CCM and Fine Arts Fund Present Tom Viola, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, on Creative Fundraising May 7

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) Graduate Program in Arts Administration and the Fine Arts Fund are pleased to welcome guest speaker and CCM alumnus Tom Viola, executive director of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA), to CCM’s Watson Hall on Wednesday, May 7, 2008, 5 p.m. Viola’s appearance is the ninth event in the Joan Cochran Rieveschl Lecture Series: Visionaries in the Arts, an annual event spotlighting arts management experts, opinion leaders and trendsetters.

Viola will be featured as part of an afternoon discussion entitled

“An Eventful Conversation: Beyond Galas—Fundraising, Friend-raising and Grassroots Cause Marketing.”

Viola, who graduated from CCM in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in musical theater, currently leads Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, a nonprofit organization based in New York City that raises funds for services for people living with HIV/AIDS nationwide. BC/EFA is an innovator in creative fundraising and awareness building for the causes it supports, and Viola will discuss the grassroots tactics BC/EFA employs to achieve this success.

“It is invigorating for local arts administrators and students to hear fresh approaches and solutions to universal arts management issues,” said Heather Hallenberg, the Fine Arts Fund’s vice president of arts services. “We are so fortunate to be able to host an innovator or provocateur like Tom Viola in Cincinnati each year to reenergize our creative thought processes.”

Following Viola’s presentation, the discussion continues with a panel of local arts administrators and arts volunteers, including: Michael Donnelly, MadDog Marketing LLC; Guy La Jeunesse, Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center; Sarah Sedlacek, Cincinnati Art Museum; and Rick Pender, Cincinnati Opera.

Admission is free and open to the public, though seating is limited and reservations are required. Please contact Heather Hallenberg at the Fine Arts Fund to reserve at 513-871-2787, ext. 28.

TOM VIOLA
Tom Viola was the founding administrative director of Equity Fights AIDS in 1988, saw through its merger with Broadway Cares in 1992, and has been Executive Director of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA) since 1997. BC/EFA is the nation’s leading industry-based not-for-profit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organization. Since its founding, BC/EFA has raised over $140 million for critically needed services for people living with HIV/AIDS and their families nationwide. BC/EFA presents six major annual events each year—The Broadway Flea Market, The Gypsy of the Year Competition, The Broadway Bears Auction, Nothing Like a Dame, The Easter Bonnet Competition, and Broadway Bares—in addition to other ongoing efforts and scores of other one-time fundraising events. BC/EFA supports seven  programs at The Actors’ Fund of America: The AIDS Initiative; The Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative; The Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic at The Aurora; The Dancers’ Resource; two supportive housing residences; and The Actors’ Work Program. In addition, BC/EFA awards grants to over 400 AIDS and family service organizations in 47 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.

Viola co-wrote with Ms. Dewhurst and completed Colleen Dewhurst: Her Autobiography (Scribner, 1996) and is the co-author of Broadway: Day & Night (Pocket Books, 1992). He lives in Manhattan with two madcap mutts, Maggie and Squirrel, and three shady cats, Ed, Earl and Puddy. He vacuums as often as he shaves.

ABOUT THE JOAN COCHRAN RIEVESCHL LECTURE SERIES
The Joan Cochran Rieveschl Lecture Series: Visionaries in the Arts is an annual event jointly presented by CCM’s Graduate Program in Arts Administration and the Fine Arts Fund Arts Services Office. Made possible through generous funding from Joan Cochran Rieveschl (who was also instrumental in the formation of CCM’s Arts Administration program), the series features arts management industry leaders and opinion makers discussing a diverse array of timely arts-related issues. Past speakers have included: Henry Fogel, President of the American Symphony Orchestra League; Ben Cameron, Executive Director of the Theater Communications Group; William Cleveland, Director of the Minneapolis Center for the Study of Art & Community; Doug Herbert, Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Education on Teacher Quality and Arts Education; Donna Walker-Kuhne, author and audience development expert; and Julie S. Henahan, Executive Director, Ohio Arts Council.

_____________________________

University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
Graduate Program in Arts Administration
and
The Fine Arts Fund
present

2008 JOAN COCHRAN RIEVESCHL LECTURE SERIES: VISIONARIES IN THE ARTS

AN EVENTFUL CONVERSATION:
Beyond Galas—Fundraising, Friend-raising and Grassroots Cause Marketing

Featuring
Tom Viola, Executive Director
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS

Date & Time:  
Wednesday, May 7, 2008; 5 p.m.

Location:  
Watson Hall
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

Admission:  
FREE, though seating is limited and reservations are required. To reserve, please call Heather Hallenberg at the Fine Arts Fund at 513-871-2787, ext. 28.

Parking: 
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) or in additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visit the CCM website at www.ccm.uc.edu for directions or additional parking information.