6:17 am on Tuesday November 25, 2008 | Posted by Ken Hawkins
City Paper writer: The people can save Charleston's orchestra

Charleston City Paper's Lindsay Koob on the impending financial doom of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra:
We must attempt to harness the power of the PEOPLE, via the internet. As I reminded you in my earlier post, that’s exactly how Barack Obama generated the groundswell of populist support that fueled his successful campaign … with as little as $5 or $10 apiece from millions of households. ...

And tell everybody to send a check – not to me – but straight to the CSO: 145 King St, Suite 311, Charleston 29401. For any amount they can spare: no contribution is too small or insignificant. Five or ten bucks from every Chucktown family would more than solve the immediate crisis.

I think Koob is on the right path about getting the people involved, but I've got three suggestions:

Connect with the CSO to set up an online donation system (through PayPal or whatever). You can take my word for it that the Internet people despise mailing anything, much less mailing a check.
If you want the people to care, you have to give them a reason to care. I think that's the reason the arts community is in trouble: They've lost their connection with the people. So, much like the ailing auto industry, we don't need a one time fix. People aren't buying American cars, and they aren't going to Charleston's arts. Why?
This hammers back to connecting with the community: Make the donations for all of Charleston's performing arts. People get tired of all help going to the big three.

Filed in

,
, , , ,
Advertisement

Related and recent coverage

Big John's and those bars that were

Best free and/or cheap view in Charleston?

Pat Conroy, author of ‘The Prince of Tides’ and ‘The Great Santini,’ dies at 70

McRib was born thanks to a Charleston trip