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Read full article KIMA Action News.

Yakima, Wash. — In an effort to grow the music industry in the Yakima Valley, the Yakima Symphony Orchestra launched their Year-End Challenge and look to reach up to $130,000.

"For this challenge, we have five of our board members and three of our most loyal donors who have put up together $130,000 that they will donate to the symphony if the public can match that amount," said Yakima Symphony Orchestra Executive Director, Sam McClung. "If somebody in the public gives $1, then it has the value of $2 because it gets matched by those donors."

The goal of the program started smaller but grew over time with continued success.

"I started speaking to some of our donors about this idea, and originally the idea was to put up $100,000, and then we crossed that line, and then I was like, okay, we could push it a little more, and I was like, we could do 110, and then the donations just kept getting pledged, and so we landed on 130," McClung said.

McClung says that an underrated aspect of the Yakima Symphony Orchestra is how much a typical show costs to put on, along with fluctuating ticket prices.

"It absolutely can help the music industry in the area because what I think a lot of people aren't aware of is just how expensive it is to put on a concert and to run an industry like this in general," McClung said. "A ticket to our concerts is as low as $15 and free to students, but it costs about $1.5 million a year to do this."