PORT TOWNSEND — The creation of a new endowment fund in support of Centrum will help subsidize needed programs and push the arts organization into the next level of existence, according to its executive director.
“We are maturing,” Rob Birman said Wednesday. “After 43 years, it’s great to have some permanence.”
The new fund is named in honor of Peter McCracken, 62, who has held various positions with Centrum since 1987.
“I really haven’t wrapped my head around this yet,” said McCracken. “It’s a tremendous honor and it’s pretty overwhelming.”
The fund was seeded with a $500,000 contribution from Centrum board member Edmund Littlefield Jr. with the intention that the amount be matched with private contributions.
Once the funds are in place, the interest on the $1 million principal — which Birman said would be around $40,000 “in a good year” — will go toward funding programs.
Birman said he has already successfully approached regular Centrum donors and that he doesn’t see any obstacle in raising the matching funds within one year.
40th anniversary
The gift was made to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Fiddle Tunes, which takes place this week in Fort Worden State Park.
The fund will support faculty, guest artists, workshops, concert planning and production, travel, lodging and scholarship funds associated with Centrum programs featuring traditional and folk music such as Fiddle Tunes, Voice Works, the Centrum Acoustic Blues Festival and Kitchen Culture.
Simultaneous with the fund’s announcement, the Centrum Board of Directors named McCracken as its 2016 Centrum Champion, an award established last year in recognition of outstanding leadership, volunteerism, contributions or stewardship of Centrum’s programs and mission.
Centrum Champions are recognized with a commemorative metal plaque installed in the McCurdy Pavilion on a new wall of honor.
Community leader Gary Kennedy was honored as the 2015 Centrum Champion.
Decades on staff
McCracken took over as the Fiddle Tunes program manager in October 1987, since then bringing thousands of tradition bearers from around the world to Port Townsend, and they have shared their music and culture with tens of thousands of participants and audience members, according to a press release.
McCracken has also conceived and managed events such as the International Folk Dance Festival, Hot Jazz, the Roots of Rock, Voice Works, Slide & Steel and the Acoustic Blues Festival.
When he started the Blues Festival in 1992, there were few gatherings focused on this tradition.
McCracken developed the festival into a 24-hour-a-day artistic and social environment, the release states.
For more information, go to www.centrum.org.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
