In the past five years, the Helena Symphony has crescendoed from a small community orchestra to a big-budget operation that pays its musicians and hosts up-and-coming classical music stars.

The change is in no small part due to the artistic vision of music director Allan R. Scott, who was hired in 2003 with hopes that he would take the symphony to a new level.

While much of that growth is undoubtedly positive, it begs the question: Can the Helena community support such an expensive organization?

Scott and other symphony officials emphatically say yes.

However, a look at the organization’s tax documents for the past 10 years paints a more complex picture.

Since 1997, the symphony’s bottom line at the close of the fiscal year has been in deficit seven out of 10 times.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, according to finance chair Peter Bogy, who has served on the symphony board for the past four years.

Bogy attributes this deficit to money that’s been collected for services not yet rendered, as in the case of a season subscription that’s been sold for a series of concerts that haven’t yet happened. This “deferred revenue” might be in the bank, but is still considered a liability, just like owing money on a house.

Since the symphony has no assets save for a small collection of instruments valued at about $7,000, which depreciates each year, that bottom line could easily be negative, even if cash flow is on track.

Other figures show that the symphony’s expenses have continued to outpace its revenue more often than not.

After running about $10,000 in the red on a $100,000 budget for several years, the symphony managed to bring in more than it spent from 2001-03.

During the 2003-04 fiscal year, when expenses exceeded income by approximately $50,000, the small gains that the symphony had made — to the tune of nearly $67,000 — were almost completely wiped out.

In the ensuing years, expenses have exceeded income by approximately $50,000, $40,000, $10,000 and $40,000, respectively. The growth in expenses and resulting debt have paralleled an increase in revenue, from $113,270 in 1999-2000 to $551,854 at the close of the 2007-08 fiscal year.

In order to absorb the deficit, the symphony has turned to its major donors, taken out a line of credit and even canceled a concert at the end of the 2006-07 season in order to get back on track.

The symphony turned a corner in 2007-08 and was able to keep pace with its expenses for the first time in five years, bringing in $551,000 to offset $549,434 in costs.

According to Alan Satterly, executive director of the Glacier Symphony in Kalispell, these income-expense lines from the nonprofit 990 tax form are a good indicator of an organization’s fiscal stability, even if they do not exactly reflect its financial picture.

They don’t necessarily mean the symphony can’t — or didn’t — pay the rent, but they could mean the organization is living beyond its means in a way that is not sustainable.

When Satterly was hired as the executive director of the Glacier Symphony two years ago, the organization was $100,000 in debt. The symphony was forced to borrow $60,000 against its endowment, and two years later is completely in the black.

“We’ve been kind of on a roll since,” says Satterly, whose organization is now enjoying unprecedented donor and volunteer support.

Satterly says the simple answer to why the Glacier Symphony’s debt continued to snowball is that its longtime administration was a throwback to the days when it was a small community orchestra.

“It just kind of outgrew that staff,” Satterly says. “No one had ever gone to the donors and said, ‘Here’s what we need from you.’ ”

Supply and demand

According to board president Keith Meyer, the Helena Symphony’s current status can be attributed to a similar trajectory.

“This isn’t the same symphony as it was (10 years ago),” said Meyer, who has seen the symphony grow from a mom-and-pop group of volunteer musicians who love to play to an organization that brings in high-caliber, paid musicians and commands national attention.

Scott was hired as the 14th music director of the Helena Symphony after a nationwide search that brought in an initial pool of more than 100 applicants.

Ross Cannon, a former longtime board member who was a part of the search committee, says each of the five finalists for the position was an exceptional musician, but Scott stood out as having much more.

“It just seemed to us that he understood all sides of artistic organizations,” says Cannon. “He was willing to be used in any way that he could be helpful. It was easy; he was the guy.”

The charismatic young conductor brought to the Helena Symphony a relentless enthusiasm and a commitment to ambitious programming. Rather than endless pops concerts, Scott has brought new audiences to the symphony by offering them opera and Mahler — challenging, unusual offerings for any small-town symphony.

Meyer says the board has been 100 percent behind Scott’s vision — and they knew it was going to cost money.

In 2006, the symphony began compensating its musicians and signed them to a master contract. Today, the symphony regularly hosts nationally known soloists such as hot young cellist Alisa Weilerstein and, more recently, Trio Casals.

“Most of the guest artists we get have a personal relationship with Allan, and consequently, we get them at about half-cost,” Bogy notes.

The symphony’s commitment to raising the baton, so to speak, paid off much more quickly than anyone expected.

Since 2003, the symphony’s income has more than doubled, from $206,144 to $551,854 in 2007-08; average audience size has grown from 300 to 1,000 per concert and season subscriptions have grown nearly 600 percent, from 120 to about 700.

“It impacts the community more than any other arts organization in this town, financially,” Scott says.

The symphony’s annual budget, a modest $100,000 just 10 years ago, is projected to be $640,000 for the upcoming fiscal year.

“All the goals we had laid out financially and artistically, we had achieved in two years,” says Scott, noting that at the beginning, simple things like having enough programs became an issue because they just didn’t plan on having so many people show up. “It’s like being on steroids; the rest of our body wasn’t ready for it.”

Board member and chorale singer Sue Brookhart says it took the symphony a while to realize that the same old fundraising tactics just weren’t going to work.

“We have recently moved from a very nice local, regional orchestra to a really good up-and-coming orchestra,” Brookhart says, “and there are costs associated with that.”

According to Scott, this influx of new audience members have high expectations for the music as well.

“If (symphony-goers) are going to pay between $20 and $50 dollars for a ticket, they want a product that’s not the product of a community orchestra. That model doesn’t exist anymore in this country,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with local mom and pop shops, but that’s not what I was hired to do.”

As costs increase, support for the symphony has followed suit.

“The largest donation when I got here was not even $500. The largest donation now is $25,000 plus,” says Scott. “That’s from an individual. From corporations (donations are) even larger.

“The bottom line is that the symphony has grown. The idea is keeping up with the growth.”

Leadership roles

In 2006, the symphony board of directors hired Kevin Williams as its executive director.

Williams, who was chosen on the strength of his marketing and public relations skills, lasted six months; those who worked with him speculate that he became overwhelmed by the position.

Although Williams was well-versed in classical music and promotion, Meyer says he simply didn’t have the skills in finance and fundraising that are required to be a successful executive director.

Symphony officials say Williams did no real damage, but Meyer says the episode forced them to look at the position of executive director differently.

With the appointment of Lawrence Nelson as executive director in July, Meyer says the board has chosen somebody with a strong background in management and finance.

Just a few months into the job, Nelson says he’s learning that cash flow is a huge challenge.

“It’s a fact of orchestras and it’s a fact of not-for-profits that you have to pay very close attention to cash flow,” says Nelson.

“Absolutely it’s an issue; it’s always an issue,” agrees Bogy. “We have times of the year when we’re flush, we have times of the year when we scramble.”

What that means is that even if the symphony has been promised a $1,000 donation or sold a heap of subscriptions, there’s no guarantee that money will be in the bank on the day the musicians need to be paid.

Bright lights, small city

While the public may not notice a difference, it’s the musicians and staff who experience the crunch firsthand when times are tight.

Principal percussionist Kerry Brown says that except for the occasional rumor, he has been unaware of the symphony’s financial status, and that the orchestra has been operating as usual for the past several years, always paying its musicians on time.

Two years ago, however, Brown decided to purchase and maintain his own timpani when the symphony didn’t have the money to replace the instrument heads.

Brown says it’s customary for musicians to maintain their own instruments, but that in this case, it’s thousands of dollars of equipment that the symphony had always helped to take care of.

“It’s worth it to me not to put up with the poor sound,” Brown said.

The implementation of Scott’s vision has brought other changes as well.

In the past few years, Brown has seen the symphony employ many more players from out-of-town, not only paying for their performance and rehearsal time (as it does for all orchestra musicians), but for their travel as well.

And when up to 30 players are coming in for each performance, those travel costs add up.

“I believe in what he’s doing,” says Brown, but adds that he sometimes wonders if Scott is trying to run a big city symphony on a small-town budget.

“All in all I think he wants to do good,” says Brown. “I just don’t know where all the money’s going to come from.”

Principal cello player Linda Kuhn has been involved with the symphony for 20 years. She hasn’t noticed it struggling with day-to-day operations, either.

“I think that they do an extremely good job of using the resources they have,” says Kuhn, who has seen enthusiasm for the symphony skyrocket in recent years.

Kuhn says that the makeup of the orchestra has not changed significantly, but that a need for certain instruments as well as the time commitment Scott requires are two reasons behind an increase in utility players (musicians not under the master agreement, who may or may not be from out-of-town).

“He expects a lot,” says Kuhn, who believes that some players may feel threatened by Scott’s vision.

“It’s because of his energy and enthusiasm that we’ve made the progress that we have,” she adds.

Scott, who estimates that about 35 percent of orchestra players do not live in Helena, notes that there is a cap on how much musicians can be paid for travel. He adds that when auditions are held for open positions, they are conducted blind, so that musicians are not chosen based on budget concerns.

“We want the best players, I don’t care where they live,” he said.

And as a musician who has played with orchestras across the state, Kuhn can attest that the symphony enjoys one of the best reputations around.

“It hasn’t always been that way with the Helena Symphony,” she said.

Looking to the future

While the community seems to like the idea of having a symphony worth bragging about, it remains to be seen whether it can support such an ambitious artistic vision long-term.

In the meantime, the symphony is slowly putting measures in place to curb its spending and chip away at its debt.

“Very rarely do we go over an expense line. We’re now focused on locking in our revenue lines because we’re finding that we’re not making those the way we would like to,” Bogy says.

This year subscriptions are down just slightly, and as the economic downturn seems to be only beginning, the symphony expects that arts patrons will be taking a hard look at their discretionary income.

“That is going to have a huge effect on all nonprofits,” Scott says.

The new master agreement for musicians includes a gradual increase in compensation to allow the organization to ease into such a major expense.

Other cost-cutting options include using fewer players — 70 instead of the 88 Scott prefers — or canceling a rehearsal when cash flow isn’t on target.

“It’s all painful,” he admits, but explains that the goal is to scale back expenses without compromising the artistic product. “Every time you cut back a concert, you’re cutting back income, sponsorships, advertisers ... that’s not where you try to cut.”

This year the symphony has, for the first time, written a $30,000 surplus into its budget. If all goes according to plan, that money will go into the bank at the end of the year to build a fund the symphony can draw upon and replenish throughout the season.

Bogy says his dream is to have $100,000 in the bank so that when times are tight, figuring out how to pay the bills isn’t such an issue.

Currently, according to Nelson, the symphony is in good standing as far as payroll and day-to-day operations.

“Do we have the money to do what we’re doing? So far the answer is yes, yes we do,” he said.

Within reach

As a board member, Brookhart says she’s seen the organization become more efficient at coordinating its business and artistic sides and working within a budget.

Now that the board is stepping up fundraising efforts and has hired an artistic director who knows how to write grants, she hopes the money coming in will begin to line up with the artistic product that’s being put out.

Brookhart believes stability for the symphony is within reach, and adds that if it weren’t, she wouldn’t be so involved with the organization.

As the community grows, she sees the symphony as part of the “Helena lifestyle” that’s attracting people to the area — a good thing for music lovers and real estate agents alike.

She says the organization has spent the past five years building a better orchestra.

“Now, we are learning how to pay for it,” Brookhart said.

“I’m optimistic; I really am,” she added.

Bogy agrees.

“I think, program-wise, we’re where we should be, and I believe that our board as it expands, our donors will stand up to that. And that’s what our challenge is now.”

As for Scott, he believes wholeheartedly that the Helena community will rise to the occasion.

“I always say to every donor, I’m not a salesman — because I’m not selling anything. This is like religion to me; it’s faith,” he says.

As long as they continue to support it, Scott and the Helena Symphony plan to strive to be a first-rate organization that’s meaningful both in and outside the concert hall.

“That takes money,” Scott says.

Click here to view an Excel spreadsheet of the symphony's funding.

Foundation provides for long-term vision

The Helena Symphony Foundation was established as a means to provide a stable source of income for the symphony long-term.

According to co-founder and former board member Ross Cannon, the idea was proposed by fellow board member Tom Morrison seven or eight years ago.

Morrison and a small group of symphony supporters got together and solicited several donors to start the fund, which is now valued at about $125,000. Interest from the endowment is given to the symphony each year, while the principal remains untouched.

The Helena Symphony Foundation board of directors continues to seek out donors and also hosts an evening with the renowned Muir Quartet as a fundraiser each year.

Cannon says last year the foundation was able to give the symphony nearly $9,000, plus an extra $4,000 directly from the Muir fundraiser.

Admittedly, this is just a small contribution in light of the symphony’s close to $640,000 budget, but, Cannon notes, “at least that’s a source of funding they can count on.”

Cannon would like to see the endowment reach at least $250,000 someday — although in the current economic climate, he doesn’t expect it to be any day soon.

For more information about the Helena Symphony Foundation, go to www.helenasymphony.org.

Reporter Emily Donahoe: 447-4083 or emily.donahoe@helenair.com