Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 9, 1992 TAG: 9202060187
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jeff DeBell
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
CENTER VOTES TO REPEAL TERM BYLAW
The board of Center in the Square has repealed a bylaw that would have deprived it of several of its founding members all at once.The provision limited members to two consecutive three-year terms without at least a year's interim. Terms are staggered so that about a third of the 23 members could be rotated off at a given time.
Among those who would not be eligible for re-election at the end of their current terms, under the old bylaw, would be George B. Cartledge, Warner N. Dalhouse, Anne B. Hammersley, Betty Carr Muse and Donald G. Smith.
All except Smith have been on the board since the downtown Roanoke cultural facility opened in 1983, and Dalhouse is its long-time chairman.
Charles I. Lunsford, president and general manager, said he recommended repeal of the bylaw because he didn't want to lose "so many people who understand Center in the Square at a time when the economics of keeping the thing alive are so tough."
Like other cultural organizations, Center in the Square is struggling to meet operating costs at a time when corporate contributions are hard to come by and state financial support has virtually dried up.
The business and political influence of the longtime board members can be invaluable under such conditions. Some of the veterans also have been major financial contributors.
"We need them, now more than ever," Lunsford said.
To allow new blood onto the board while retaining the old guard, the board voted to enlarge itself by four members, for a total of 27.
Center in the Square provides rent-free quarters for The Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts, The Arts Council of the Blue Ridge, The Science Museum of Western Virginia, Mill Mountain Theatre and the Roanoke Valley History Museum.
The Virginia Commission for the Arts, which has had its funding cut to only $1.5 million per year, is not alone in its plight.
State and territorial arts councils collectively experienced a 21.6 percent decrease in 1992 legislative appropriations, according to a survey by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.
The Virginia agency continues to be one of the hardest hit, however. It sustained an 80 percent cut last year, and Gov. Wilder now proposes cutting the appropriation to only $500,000 and reducing the staff from six to one.
Wilder at first proposed abolishing the commission outright, but apparently has decided to bleed it to death instead.
The March 23 premiere of Billy Taylor's "Conversations" is dedicated to the memory of Marionette Shaw Sprauve.
She was founder and first president of Friends of the Roanoke Symphony. Composed of leaders in Roanoke's black community, the group fosters music education and provides liaison between the community and the orchestra.
"Conversations" was commissioned by the orchestra, which will perform it in company with jazz pianist Taylor, his trio and violinist Joe Kennedy Jr. of Virginia Tech.
The Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts continues to make its case for more equitable treatment at the hands of the state.
It wants better service from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. It also wants money.
The former was taken up recently in Roanoke meetings with Katharine Lee, new director of the Virginia Museum. She suggested further discussions on the subject.
As an affiliate member of the state museum, the Roanoke institution is eligible for $500 annually in "professional assistance" funds plus various exhibition and educational services such as videos and Artmobile visits.
That's OK for community art centers around the state, officials of the Roanoke museum believe, but not for a fully accredited museum that regards all of Western Virginia as its constituency.
What the museum needs most from the state is not Artmobiles and videos, but money. Trustees and management are not happy that the state museum receives millions of dollars annually from the state government, whereas the Roanoke museum receives almost nothing.
There was talk at one time of actually trying to get part of the state museum's appropriation redirected to the Roanoke museum. The idea raised all kinds of alarm - especially at the state museum and among Roanokers who serve on the boards of both institutions - and apparently has been abandoned.
At last report, the museum was going to try through its legislative delegation for a straight appropriation of $50,000 per year in the next state budget.