2020-2021 Annual Report

The COVID-19 pandemic closed venues and robbed arts organizations of the much-needed revenue that live performances provide. The BSO was no exception, with more than a year of cancelled performances at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood causing a loss of more than $50 million in earned revenue. In this climate, the BSO applied for and received a Shuttered Venues Operators Grant (SVOG) to help sustain the organization as it recovers from the pandemic. Funded as part of a $900 billion federal relief act, the $16 billion SVOG program awarded grants to performing arts organizations and museums equal to 45% of their 2019 organizational revenue up to $10 million, the amount the BSO received based on its significant pandemic-related financial challenges. The grant amplifies the enormous outpouring of generosity from individual and institutional donors, who contributed nearly $44 million in the 2020-2021 fiscal year to strengthen the BSO toward and through its reemergence.