Articulations

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Meadows to the Rescue

The Austin arts have a friend in Dallas, and its name is the Meadows Foundation. The Big D charitable organization, which has sent more than a million dollars our way in just the past six years, supporting cultural projects ranging from renovation of a former St. Edward's University dining hall into a fine arts facility to a Salvage Vanguard Theater audience-development campaign targeting youth and young adults to renovating the State Theater, has added to that with another $213,000 in support of three major Austin arts institutions. The foundation awarded Austin Lyric Opera a year-end grant of $72,000 "toward emergency operating expenses to reduce the cumulative deficit." It provided the Zachary Scott Theatre Center with $81,000 to be used "toward emergency operating expenses as a result of the declining economy." And it granted Mexic-Arte Museum $60,500 "toward bridge funding to maintain programming in a difficult economic environment." All three reveal that at least one foundation in Texas is sensitive to the challenges facing cultural companies in the aftermath of September 11 and the unsettled economy. In the best of times, arts companies live close to the edge where financial matters are concerned. When the economy turns south, as it has this past year, they're hard-pressed to make up for lost revenue by drawing on surpluses from prior years or repositioning their product the way some private-sector institutions can. More typically, they fire staff or eliminate programming, and in some cases, they simply close their doors. What's encouraging about the Meadows grants is how fully they acknowledge this reality and have responded to it. In the case of ALO, the foundation reconsidered the company's original grant request to support its Armstrong Community Music School and decided instead to support the Opera with a grant that would help it eliminate the possibility of a deficit at the end of the season. That action ended up not only helping ALO but inspiring its board of trustees to meet the Meadows grant with additional donations. In the end, the company was able to end the season in the black to the tune of $26,000. Mexic-Arte Museum Executive Director Sylvia Orozco put it well when she said, "The Meadows Foundation has made it possible for us to continue sharing beautiful works of art, works that speak of the human spirit, works that inspire and educate, and works that open the door to dialog and understanding."