Article “Pennsylvania Academy of Music’s future remains cloudy” reports:
“The fate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Music was in the hands of its eight board members Tuesday night…And, after a lengthy meeting, that’s where the future of the private music school remained… Late last week, Godfrey announced the school needed $175,000 to meet payroll and pay rent for the remainder of the semester.”
WATCHDOG: PAM is under Chapter 11 bankruptcy court supervision. There is approximately $800,000 remaining in its endowment fund, but only the judge can release a portion of the money to fund PAM to the end of the school year.
What the judge and potential donors have sought is a viable plan for PAM to continue to operate for years to come. 80% of funds for cultural institutions come from a few major donors. Five such donors committing $50,000 a year for several years predicated on a realistic 2011- 2012 budget would justify the judge releasing necessary funds.
We know of at least one willing donor at $50,000 annually over three years. We suspect there are others.
Neither the judge nor potential major donors are going to be receptive to laying out more money until a viable plan is put on the table. The Watchdog believes the time is now to do so.
Let’s say that PAM gets the $175,000 that it says it needs to stay open until the end of the semester. Then what?
Also, how does PAM count its students? PAM has a mommy-and-me type class for 3 to 5 year olds. Are these pre-schoolers counted the same as are high-school age students preparing for Julliard?
How many individual (private) lessons does the PAM faculty teach every week? This question has been asked before but never answered.