Awards from BCA
St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble of New York was named winner of the Business Committee for the Arts’ 18th annual arts award in ceremonies at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre. Presented “to recognize and honor a not-for-profit American arts organization for its outstanding achievement in developing a partnership with business,” the prize carried with it a $5,000 grant underwritten by Atlantic Richfield Foundation.
St. Luke’s was cited for persuading Consolidated Edison of New York to help fund the Children’s Free Opera program and to assist the New York City Public Schools, plagued by cutbacks in its arts curriculum, with administrative tasks such as publicity and booking.
The New Jersey Shakespeare Festival of Madison earned an arts award honorable mention, which carries with it a $1,000 grant, for developing partnerships with 82 businesses in 1983, a record 22 percent increase over 1982. GTE Corp. of Stamford, Conn., was recognized for its support of a variety of organizations, including the Hartman Theatre, as was the Miami Herald Publishing Com-pany, which supports Coconut Grove Playhouse, and Targeted Communications Corp. of Falls Church, Va., which supports New Playwrights Theatre.
BCA return awards, given to companies which have previously received first-time awards, went to the Courier-Journal & Louisville Times Company of Kentucky, which pledged $300,000 over three years to Actors Theatre of Louisville for the production of its one-act play festival; and the Dayton Hudson Corp. of Minneapolis, long a leading arts supporter.
Distinguished achievement awards went to Alcoa Foundation of Pittsburgh for nationwide grants totalling more than $1 million; AT&T, which underwrote the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and supported the O’Neill Theater Center; the Atlantic Richfield Company and Foundation, for $6 million in various arts grants; and Exxon Corp., which sponsored the 1983 Young Playwrights Festival at New York’s Circle Repertory Company.
The BCA awards are supported by Forbes magazine. Over 18 years, 284 businesses in 38 states have won the awards.
Fighting Time-Lag
Business Volunteers for the Arts/Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Arts Loan Fund have merged administrative functions to form a new entity known as Arts Resources and Technical Services, Inc. With $175,000 provided by 18 foundations and corporations, Arts, Inc. began making interest-free loans in June to arts organizations experiencing cash flow problems created by delays in funding or contract reimbursement. The new loan fund addresses problems found by a study made by the Southern California Association of Philanthropy. The SCAP study found a pattern of inhibited artistic endeavors which resulted from reimbursement time-lags common to nonprofit arts institutions. For further information on the Los Angeles Arts Loan Fund, contact Arts, Inc. 849 South Broad-way, Suite 830, Los Angeles, CA 90014; (213) 627-9276.
Briefly Noted
The Ford Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Pew Memorial Trust were the top three grant-awarding foundations in 1982. Ford granted $97.8 million on a national and international level. Mellon ranked second with $59.3 million and the Pew Trust followed closely with $57.8 million…The Walnut Street Theatre has met the challenge of a $150,000 matching grant awarded by the Mabel Pew Myrin Trust. Almost 1,000 separate gifts to the theatre over the past year made the match possible.
The median level of giving for oil companies is nine times greater than the typical giving programs of other leading businesses, according to a recent study conducted by the Taft Group. The Exxon Foundation led oil companies in total giving, but the highest average grant was made by Standard Oil, with Atlantic Richfield Company coming in second…Atlantic Richfield has underwritten The Old Globe Theatre’s tour of Quartermaine’s Terms with a $25,000 grant. The theatre’s production of Rashomon was funded in part by a $10,000 grant from the Pfizer Foundation…The Dayton Hudson Foundation has approved $1.7 million in first-quarter grants, several of which will go to theatres. These include $89,200 to Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theater for general support, $8,500 to St. Paul’s Women’s Theatre Project for general and project support, and $8,500 to Indiana Repertory Theatre to support student matinees. Indiana Rep also received a two-year grant of $50,000 to support its debt-reduction campaign.
Four Houston theatres moving to new spaces benefitted from a performance of Angel Street at the Alley Theatre: Chocolate Bayou Theatre Company, the Ensemble, Stages and the Main Street Theatre shared the proceeds from the August 20 performance. All four theatres have recently relocated or plan to move later this year.
The Shubert Foundation has awarded $896,000 to theatres for fiscal ’84. Among the recipients of the grants for general operating expenses are the New York Shakespeare Festival ($175,000), the Mark Taper Forum ($45,000), Actors Theatre of Louisville ($35,000), New York’s Circle in the Square ($35,000), Manhattan Theatre Club ($30,000) and Long Wharf Theatre of New Haven, Conn. ($30,000)…The California Institute of the Arts received $100,000 from the Irvine Foundation to support productions of eight Los Angeles theatres participating in the Olympic Arts Festival.
The San Francisco Foundation has awarded $110,000 to support the Magic Theatre’s audience development and income expansion programs. Another $55,000 went to Theater Artists of Marin for a season of American classics and new plays written at Marin Academy.
Four New York theatres have received funding from the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation. City Stage Company was granted $20,000 for an advertising campaign to enhance the theatre’s visibility as a professional classical repertory com-pany; $8,000 each went to Manhattan Punch Line, WA Theatre and Second Stage for general support…Second Stage was also granted $20,000 by New York Community Trust for an audience development campaign.
