"This is not a place any of us wanted to get to," said Board Chairman Richard B. Worley. But, he said, "this is a chance, an urgent chance, to save this great treasure at a time in its artistic and executive leadership when it has the best chance that it's had in a long time to really turn around."
The orchestra figures it needs to raise about $160 million - a good portion of it quickly:
$12 million by November.
About $60 million (including the aforementioned $12 million) by August 2014 for working capital, funding the deficits, the cost of bankruptcy, and new initiatives in the strategic plan.
$100 million in new endowment.
Additionally, the orchestra needs to increase its annual fund-raising about 65 percent by 2016, from $9.3 million to $15.3 million.
The idea is to cover expected deficits over the next several years with special fund-raising while endowment pledges come in (incrementally, as they normally do in such campaigns) and begin to produce income.
Among relationships likely to be reconsidered under the jurisdiction of Bankruptcy Court is the orchestra's lease with the Kimmel Center, which owns the orchestra's primary venue, Verizon Hall. Orchestra leaders said Friday that they recently had asked for a reduction in rent, which the orchestra pays as part of a deal in which the Kimmel programs and retains income from shows in the Academy of Music, still owned by the orchestra.
Whatever the terms of a new contract with musicians, Vulgamore said, she wants Philadelphia to remain a destination orchestra for musicians.
But, she said, "I think a destination orchestra isn't singularly about pay. I think it's about what happens when you're here, how you feel about the environment you're working in, and who is around you and what musically you're doing. We need to have as much pay as we can, but we need to frankly have a relationship with the art that is rewarding beyond pay."
