FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Corporate Stewardship on the Rise at the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra While the National Economy Struggles.
LANCASTER, PA -- With all the doom and gloom on the economic front these days, companies seem to be finding gold in aligning with the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra. In fact, its corporate partnerships for the 2008-2009 season are up 15 percent over the previous year and 45 percent over the last three years.
Stepping in to sponsor the Lancaster Symphony’s 2008-2009 season will be Willow Valley Associates and Willow Valley Retirement Communities. “Community giving is part of the very DNA of Willow Valley,” explained Sheryl T. Holzbauer, Willow Valley Associates’ executive vice president/community relations. “It’s an understanding that we all have that giving should be a regular part of life, in business and personally. Supporting the arts is a quality of life issue to us. We believe that a healthy arts presence improves both Lancaster City and Lancaster County.”
Travel Time continues its support as a season travel sponsor, helping underwrite some of the travel costs of bringing internationally acclaimed guest artists to Lancaster. “Our stewardship of the Symphony simply reflects our sense of ‘doing the right thing,’ ” said Shaun Balani, Travel Time Travel Agency owner. “The arts in Lancaster County are an important part of our community. Regardless of the economy, people need to keep enjoying life.”
There’s strong support as well from three of the region’s leading institutions of higher learning. Classic Concert Series sponsors include Elizabethtown College, Franklin & Marshall College and Millersville University. Five financial institutions are also onboard as underwriters of the Symphony’s performances at the Fulton and its Sound Discovery community engagement programs: Clermont Wealth Strategies at Fulton Bank, Graystone Bank, Griffin Financial Group, PNC Bank and Wachovia.
Health care institutions are, likewise, well represented. Highmark Blue Shield and Lancaster General are Sound Discovery partners. Orthopedic Associates, Capital Blue Cross and Wiley’s Pharmacy are also sponsors.
There’s no shortage of business and industry either. The list includes Abel/Savage Marketing & Communications, Alcoa, Allegra Print & Imaging, Armstrong World Industries, Electron Energy Corporation, The Hershey Company, High, Sir Speedy, NSI Nursing Solutions Inc. , Target, TriStarr Staffing and Turkey Hill Minit Markets/the Kroger Foundation.
WITF-FM 89.5 continues as the Symphony’s season media sponsor. The hospitality industry, represented by Fenz and Carr’s restaurants, has teamed with the Symphony, too.
“My experience has shown that marketers typically look for innovative ways to keep their companies’ names before the public in challenging times,” said M. Scott Robinson, president and chief executive officer of the Symphony. “Narrowcasting their messages to select audiences gives them increased bang for their bucks. The Lancaster Symphony Orchestra audience features highly educated professionals from a wide variety of fields. Longtime, local residents are being mixed with a rising percentage of newcomers to the County. And 50 percent of our audience base earns $80,000 a year or more.
“As evidenced by our partners, institutions of higher education, banks and insurers and healthcare providers are eager to align themselves with our ‘Only in Lancaster’ brand,” Robinson added.
Opening its 61st season, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra has evolved from a community orchestra into an organization of professional musicians serving 52,000 music enthusiasts with 28 yearly subscription concerts, this holiday concert, a New Year’s Eve gala celebration, a spring “Audience Requests” concert weekend and a free, outdoor community patriotic concert.
The Lancaster Symphony Orchestra is a 75-member, professional orchestra that was founded in 1947 by Frederick S. Klein and John H. Peifer, Jr. from Franklin & Marshall College.
The orchestra is a non-profit organization, governed by a board of 30 community volunteers and managed by a professional staff under the direction of Scott Robinson. Grammy-nominee Stephen Gunzenhauser is music director and conductor of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra.
Ticket sales revenues and donations from hundreds of corporate and private benefactors underwrite the Symphony’s invaluable contribution to the quality of life in south central Pennsylvania.