LETTERS QUEENS Edition 1

• Published in: Newsday
• Main Author: Herbert M. Chain, Tom Farrelly, David E. Moore, Kathleen M. O'Connell, Michael J. Gorman
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Long Island, N.Y Newsday LLC 25.02.2002
• Edition: Combined editions
• Subjects: Bush, George W; Williams, Jayson

The Queens Symphony Orchestra will be celebrating our 50th birthday next year - a half century of providing great music and educational opportunities to the many communities of Queens. [Jo-Ann Jones] described our client base as "aging and diminished," but our core subscriber base has changed, reflecting the new demographics of this great borough. We have reached out to the newer, growing communities through our nationally acclaimed "decentralization" initiative and our multicultural programming. Although we have applied for a grant from the Mellon Foundation (as have many other organizations), the intent is not to "sustain" the QSO; rather, as specifically stated in the grant guidelines, it is intended to help us recoup the direct costs and lost revenues resulting from the events of Sept. 11. The attacks on the United States, and the resulting funding freezes and cuts, caused us to cancel two concerts. The Mellon grant is intended to assist us in recovering such amounts. I do not wish to minimize the impacts of the current economic climate on Queens arts groups and the QSO in particular. I am, however, optimistic about our future and the future value we will continue to provide to Queens. If, in fact, we suffered a "near- death experience," it has only served to help us in the long run to define ourselves and to focus on what we do best - serving the more than 2 million residents of Queens by providing world-class music.