Fundraising & Community Support

2019-2020 marked a productive year from community support. We secured over $60,000 in gifts from individuals over the year as part of our normal annual campaign and acquired many new donors. We are also very grateful for several targeted gifts, that allowed us to purchase new equipment such as a fourth timpani, new orchestral musician chairs, and to replace some of our technological systems.

In addition, once COVID-19 took over and forced the cancellation of our last two concerts of the Season, we were very endeared to see how many of our ticket holders chose to donate the value of their tickets back to the organization.

Barb’s Used Book & Music Sale

Barb’s Used Book & Music Sale was back and exceeded record levels of sales. Over $50,000 was raised from the November edition of the sale. Unfortunately, our spring edition of the sale was postponed due to COVID-19, however the positive results of the fall sale helped stabilize us at the end of the year.

2020 Mayor’s Gala for the Arts

This annual celebration of the arts in Kamloops took place on January 18, 2020 at the Colombo Lodge, in collaboration with Western Canada Theatre and the Kamloops Art Gallery. The event sold out for the first time in years, and there was a particular buzz around the event.

The Kamloops Symphony was represented well at the evening. Of particular note, all three finalists in the category of Emerging Artist were alumni of the Kamloops Symphony Music School, including clarinetist Marcella Barz. Additionally, long-time supporter and original cellist in the Kamloops Symphony, Michael Powell, won the award for Enduring Supporter for his contributions to Kamloops’ Arts Community.

The KSO Chorus even made a “surprise’ pop-up performance.