Chicago Still Running Deficits, But Things Are Looking Up

The Chicago Symphony ran up another sizable deficit in the 2004-05 season ($1.3 million, to be exact,) but that figure represents a major improvement over the previous season and is $700,000 less than the deficit the orchestra had projected for the year. Fund-raising was up by 4% overall, and the budget for fiscal 2005 was reduced 2.6% from the previous year. Ticket sales also rebounded from a slow year in 2003-04, and were up by 7% overall, with nearly 85% of subscribers renewing their seats for 2005-06. The CSO’s internal plan calls for achieving a balanced budget by 2006-07.