THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, April 17, 1996              TAG: 9604170009
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A10  EDITION: FINAL  
TYPE: Letter
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   69 lines

CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION: ***************************************************************** An error in transcription inadvertently changed the meaning of a sentence in Magda Ratajski's letter, ``Arts Festival will be regionwide,'' published April 17. The sentence should have read: ``Those (arts organizations) not participating (in the festival) are doing so by choice.'' Correction published April 19, 1996 on page A14 of THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT. ***************************************************************** ARTS FESTIVAL WILL BE REGIONWIDE

Edward Roehm (letter, March 30) made several factual errors regarding the planning and execution of The Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival. Specifically I'd like to share with him and the other readers of your newspaper the following:

The Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival is a program of The Virginia Waterfront Campaign, a regional marketing effort initiated to increase the share of the lucrative tourism industry in Hampton Roads. The idea for this festival came from consumer research; area arts organizations, tourism officials and major attractions were involved in a series of meetings to determine the feasibility of such an event and to participate in the planning process.

Area arts groups have been invited to participate in the festival; many have already submitted their organization's plans to do so. Those not participating are not doing so by choice.

Festival events will be scheduled at large and small venues throughout the region.

Norfolk is not singularly subsidizing the festival; the operating funds are being raised from both the public and the private sectors. The seed money to initiate the project came from a $25,000 grant from Norfolk Southern Foundation. The Virginia Waterfront Advisory Committee has applied to the commonwealth of Virginia for cooperative advertising funds, in part to support the marketing of the festival. Regional community leaders, including the Executive Committee of Plan 2007, Virginia Beach Vision and the Greater Norfolk Corporation, supported the request for state funding.

Norfolk has clearly demonstrated its commitment to regionalism through its sponsorship of the 2-year-old Virginia Waterfront campaign. Research shows that this effort directly generated $36 million in tourist expenditures in 1995, with an additional $24 million in business-to-business sales. The advertising has caused awareness and perception of this region as a vacation destination to continue to grow.

I am proud to be one of more than 200 volunteers working with The Virginia Waterfront Campaign and its various initiatives, including the International Arts Festival. We invite all those interested to join us in this effort to grow our local economy through increasing tourism to our region.

MAGDA RATAJSKI, chair

The Virginia Waterfront

Advisory Committee

Vice president, public relations

Norfolk Southern Corp.

Norfolk, April 5, 1996 by CNB