Mr. MICHAEL MORGAN (Music Director, East BaySymphony): The trick is to take your orchestra and, through a combination of old and new, build up a repertoire that is of interest to as many people as possible who live right around the orchestra.
"I Am Harvey Milk" will be directed by Noah Himmelstein, conducted by Dr. Timothy Seelig, orchestrated by August Eriksmoen and will feature the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus accompanied by the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony.
Last summer, Symphony financed development of three drug candidates for Bay Area biotech Exelixis (nasdaq: EXEL - news - people ), and before that, it did a similar deal with Guilford Pharmaceuticals before it was acquired by MGI Pharma (nasdaq: MOGN - news - people ).