THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 16, 1995 TAG: 9512160002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
The Virginia Marine Science Museum in Virginia Beach is one of the commonwealth's most-popular attractions. The young museum counts more than 350,000 visitors annually. A $35 million expansion, to be completed next year, can only increase its popularity.
The museum will triple its size (to 120,000 square feet) and multiply its aquatic wonders. A 300-seat 3-D IMAX theater, one of a handful of 3-D IMAXes in the nation, will draw many. Gargantuan, three-dimensional images of life in ocean depths will command awe.
The recent $1 million gift from the Virginia Beach-based Family Channel is designated for the 3-D IMAX. Timothy B. Robertson, president and CEO of International Family Entertainment, sees the corporation's gift as ``a logical partnership to increase the brand awareness of The Family Channel with visitors to (the museum) from all over the country.''
The Family Channel donation was the largest of nearly 70 contributions of $10,000 or more that the museum has gotten in pursuit of $5 million in private-sector financial support for the expansion. The Family Channel gift brought the total raised from individuals, corporations, businesses and foundations to within $800,000 of the goal.
Private-sector support for not-for-profit arts and cultural groups is essential. It has never been more essential than now when federal, state and local governments are deeply cutting funding for such enterprises.
Arts and culture enrich our lives. That the arts-and-cultural scene thrives as well as it does in Hampton Roads is attributable to the many civic-spirited men and women who nurture it - often in partnership with local government, as at the marine-science museum.
Private-sector support in the region for arts and culture appears to be growing. If that's true, the future for Hampton Roads arts and culture is brighter than severe cutbacks in governmental funding suggests. But it also means that the health of our cultural life will be increasingly tied to the public-spiritedness of men like Tim Robertson and of businesses like The Family Channel. by CNB