Kitchener-Waterloo Musicians Still Keeping Symphony Going Two Years After Bankruptcy

by:

Joe Patti

Over the last two years I have been monitoring the story of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony which abruptly declared bankruptcy taking the musicians who had just negotiated a raise completely by surprise. Over the last couple years the musicians have managed to revive the organization, negotiating with creditors, and mounting a series of concerts.

There was a recent story on the CBC site with interviews with musicians reflecting on the two years since the bankruptcy.

Things aren’t back to normal for the group. One of the musicians was already working another part time job and shifted toward full-time when the orchestra went bankrupt. Another musician spent his life savings to move across Canada only to find the job no longer existed and started doing handy man jobs having never played with the organization. Where the season was once 90 concerts, they are down closer to 19.

I am glad to see that news organizations are continuing to revisit the story from time to time just to keep the musicians and the travails they have faced closer to top of mind.

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Author
Joe Patti

I have been writing Butts in the Seats (BitS) on topics of arts and cultural administration since 2004 (yikes!). Given the ever evolving concerns facing the sector, I have yet to exhaust the available subject matter. In addition to BitS, I am a founding contributor to the ArtsHacker (artshacker.com) website where I focus on topics related to boards, law, governance, policy and practice.

I am also an evangelist for the effort to Build Public Will For Arts and Culture being helmed by Arts Midwest and the Metropolitan Group (details).

My most recent role is as Theater Manager at the Rialto in Loveland, CO.

Among the things I am most proud are having produced an opera in the Hawaiian language and a dance drama about Hawaii's snow goddess Poli'ahu while working as a Theater Manager in Hawaii. Though there are many more highlights than there is space here to list.

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