Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 29, 1992 TAG: 9203270180
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF DeBELL
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Young people are almost unanimously finding something else to do on concert night.
The average season-ticket holder is 58 years old, according to Martin's findings. More than 84 percent of them are 45 or older, and only 2.2 percent fall between the ages of 26 and 34.
Season-ticket holders are reasonably affluent, too. The average household income is $54,067. That's approximately double the Roanoke Valley's median income.
The survey was directed at subscribers to the orchestra's Monday-night concert series, which is the backbone of its performance program.
Its mature supporters are important to the orchestra. They're steady, and they can afford to buy tickets and make contributions. On the downside, they do tend to die off. It means the orchestra must take steps to recruit new patrons from the younger set.
Efforts toward that end are under way, according to development director Judy Hodges, mostly in the form of social events and an upcoming series of free park concerts by ensembles from within the orchestra membership.
The survey data was reported by Frank C. Martin III, who is vice president of Martin Research and a member of the orchestra board.
Center in the Square's campaign for operating funds has been a success. It needed $285,000 to avoid a deficit, and it raised $291,000.
It was the second year running that the private sector has made up for the loss of funds from the state, which has cut Center out of its budget as part of its own spending reductions. Center is the home of Mill Mountain Theatre, The Arts Council of the Blue Ridge, The Roanoke Valley History Museum, The Science Museum of Western Virginia and The Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts.
"This organization apparently has broad-based and deep regard in the community," board chairman Warner Dalhouse said. "When the crisis was perceived, people said that's not something we can allow to go under."
President and general manager Charles Lunsford reported that the campaign attracted first-time contributions from some 400 private individuals - an increase of 50 percent over last year - while income on the corporate side was down.
Unfortunately, the pool of contributions for cultural organizations is finite. With Center forced to join those asking for operating funds, there may be less for other organizations. That is one of the reasons being advanced for the fact that some of Center's own resident organizations are having trouble meeting their fund-raising goals. Lunsford sees it as another of the negative trickle-down effects of the state cutback.
The resident organizations don't blame Center in the Square, which after all provides them with free space and utilities. But they must look at the possibility of further program cutbacks and staffing adjustments until the economic picture improves.
When the JCPenney store at Tanglewood Mall needed vintage clothing for its current 90th-anniversary display, it wisely turned to Showtimers.
The community theater company has built a huge inventory of period clothing and costumes during more than 40 years of putting on plays. The Penney store was able to rent garments from the turn of the century through the 1960s.
Lee Cruise was the go-between. He's the store's visual presentation specialist and a Showtimer as well. He'll be costume designer for the company's upcoming production of "Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean."
Here's how popular the new Lenfest Performing Arts Center at Washington and Lee University is: A Wynton Marsalis concert sold out in one hour. So did a traveling production of "La Traviata."
When a performance of the Alvin Ailey dance company was announced, tickets were gone in 10 minutes.
This is frustrating for those of us who don't hear of such events until too late, but it's great for Lexington's college and townspeople, who were starved for a place to house such performances. It shows, too, how the public will respond to a facility with superior acoustics and modern technical equipment.
by CNB