Kimmel Turns A Profit

Philadelphia’s The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts reached a milestone June 30th with officials reporting an operating surplus – a first in the venue’s five-year existence.

The facility, home to the Philadelphia Orchestra, ended fiscal 2006 with a surplus of $1.2 million compared with last year’s operating deficit of $2.4 million.

The PAC has also grown its $25 million endowment by about $7.5 million in the past year.

Kimmel Center CEO Janice Price said the next goal is to create financial stability in day-to-day operations and pay down the venue’s $27 million construction debt.

“These successes give us space to talk about these larger issues,” she said.

Kimmel officials were forced last year to freeze salaries, eliminate 12 positions and cancel a summer concert series because of costs related to a long-term construction loan and its too-small endowment. The concert series has been reinstated and two staff members were hired.