Pittsburgh Symphony gets $1.2M gift
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has received a $1.2 million gift from a local couple.
The symphony announced the gift from Michele and Pat Atkins Monday. The restricted gift will be distributed over three years to help pay for recently announced salary increases for musicians, who previously had taken an almost 10 percent pay cut.
The Atkins said in a statement they believe the orchestra plays a pivotal role for the city and region.
Symphony president James A. Wilkinson said the gift is a very important step in efforts to reach repeated balanced budgets by 2015. In the last fiscal year the symphony had a deficit of about $3.5 million.