Executive director of the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra Daniel Mills (middle) receives a cheque for more than $41,000 on Thursday from the BC Interior Community Foundation (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

COMMUNITY FUNDING

Kamloops Symphony Orchestra among three charities to receive funding from BC Interior Community Foundation

Jun 18, 2020 | 5:04 PM

KAMLOOPS — When COVID-19 shut down events in March, the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra was forced to cancel its final two concerts of the season. Through the pandemic, it has struggled to keep financially afloat.

“On the revenue side, we were about $100,000 less than what we expected when we combine concert ticket revenue and our fundraiser,” said executive director of the Kamloops Symphony Daniel Mills.

However, through donations, government grants and operation cost-savings during the pandemic, the symphony has been able to balance the budget. On Thursday, it received a $41,000 cheque from the BC Interior Community Foundation.

“This is fantastic. The timing couldn’t be better for us as we wrap up the end of our year,” said Mills. “Of course, the year ended a bit differently than we originally had hoped with the cancellation of our two concerts and postponement of our major fundraiser that happens in the spring, so to have this consistent funding is a great thing.”

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There were a total of three recipients on Thursday. Western Canada Theatre banked $12,500 that will help during the pandemic, while the Kamloops Brain Injury Association was granted $35,000 from the Gur Singh Memorial Fund.

“There are a lot of strains on the economy,” said executive director of the Kamloops Brain Injury Association Dave Johnson. “A lot of people are asking for help, so having this money available to get people back to work, people who have had brain injuries, the timing is excellent.”

Some of the funds will remain in Kamloops, but most of it will be distributed across the province, used to keep brain injury associations going during these challenging times.

“It will go to support our programs, and often what that means is we’ve got to pay the rent, we’ve got to pay the phone bills, things like that,” noted Johnson. “It’s not necessarily glorious stuff, but it’s important, so we’ll get that covered. Then we have a space to work with survivors of brain injuries.”

For the Kamloops Symphony, it’s still working out how next season will look, knowing it may be challenge if restrictions on gatherings of 50 or more remain.

“We’re quite limited in what we can do if that also includes the orchestra itself,” said Mills. “Some orchestras are bigger than 50 people. Currently, we sit at about 45 for a normal concert. So at this point, we are gauging various options of what that could mean for us. We’re looking at all options, including digital platforms, and the way we’ve chosen to go forward in the fall is rather releasing an entire season as we would normally, we have chosen to go on a concert-by-concert basis, so we can re-evaluate and shift programming, depending on what the limitations are.”