May 3, 2007 | Read Time: 2 minutes
As competition to attract donors intensifies, many arts groups are increasingly offering patrons an opportunity to support particular artists, says Portfolio magazine (May).
“For some wealthy donors, it is no longer enough to see one’s name in the program or even etched into the wall of a symphony hall. Today’s Medicis are seeking the personal connection — and yes, the bragging rights — that come with supporting an individual artist,” the magazine says.
For $25,000, for instance, a donor can support an opera singer at the Lyric Opera of Chicago for a year. The singer is encouraged to share a meal with the benefactors in the opera’s private dining room.
But charities have not given up on putting donors’ names in programs, and the magazine takes a page from the list of annual-fund supporters of the Seattle Symphony to examine who they are. Among them:
- Dave Fulton, who sold his database-management company to Microsoft for $173-million and plays violin in an informal quartet with members of the symphony.
- Paul Leach, a software engineer at Microsoft who played trumpet in the company’s orchestra.
- Craig Watten, co-owner of the Seattle Mariners, who earned a bachelor’s degree in clarinet from the Juilliard School.
In a separate look inside an arts group, the magazine shows the board of the Apollo Theater, with details about each member. It notes that Richard Parsons, head of Time Warner and chairman of the Apollo, “has turned to his netork of friends and contacts in the African-American business world to overhaul the board.”
In the past two years, the board has added 10 new members and its budget has grown from $3-million in 2001 to $10-million this year, and the Apollo is getting ready to seek $20-million in a capital campaign. As he gears up for the challenge, Mr. Parsons tells the magazine: “If there’s one lesson I’ve brought over from the business world, it’s the motto, ‘one foot in front of the other.’”
The articles are available online.
