Madisonville Messenger

Arts endowments at Madisonville Community College have topped $500,000 for the first time, thanks to donations to the Fulfilling the Promise Gifts Campaign designated for Glema Mahr Center for the Arts.

This cash balance will earn more than $32,000 in interest income to support performances at the Glema Center, a 230 percent increase in endowment support since academic year 2001.

Executive Director Brad Downall said the endowments make programming -- at least for the short term -- less risky.

"When you look at the impact of an endowment program that we have been able to build over the past 12 to 13 years, our current balance is like having four sponsors giving $8,000 for a good-sized show, and that is permanent support that will never go away," said Downall. "The college hopes to have $700,000 invested by December 2008. That amount will give us about $47,000 a year in interest for arts programming."

When combined, actual cash gifts and endowment income to the Glema Center now exceed $168,000 annually, or about 30 percent of the center's annual operating budget. The total gift amount from Fulfilling the Promise that is designated to the Glema Center now exceeds $1 million for the five-year pledge period, 2002-2007.

Major endowments now active at the center include the Partners in Progress Endowment for the Arts that was established in 1997, the Anne P. Baker Endowment for Sustained Excellence in the Arts, and the Juanita Badgett Performing Arts Endowment, both of which were established during the Fulfilling the Promise Campaign.

Those endowments have helped to bring performers like Sara Evans, the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and the Peking Acrobats to Madisonville during the current season.