ARTS$ SPURS INTEREST IN CULTURAL OFFERINGS

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Oct. 31 -- Reared on a steady diet of
MTV and music videos, college-age students often don't grow up
thinking of theater as entertainment. Robert Chapel, University of
Virginia drama chairman, has found a way to broaden their cultural
menu.
	The Arts$ program he conceived at U.Va. has proved so
successful that it is becoming a model for how universities can
attract students to musical, theatrical and arts events. As part of
their activities fee, full-time students are assessed $12 -- an
amount that entitles them to the equivalent of $60 worth of tickets
to music and drama events and $15 worth of tickets for the Virginia
Festival of American Film, held each October at U.Va. The program
also entitles students to membership at the University's Bayly Art
Museum.
	To obtain tickets of their choice of six plays, 80 concerts,
or three festival films a year, students simply call the appropriate
department, and the amount for the tickets is subtracted from their
Arts$ accounts.  To activate museum membership, students complete a
form at the Bayly.  Students use their identification cards like
credit cards to access the amount in their Arts$ accounts.
	Since the Arts$ program started in 1992, student attendance
has increased by nearly 85 percent at drama department events.
Attendance rose from 4,125 in 1991-92, the year before Arts$
started, to 8,729 last year. Student attendance at musical events,
which range from faculty recitals to the Symphony Orchestra, has
increased a total of 88 percent over the same period, rising from
1,971 to 3,688.  Student membership at the Bayly Art Museum
increased from a few dozen in 1991-92 to more than 500 in the
program's first year.
	"Arts$ has caused the number of students attending music and
drama events to double, and in some cases, triple over previous
attendance figures," said Josie P. Pipkin, director of promotions at
the McIntire Department of Music. 
	In addition to bringing more students to cultural offerings,
the departments gain money from the students' fees to use for
programming.  Of each $12 fee, $4 goes to both the drama and music
departments and $2 goes to both the Bayly Art Museum and the
Virginia Film Festival. A portion of the Bayly's money supports the
exhibition program at the art department's Fayerweather Gallery.
	"All the money that comes to us through the program goes
back to students in some way," said Chapel, who notes the funds have
allowed the drama department to stage a greater diversity of plays,
which helps to serve the University's educational mission.
	"We know of no other university that has a concept like
Arts$, although a few schools impose an arts fee," said Chapel, who
has published a paper on the program in a national journal and made
presentations about it at the Southeastern Theater Conference.
	The McIntire Department of Music, which receives
approximately $70,000 yearly from Arts$, uses the revenue for
producing a five-concert symphony season, resident artist faculty
recital series and choral, jazz and instrumental concerts featuring
U.Va. faculty and students.  
	The increased number of students attending musical events
has spurred interest in the department's "Introduction to Music"
course, department chair Judith Shatin noted.  "Arts$ has alerted
people to the pleasure music can bring.  It has given our department
a greater visibility with students, which has resulted in a surge of
interest in the availability of music courses," she said.
	When joining the Bayly, students receive museum mailings,
including invitations to attend special events related to its
exhibitions and programs.  "Arts$ has allowed the museum to present
many significant exhibitions and related programming that would have
been impossible otherwise.  The museum has become a more vibrant and
active place as a result," said Bayly director Anthony Hirschel.  By
providing plays, lectures and films that complement its exhibits,
the Bayly has been able to sustain high student interest.
	The McIntire Department of Art receives approximately $5,000
yearly -- money used in encouraging installations and exhibitions by
contemporary artists in the department's Fayerweather Gallery.
	The Virginia Festival of American Film receives
approximately $35,000 yearly from Arts$ -- money used in bringing a
wide variety of classic, independent and premiere screenings to the
four-day event. In the two years since the Film Festival has been
included in the program, approximately 2,000 students have used
Arts$ to obtain festival tickets.  "The program has made a great
contribution to festival attendance," said Helene Ramos, director of
operations at the Film Festival office.  (Ticket information about
the 1995 festival is not yet available.)
	Chapel said the idea for the program came to him after
hearing a student say it would be great if students could see arts
events cheaply.  Chapel thought, "If every student contributed 'X'
number of dollars -- that amount times 17,000 students would yield
enough money to produce our shows. At the same time, it would allow
students to attend cultural offerings at an extremely low cost.
	"Initial support for the program was strong," Chapel said,
"and since its inception, Arts$ has proven to be an effective way to
stimulate students' interest in the arts."
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October 30, 1995
FOR MORE INFORMATION contact Chapel at (804) 924-3327.