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Kokua Line
June Watanabe
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Donations help fund exhibits at art gallery
Question: In the East-West Gallery at the East-West Center is a collection box for monetary donations toward helping to fund gallery shows. Why? Isn't the gallery part of the East-West Center? If so, shouldn't it be funded by the Center? If it isn't, who funds it and who pays the gallery staff?
Answer: "Generous contributions from individual donors" are among the different ways the East-West Gallery is funded, said Bill Feltz, coordinator of the East-West Center Arts Program.
Like most East-West Center research and education activities, he said, the Arts Program, which includes the gallery, is funded by an annual congressional appropriation; grants from foundations, such as the Hawaii Pacific Rim Society and Friends of Hawaii Charities; corporate and institutional cost-sharing, such as with the University of Hawaii, Maui Arts & Cultural Center and Kahilu Theatre; and private donors.
The gallery's current year's budget is $207,000, broken down approximately as follows: $107,000 in congressional funds, covering salaries; $75,000 in grants; $15,000 in individual contributions to the EWC Foundation; and $10,000 in institutional cost-sharing.
Congressional funds also cover administrative and gallery overhead costs.
Meanwhile, Feltz said that all program costs -- packing and shipping of artwork, installation supplies and design, publicity, educational handouts, artist residencies, and educational outreach to school students all over Oahu -- are covered by private funds.
The budget for the gallery has been growing annually, Feltz said, "commensurate with increasing outreach to schools and other groups."
The East-West Center annually organizes four main exhibitions and four to five performing-arts residencies from the Asia-Pacific region. Exhibition themes planned for the coming year include the mountain peoples of Vietnam and Angkor Wat in Cambodia, traditional Pacific and Asian fiber work, and contemporary paintings from Pakistan. Planned performances include Japanese koto music, Thai music and dance, and Qawwali music of South Asia.
"Donors of large and small amounts make it possible for the center to present gallery exhibitions and artistic demonstrations free of charge to the public," Feltz said. "It is heartwarming to observe even small children voluntarily dropping their nickels, dimes and quarters into the box."
Feltz said teachers and school principals interested in a group visit or learning more about the center's outreach to schools can e-mail him at FeltzB@EastWestCenter.org or call 944-7612.
The East-West Gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays.
Auwe
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