Arts Council and Illinois Symphony Orchestra offer similar reasoning in their lamentations over lost funding. Acting director Penny Wollan-Kriel says SAAC lost 45 percent of its state funding from 2007 to 2010. Combined with a 50 percent decrease in city funding and lower community contributions, the cuts mean programs and grants have been scaled back. The cuts also led to a reduced staff at SAAC, where now only one part-time employee performs the duties three people used to take on.

The Illinois Symphony Orchestra has suffered in a similar way, with a 20 percent drop in donations from 2008 to 2009 and about a 20 percent drop in ticket sales since the recession began. Its funding from the Illinois Arts Council is also half of what it was in 2007. In part, the cuts mean fewer educational programs for area children, an early symptom of a problem with huge potential to snowball, says Trevor Orthmann, ISO’s executive director.

“The opportunity for students to hear a symphony orchestra as part of their education can lead to students wanting to play instruments that develop discipline and confidence much like sports do,” Orthmann says. Developing children’s appreciation of symphonies, and other arts, is also important for developing future patrons who will support such endeavors, he adds.

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