Bankruptcy filing ends orchestra's 75-year run

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Mar 13, 2003 | by BILL REED

Symphony's assets will be liquidated

It is finished.

The Colorado Springs Symphony will be liquidated after filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Denver.

This ends the 75-year history of the symphony, one of the most important arts groups in Colorado Springs and the longest continuously operating arts organization in Colorado.

Symphony Executive Director Larry Barrett said the organization exhausted all other possibilities. He said the symphony's "significant liabilities and financial risks" forced the Chapter 7 filing, and keeping it alive only would squander more money.

In Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a trustee of the court will liquidate the symphony's assets and distribute the money to creditors. Nothing will remain.

"It's very unfortunate for the community," said symphony board President Shawn Raintree, "but the sooner this chapter is closed, the sooner a new one can begin. I'm hopeful those beginnings can be made sooner rather than later."

Wish granted. The Colorado Springs Philharmonic Orchestra - made up of former Springs symphony musicians who severed their ties with that group - is lurching forward to fill the void.

The Philharmonic's executive director is Susan Greene, who was executive director of the Colorado Springs Symphony until her dismissal in Nov. 2001.

"My first reaction is one of great sadness. This is a 75-year-old orchestra which has a very impressive past," Greene said. "But now we commit ourselves with tremendous passion to a renewed effort to continue to have an orchestra of the highest caliber in Colorado Springs."

Greene's top priorities are to keep the Philharmonic's musicians in town (two more benefit concerts are planned), to build the legal infrastructure of the organization (bylaws, officers and nonprofit status), and to form a new board of directors.

The Philharmonic plans to launch a full symphony season in September.

Some are cautioning the Philharmonic not to rush forward too quickly. The Bee Vradenburg Foundation and the El Pomar Foundation are developing a plan for building a sustainable orchestra.

"As funders, we need to be thinking long-term in the future," said Susan Edmondson, executive director of Vradenburg. "We're concerned about moving quickly but smartly. If you rush in with bake sales, where are you in six months or a year? "

Q &A

1. What happens to the Colorado Springs Symphony's endowment fund? The Colorado Springs Symphony Foundation is a separate organization and still will exist. But its assets are less than $2 million, and it is saddled with the $1 million debt the symphony left behind.

The foundation is expected to pay off the debt over time. Foundation board members must decide which organization to back with their remaining funds.

2. What happens to the music library? The Colorado Springs Symphony's music library is its most important asset, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and representing decades of concerts.

The library will be auctioned by the court. Although all sides want the library to remain in Colorado Springs, it's unclear whether the Philharmonic will band together with the El Pomar Foundation and the Bee Vradenburg Foundation, or whether community factions will bid against one another.