BCA Honors Business Champions

A sold-out crowd of 450 arts and business leaders helped celebrate the many ways that local businesses support arts and culture at this morning’s Breakfast of Champions at the Portland Art Museum’s Kridel Grand Ballroom.

The annual event, produced by Business for Culture & The Arts (BCA), recognized the state’s top business donors to the arts last year, as well as business leaders who contributed to the arts in unique ways. The breakfast also included a special remembrance of arts patron extraordinaire Bob Gerding. Among the honorees:

• Top business donor to the arts among large companies with 500 or more employees in Oregon: Bank of America
• Top business donor to the arts among medium-sized companies 100-499 employees in Oregon: Bank of the Cascades
• Top business donor to the arts among small companies: Washington Trust Bank
• Top Work for Art campaign in 2008-09: NW Natural

Recognition was also extended to these arts “heroes”:

• Roy Abramowitz of Perkins & Co, and board treasurer for Portland Baroque Orchestra 
•  North, a Portland design firm, for their pro-bono support of The Right Brain Initiative
• Joaquin Lopez, owner of La Bonita Restaurant, for their creative support of Miracle Theatre
• George Domurot, President and CEO of Box Office Tickets, for the new HulaHub cultural calendar and social networking site for the arts

Other major arts supporters in the region, making cash donations of at least a quarter million dollars last year, include US Bank, Wells Fargo, Portland General Electric, Key Bank and The Standard, and most of these companies run Work for Art employee giving campaigns as well. Columbia Sportswear, The Oregonian, OregonLive, The Heathman Hotel, and Hoyt Street Properties were all recognized for their generous in-kind donations, and the John C. Hampton Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Arts was presented to Carolyn Chambers, founder and CEO of Chambers Communications in Eugene.

Corporate giving represents 4% of the average arts organization’s budget. Overall, corporate giving was down 14% over 2007-08, a stark reflection of a major recession, but all the more reason to celebrate those companies who maintained their strong support of the local arts and culture community. RACC applauds these businesses and civic leaders for their generous support.