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

DATE: Sunday, May 26, 1996                  TAG: 9605230010
SECTION: COMMENTARY              PAGE: J4   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial 
                                            LENGTH:  131 lines

BUSINESS CONSORTIUM FOR ARTS SUPPORT GIVING MORE AND MORE

The Business Consortium for Arts Support was formed in the late 1980s to distribute funds to arts organizations that perform or exhibit regularly in South Hampton Roads. The consortium's emergence could not have been more timely.

Government at every level had slashed funding for the arts because economic recession had slowed tax-revenue growth while Medicaid, prison and education costs continued to rise.

Private giving flagged as corporate profits shrank.

Republican Sen. Jesse Helms, former drug-czar William Bennett and assorted self-styled pro-family-values groups were calling for an end to federal funding of the National Endowment for the Arts because a tiny percentage of its funding had underwritten in part some performances and exhibits that offended many.

The Business Consortium is an alliance of locl businesses, professional firms and foundations indigenous to South Hampton Roads or maintaining operations in the region. Its members - originally 14,now 27 - provide a stable and enlarging source of financial aid for arts groups. Members agree to contribute at least $5,000 annually or as much as they gave the previous year to arts groups' operating budgets. The coalition encourages its members to increase their giving by 5 percent a year.

Current consortium members are Atlantic Dominion Distributors; Birdsong Corp.; Broudy-Kantor Co. Inc.; The Camp Foundations; Central Fidelity National Bank; The Colonial Auto Group; Crestar Bank; Empire Machinery & Supply Corp.; First Union National Bank of Virginia; an anonymous foundation; Flagship Group Ltd.; Goodman & Co., CPAs; Kaufman & Canoles; Life Savings Bank; NationsBank; The Norfolk Foundation; Norfolk Shipbuilding & Drydock Corp.; Norfolk Southern Foundation; Resource Bank; Seaboard Investment Advisers Inc.; Signet Bank; Union Camp Corp.; Vandeventer, Black, Meredith & Martin, Virginia Investment Counselors Inc.; Virginia Natural Gas Inc.; The Virginian-Pilot; and Willcox & Savage, P.C. Anyone interested in membership may write the Business Consortium at 1410 NationsBank Center, Norfolk 23510-2113 or telephone 804-625-8163.

May many businesses do so. The arts' cultural and economic impact on South Hampton Roads enhances the quality of life for tens of thousands of residents. Anyone who gives to the arts makes an investment in community improvement. The more that is invested, the stronger the arts.

The Business Consortium's initial distribution, $459,500, was made in 1988. This year's distribution, to 31 arts groups, totals $698,000. Consortium gifts over the years totals $5.3 million.

The consortium's modest expenses are paid by The Norfolk Foundation. The lion's share of consortium grants goes to the largest arts groups. Virginia Opera, the Virginia Symphony and the Chrysler Museum of Art together were awarded 72 percent of consortium funds distributed this year. More The opera and the symphony have received more than $1 million each from the consortium since 1988.

But groups throughout South Hampton Roads benefit from consortium largess. In addition to the Big Three arts groups, recipients of consortium grants this year were: Bay Youth Orchestras, Capriole, Chesapeake Civic Chorus, Commonwealth Musical Stage, D'Art Center, Feldman Chamber Music Society, Generic Theater, Hurrah Players, I. Sherman Greene Chorale.

And the Life-Saving Museum of Virginia, McCullough Chorale, Norfolk Chamber Consort, Portsmouth Museums, Rawls Museum Arts, Southeastern Virginia Arts Association, Suffolk Art League, Theater IV Hampton Roads, Tidewater Classic Guitar Society, Tidewater Performing Arts Society, Tidewater Winds, Virginia Beach Very Special Arts, Virginia Ballet Theater, Virginia Beach Center for the Arts, Virginia Beach Chorale, Virginia Choral Society, Virginia Marine Science Museum, Virginia Stage Company and Young Audiences of Virginia.

Arts and cultural enterprises need all the help they can get. The Business Consortium's gifts constitute a small portion of some groups' budgets but a substantial portion of others'. The groups that the consortium aids enliven Hampton Roads. By helping to keep such groups the consortium enriches us all.

Government at every level had slashed funding for the arts because economic recession had slowed tax-revenue growth while Medicaid, prison and education costs continued to rise.

Private giving flagged as corporate profits shrank.

Republican Sen. Jesse Helms, former drug-czar William Bennett and assorted self-styled pro-family-values groups were calling for an end to federal funding of the National Endowment for the Arts because a tiny percentage of NEA funding had underwritten in part some performances and exhibits that offended many.

The Business Consortium is an alliance of businesses, professional firms and foundations indigenous to South Hampton Roads or maintaining operations in the region. Its members - originally 14, now 27 - provide a stable and enlarging source of financial aid for arts groups. Members agree to contribute at least $5,000 annually or as much as they gave the previous year to arts groups' operating budgets. The coalition encourages its members to increase their giving by 5 percent a year.

May more businesses sign on. The arts' cultural and economic impact on South Hampton Roads enhances the quality of life for tens of thousands of residents. Anyone who gives to the arts makes an investment in community improvement. The more contributors invest, the stronger the arts.

The Business Consortium's initial distribution, $459,500, was made in 1988. This year's distribution, to 31 arts groups, totals $698,000. Consortium gifts over the years total $5.3 million.

The consortium's modest expenses are paid by The Norfolk Foundation. The lion's share of consortium grants goes to the largest arts groups. Virginia Opera, the Virginia Symphony and the Chrysler Museum of Art together were awarded 72 percent of consortium funds distributed this year. The opera and the symphony have received more than $1 million each from the consortium since 1988.