Regina Symphony Orchestra gets $200K in emergency relief from province

A decision by the Saskatchewan government was music to the ears of the Regina Symphony Orchestra.

On Thursday, the provincial government announced it was providing one-time emergency funding of $200,000 to the RSO.

The symphony has been struggling since the COVID-19 pandemic hit and RSO board chair Ian Yeates said the past three years have brought losses, diminished audiences and increased inflationary expenses.

Yeates said symphony orchestras are critical parts of the cultural infrastructure of cities like Regina.

“I think a lot of people take these things for granted but it is part of the furniture and it will be missed when it’s gone,” he said during a media conference at the Conexus Arts Centre.

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Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Laura Ross agreed with Yeates.

“It’s so important that we have our symphony alive and functioning and playing for (not only) the enjoyment but for the betterment of our community,” Ross said.

Ross said the funding was delivered to help the RSO make it through the year.

She said she was pleased with the work the board did upon requesting a meeting with the province to discuss its future.

“We sat down and we had a very in-depth meeting and they explained to myself and staff what the situation was here at the RSO,” Ross said.

“Their backs were against the wall. And it wasn’t for a lack of trying … They sat down and went through a very intensive search to how they could do it better and how they could be sustainable.”

The RSO says the funding was necessary to prevent the orchestra from closing its doors. (Daniel Reech/980 CJME)

Former board chair Judy McCuskee was involved in the talks with the province. She said the RSO had exhausted its cashflow and wouldn’t have been able to continuing paying its payroll past “about March.”

“We do have some really wonderful major donors but we had called on them last year and we had called on them again this year and there’s a limit to how much the same people can give …,” McCuskee said. “Inflation’s going up (and) donations are not easy to come by.”

McCuskee said generally, it’s thought that a community generally needs to have one million to two million people to be able to support a professional symphony orchestra.

“We’re a quarter of that but yet we’ve survived for 115 years and that’s because the people of this area wanted us; they wanted a symphony,” McCuskee said.

“Our objective and what we’re going to do with this lifeline that we’ve been thrown is to be sure that people still want us and they know why we’re here.”

RSO will be performing music from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone on Friday and Saturday at Conexus.