The Philadelphia Orchestra has announced a five-year, $10 million challenge grant from the Neubauer Family Foundation.

The grant, which will be used to establish endowment funds to support the music director's special artistic initiatives, increase efforts to bring the orchestra to a broader audience outside the concert hall, and endow the principal trombone chair, requires the orchestra to raise an additional $20 million — $10 million from its board and $10 million from other donors — by August 31, 2005. It also requires the orchestra to maintain balanced operating budgets for the next five years. The Philadelphia-based Pew Charitable Trusts will administer the grant.

"Great art is the signature of great civilizations," said Joseph Neubauer, a member of the orchestra's board and its former chairman. "In an era of declining arts education and classical music broadcasts, the Neubauer Family Foundation salutes the Philadelphia Orchestra for its artistic excellence and for perpetuating critical humanistic values. With this challenge grant, we invite others to join us in strengthening and sustaining this cultural treasure for future generations."