Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 15, 1993                   TAG: 9309150156
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: MELANIE S. HATTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CENTER IN SQUARE GETS 1ST BLACK DIRECTORS

Warner Dalhouse, chairman of the board of directors, speaking about the decade without board members from the black community, said, "I'm not proud of that, but I'm glad we've done it now."

Marion V. Crenshaw, youth planner for the city of Roanoke, and Peter A. Lewis, assistant project coordinator of the Alternative Education Center, were voted in at the center's annual meeting Tuesday.

Charles W. Steger, vice president for development and university relations at Virginia Tech, also was named to the board. All three will serve three-year terms.

Lewis said he was pleased with the election and that he supports the center's mission as it relates to education. He operates Apple Ridge Farm, a summer camp for young people in Floyd County.

"I want to ensure that the center's programs are and will be accessible to all segments of the community," he said.

He was surprised there had not been a black citizen on the board until now, he said, "particularly since there are and have been many more people of color much more qualified than I who would have been willing and able to serve had they been asked."

After speaking with a reporter, Lewis said Tuesday night that he'd since learned that another black citizen once was offered the opportunity to become a member, but had declined because of previous commitments.

The board needs diversification to be effective for the entire community and be able to connect with different communities, Dalhouse said.

Similarly, he said, Steger - who was dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies for 12 years - will connect the board to the New River Valley, allowing it to serve the entire region.

Steger said he hopes he can bring a new perspective to the board.

"We really need to look at this whole region as one community" - not only with economic development, but also culturally, Steger said.

These additions come just before Center in the Square celebrates its 10th anniversary in December.

"I don't know what's liable to happen in the next 10 years," Dalhouse said. He said quality and professionalism already exist but that the center will have a broader outreach.

The only thing that's missing is a $10 million endowment to pay for overhead expenses that would allow all of the resident organizations - Art Museum of Western Virginia, Arts Council of the Blue Ridge, Mill Mountain Theatre, Roanoke Valley History Museum and Science Museum of Western Virginia - continued rent-free space.

The decision to house these organizations was "a stroke of genius," Dalhouse said, because public transportation gives everyone access to institutions that could be considered elitist.

In addition, it changed the look of downtown. More than 100 businesses opened, attracting people who, at one time, would not visit downtown because of the area's reputation as a place for prostitutes and drunks, he said.