan money he falsely obtained as a way to keep his business afloat and to fight back against the perceived sabotage, his attorney said. Driver provided false documents to both Schneider and Larsen for loan applications and then received 10% of the proceeds, according to court documents. She urged the other defendants in the case to seek higher loan amounts, which also would net her more money, according to court documents filed by Eastern District of Washington U.S. Attorney's Office. Driver's attorney, Jennifer Barnes, argued that she had no criminal record and had a noncancerous tumor that could soon require treatment. Barnes asked for no incarceration. Schneider told Larsen he also could obtain loans under the CARES Act, which could be forgiven, using false payroll documents created by Driver, according to court documents. He and Driver submitted applications falsely claiming he had 10 employees at Larsen Firearms and Larsen Gunsmithing & Firearms, according to court documents. He withdrew one application after being interviewed by federal agents. He received a loan of nearly $150,000 for the other application, according to court documents. Larsen is scheduled to be sentenced July 30 in the Yakima U.S. Courthouse. The case was investigated by the Eastern District of Washington COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeremy Kelley and Frieda Zimmerman. U.S. Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima sentenced Schneider and Driver.
