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Gallery seeks
alternative to
vanishing funds
By LOU HATTER
Rappahannock Newt Staff Writer
With public money for the arts becoming ever scarcer, and no indications that the trend will slow anytime soon, arts organizations across the country are scrambling to develop other sources of revenue.
Washington’s Middle Street Gallery is no exception. The non-profit artists’ cooperative has received the bulk of its operating budget over the past several years through grants from the Virginia Commission for theArts for new and emerging arts organizations.
This year, Gov. L. Douglas Wilder has proposed that the VCA’s budget be cut from $5 million to $1 million. Though there is, as yet, no firm indication that his suggestion will be adopted by the General Assembly (and a grass-roots letter campaign by arts organizations has been started to oppose it), most arts groups recognize the inevitability of decreasing public funding.
Lois Manookian, who serves on Middle Street’s board of directors, said the gallery may lose as much as half of its $20,000 budget. “We are potentially faced with closing our doors in six to eight months. The handwriting is on the wall.”
However, the gallery has developed a plan to counter that loss in public money by increasing its solicitations from individuals and businesses. According to Gene Wenner, the gallery’s new director of marketing and development, “Historically, community contributions have been from individuals. We’ve gotten strong support from individuals, but at the same time some people don’t give because they haven’t been asked, or haven’t been asked in the right way.”
To solicit that support, the Middle Street Gallery is beginning a new fund drive targeted at both individual donors and corporate sponsorships. The aim is to broaden its base of support to offset the in pending loss of at least part of the state grant money .
Mrs. Manookian said she feels that, in some aspects, the budget crisis will have benefits for the gallery — assuming that it survives. “It forced us to look at our operation, and to build the kind of organization that will draw community support.” That, she added, is true of all arts organizations, and will probably benefit them all.
Mr. Wenner said tihe of the main thrusts of the new fundraising drive is corporate sponsorships, an asset
See GALLERY, p. 10
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