Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 18, 1995 TAG: 9504180117
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Short
With government funding for the arts facing drastic reductions or cutoffs, there is a need to determine whether the New River Valley has the financial resources to support an arts program by itself, said Michael Dowell, executive director.
Dowell has warned of the coming funding crisis in center newsletters.
"I've tried to point out the fact that government funding is going to dry up on us," he said. "We can't count on it and we have counted on it for too long ... so I need to know if this community is prepared to support this arts center."
Family memberships in the Fine Arts Center are $25. Individual memberships are $15, and student memberships, $10. There also are patron memberships at $75, sponsors at $125, and sustaining members at $500. "We have business memberships too," Dowell said.
But all that amounts to about 350 people paying dues - only 1.2 percent of the population of Pulaski County.
Some 16,000 people a year attend the programs and exhibits.
The center also sponsors with the town of Pulaski the annual Concert in the Park programs in Jackson Park.
The center, created in 1978, is a nonprofit corporation.
by CNB