THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 26, 1996 TAG: 9604250143
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 173 lines
BUSINESS, CULTURAL ARTS or education?
Ask Samuel H. ``Sam'' Lamb II which is more important and he'll tell you they all are.
Lamb, provost of the Portsmouth campus of Tidewater Community College, ought to know. He's been out front in one place or another for the past three years.
He finished a term as chairman of the Portsmouth Museums and Fine Arts Commission last year only to move into the chair of the Portsmouth division of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.
The new Children's Museum of Virginia opened in December 1994, right in the middle of his term as chairman of the commission.
``I can't take any credit for that,'' Lamb said. ``All the work was done when I became chairman.''
The disclaimer was typical of Lamb's mild-mannered personality.
A few months after the Children's Museum opened in the former Leggett department store building on High Street, TCC's Center for the Visual Arts opened a block away in the building that once housed The Famous, a women's clothing store.
The center, directed by Anne Iott, is administratively part of the Portsmouth campus under Lamb's leadership.
Lamb moved to head the Chamber group in January.
``He is an excellent chairman,'' Portsmouth Chamber executive director Lonny Staylor said. ``He has a calming influence on the board.''
Staylor said Lamb ``looks at issues logically'' and ``supports by principles.''
Lamb said serving simultaneously on the boards of the Chamber and the city museums is ``a good combination.''
``The arts generate money for the community but they must depend on business for support,'' Lamb said. ``They couldn't survive without business.''
He noted that the Hampton Roads Chamber officially supported a recommendation to the Virginia General Assembly for incremental budget increases up to $1.50 per capita by the year 2002.
Virginia, which spent 25 cents per capita on the arts in 1993, ranked 48th in the nation that year with only Louisiana and Texas rated lower.
In 1993, North Carolina spent 92 cents per capita; West Virginia, 94 cents per capita; Maryland, $1.26, and Delaware, $1.86.
Last year the Virginia support edged up to 34 cents per capita.
In Hampton Roads, cultural organizations provide more than 4,000 full-time jobs and more than 2,000 part-time jobs, paying more than $103 million in salaries. They generate $6.5 million in local and state taxes.
Lamb said the numbers are important.
And a good reason why Portsmouth is betting much of its future on cultural activities.
Although $1.3 million was raised privately for the Children's Museum, the city invested that much and more in the physical plant. The museum's staff is paid by the city.
More than 200,000 people have visited the downtown museum since it opened.
The TCC center was a joint project with the city, which purchased the building and paid for remaking it into three floors of studios and classrooms with art galleries on part of the first floor. The state would not appropriate a lump sum of money for the building.
``We're paying the city back in a lease agreement,'' Lamb said. ``But the center wouldn't have been possible without the city's support.''
Lamb said the center has been successful in the transition from art departments on each of the three TCC campuses to a single location in downtown Portsmouth.
Last spring amid last-minute construction on the building, about 400 students came to class at the new school anyway.
This spring, more than 600 are attending classes at the center.
``The success is there, but that is one thing,'' Lamb said. ``The intent of the city and the college also is important.''
Lamb said the opening of two galleries, several new restaurants and an art supply shop during the first year are what the city had hoped for.
``These are spinoffs from the center,'' he said. ``But part of the credit goes to the city too.''
Lamb admitted that many of the art faculty members initially were skeptical about the move to Portsmouth.
``They were working in Virginia Beach in a relatively new building and the largest number of their students were from Virginia Beach,'' Lamb said.
The move was eased by leaving a few classes in art history and photography on each of the three campuses.
But the move has been even better than expected, he said, and this spring more students are taking art classes at TCC than ever before.
``We hope this will help identify Portsmouth as a city of artists,'' he said of the school and the galleries.
He says that is beginning to happen just as he hoped it would.
As a member and immediate past chairman of the Museums and Fine Arts Commission, Lamb also is instrumental in the ongoing operation of the city's art center in the 1846 Courthouse across from the TCC center. In fact, TCC students work at the city museum as interns.
``One of the responsibilities of the provost is to represent the campus in the city,'' Lamb said. ``So when I took the job in 1992, I applied to be a member of the Museums and Fine Arts Commission.''
Even though he now lives in Virginia Beach and the TCC Portsmouth campus is across the city line in Suffolk, Lamb spends his volunteer energy here.
A native of Portsmouth, he is the son of a Naval Shipyard engineer and a third-grade schoolteacher at Hodges Manor.
He was born at Portsmouth General Hospital in 1944, when his father was on the ``Bikini Bomb Trip'' - part of the shipyard group involved in the atomic bomb tests.
The family lived in Barlow, now River Edge and soon to be a new development of single-family homes. The Lambs moved from World War II housing when they bought a house in Simonsdale, then in Norfolk County. He graduated from Churchland High in 1963.
After two years at Campbell College in North Carolina, Lamb came home to work as a salesman and a clerk until he earned his bachelor's degree in secondary education from Old Dominion University in 1970.
He taught distributive education and also adult education courses at Western Branch High School for several years until he took a job as academic counselor on the Portsmouth campus of TCC.
Meanwhile, he earned a master's degree in administration from ODU and a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Virginia in 1980.
Then he and his wife, Astrid, started thinking about a family.
Their son Oliver, now 7, went to the opening of the Children's Museum with his dad.
``He likes it,'' Lamb said.
A glance at Lamb's resume tells you that he takes almost everything one step more than required. Many of his awards for service, both as a volunteer and in his job, have been received for extraordinary work beyond the call of duty.
Over his 22 years at TCC, Lamb worked as coordinator of cooperative education and placement from 1977 to 1984 and chairman of the Division of Industrial and Public Service Technologies from 1984 to 1992.
His jobs have kept him involved with the business community of Hampton Roads. And his low-key demeanor has enabled him to juggle major volunteer jobs along with his campus duties.
A member of the Mayor's Steering Committee for Vision 2005, he said the 10-year plan has really gotten support from the people.
``It gives the citizens an opportunity to be involved in the plan for the future,'' he said. ``It's great.''
Lamb said he was encouraged by ``an overflow crowd'' of citizens who attended the last meeting of the steering committee.
``It's a very positive thing,'' he said.
Lamb said he expects the Chamber to become even more involved in helping the city - especially when it comes to filling vacant buildings around town.
``Right now we have excellent cooperation between city officials and the Chamber,'' he said. ``I'm meeting with the city manager on a regular basis and the Chamber's executive committee has quarterly meetings with the mayor and manager.''
What's next on Lamb's agenda?
``Well, right now I'm chairman of the Chamber for the rest of this year,'' he said. ``We have much to do.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by MARK MITCHELL
Samuel H. Lamb ...[color cover photo]
``Sam'' Lamb, at left, heads for his office at the Portsmouth campus
of Tidewater Community College, where he works as provost, at right.
Wherever he goes, Lamb leaves his mark. During his term as chairman
of the Portsmouth Museums and Fine Arts Commission, the Children's
Museum was born. A few months later, TCC's Center for the Visual
Arts opened a block away.
Lamb wears many hats. In January, after finishing his term with the
arts commission, he moved into the chair of the Portsmouth division
of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce. Above, he meets with Lonny
Staylor, the division's executive director.
Photo by GARY C. KNAPP
At the end of the workday, Lamb puts on his hat as husband and
father, at right, playing with 7-year-old son Oliver and his rabbit,
``Cuddley,'' at their home in Virginia Beach.
by CNB