Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 23, 1991 TAG: 9102230378
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jeff DeBell
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Three of the remaining four employees of The Arts Council of Roanoke Valley were laid off effective March 4.
It also was revealed during the week that the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra will not renew the contracts of its four full-time musicians.
Clearly, the crisis in the arts is no longer an abstraction. People are losing their jobs because recession-plagued governments and corporations have stopped or reduced their giving to the arts.
The impact seems especially personal in the arts community, where people tend to know each other. To them, the council isn't just losing three employees. It's losing Brook Dickson, Carolyn Nolan and Sharon Ellmore, who are known by everyone who passes through the door.
The classical music communi ty, likewise, faces the loss not just of four nameless musicians but the bright young talents of Jane Wang, Sterling Jenkins and Adam and Mary Hege Crane.
Overall, the known body count now stands at 12: four layoffs each at the arts council, the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and the Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts. There have been related reductions in work hours for a number of surviving employees. More casualties are expected, perhaps as early as next week.
The arts council has been hardest hit, having lost 80 percent of its administrative staff. Only director Susan Cole remains at what was arguably the most vital organization in the area's thriving pre-crisis arts community.
"I think we'll survive in some form," board president Tim Berry said.
Planning and financial committees will meet during the next couple of weeks to help determine what that form may be. A possibility is that the council, known for innovative programming like One Night Stands and Rainbow Splashes, will leave the programming to others and re-orient itself toward service for artists and arts organizations.
In accordance with a recommendation of the planning committee, the council voted Friday to rename itself The Arts Council of the Blue Ridge. The change is intended in part to help raise funds by broadening the area in which the council can make its appeal.
The new name also reflects more accurately the area already served by the council. Bedford, Botetourt and Franklin Counties, Lexington and the New River Valley are well represented among those who have taken advantage of the council's programs and events.
In the wake of a failed fund drive and slim prospects for improvement in corporate and government support, the council faces a $20,000 deficit in fiscal 1991.
The orchestra's decision is likewise grounded in bleak fiscal expectations.
Its full-time musicians serve as leaders or co-leaders of their sections and represent the orchestra in area schools, nursing homes and other venues both as soloists and as an ensemble. The annual operating budget for the quartet is $68,000. About $55,000 of that sum must be raised anew every year from outside sources.
Orchestra management has learned that more than a quarter of the outside money - $15,000 from valley school systems - will not be forthcoming next season. Expecting a further income shortfall of $200,000 or more because of cuts in government and corporate support, the orchestra board decided it could not afford to renew its annual commitment to the players.
The musicians were informed months in advance of the end of the season to allow them time to seek other positions. They can remain with the orchestra as free-lance players if they wish.
The orchestra already has announced cutbacks for next season including elimination of the Sunday concert series. Further economies are under consideration. As part of that process, orchestra manager Margarite Fourcroy said, administrative staffing is "being evaluated."
The orchestra began hiring a corps of full-time musicians in 1987 for the first time in its history. The move came soon after the arrival of conductor Victoria Bond and was seen as a key step toward greater professionalism and more consistent artistic quality.
According to Fourcroy, the board is committed to restoration of a full-time corps as soon as it is fiscally practical.
Artists in Cahoots, the Lexington cooperative of artists and craftspeople, is beginning a series of guest-artist exhibitions in its gallery on the corner of Main and Washington Streets.
Inaugurating the series is Rockbridge County painter Elise Sprunt. Her work will be on display through March 30.
by CNB