Improving Life in Norfolk and Beyond

With $2,350 in donations The Norfolk Foundation (now Hampton Roads Community Foundation) formed to

Norfolk SPCA benefits from grants.

benefit Norfolk and a 50-mile radius. That was 66 years ago when seven Norfolk civic leaders had the great idea to establish the first community foundation in Virginia. It was the 1950s when community foundations were spreading across the country doing good work in specific geographic regions. Although the community foundation is regional, it retains a big footprint in Norfolk.

 

Dozens of Norfolk-based nonprofits helped by the Hampton Roads Community Foundation and include the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk Botanical Garden, Virginia Opera, Virginia Stage Company, Virginia Symphony and Virginia Zoo. These cultural icons are among recipient organizations whose footprints extend far beyond the city. All have received multiple grants from foundation donors that have helped them grow to serve residents of all ages from throughout our region and beyond.

 

Community foundation grants were also instrumental in the 2014 opening of the Salvation Army’s Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center. Other grants have helped nonprofits focused primarily on Norfolk such as the Norfolk SPCA and ParkPlace Health & Dental Clinic.

 

The 2015 opening of the Slover Library in downtown Norfolk took the community foundation back to its

Slover Library is a welcome addition to downtown Norfolk.

roots as its first big grant from donor funds in 1959 was $100,000 to build Kirn Memorial Library, which was torn down a few years ago in anticipation of the Slover – a bigger, more technologically advanced library. More than $1 million from community foundation donors helped build the new library that is a community hub and has won national accolades.

 

Many Norfolk-based organizations started with help from community foundation grants, including:

• ACCESS College Foundation
• Eastern Virginia Medical School
• Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia
• ForKids Inc.
• Virginia Arts Festival
• Virginia Wesleyan College
   
  These and many other nonprofits have all expanded their programs and facilities over the years with help from millions of dollars in community foundation grants.
   
  In addition to helping Norfolk-based nonprofits, the community foundation invests in the city’s students and their futures. This past year 92 students from Norfolk attended college helped by $317,000 in scholarships provided by community foundation donors. Many past recipients now work in the region as educators, bankers, physicians, social workers and other important professions.

Arts Come Alive in Norfolk's New NEON District

It has only been two years since Team Better Block showcased the potential for a downtrodden

Governor's School for the Arts students lit this alley.

section of Granby Street near downtown Norfolk, Virginia. Pop-up performance venues, galleries, cafes and coffee shops gave a glimpse of how this rundown, nondescript commercial district could be revived.

Since then visionaries, activists, artists and funders have worked together to bring to life the NEON District right where the pop-up Better Block event took place. NEON stands for the New Energy of Norfolk, but it also represents the colorful nature of Norfolk's new arts district. 

Last week the two-night Neon Festival drew thousands of people from throughout Hampton Roads to wander the streets and enjoy visual art, music, dance, comedy and food as part of Norfolk's Visual Arts Week. 

Yes, there was plenty of neon art along with new giant wall murals to add to the magic. The Business Consortium for Arts Support, whose funders include the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, helped underwrite this fun festival for arts lovers of all ages. 

The Downtown Norfolk Council, Chrysler Museum of Art, Governor's School for the Arts, Virginia Opera, Virginia Arts Festival and Virginia Stage Company were among the many organizations giving the NEON District a great vibe.Thanks to everyone who is helping breathe new life into this district. 

 (The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $210 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. )

Donors Honor Parents With Dazzling Chrysler Chandelier

The Valones admire the sculpture with artist Luke Jerram (right)

Dr. James and Christiane Valone of Norfolk found a special way to honor their parents and give a gift their whole community can enjoy. When the Chrysler Museum of Art reopens on May 10 a spectacular part of it will be the 17-foot kinetic chandelier dangling down the museum's spiral staircase. Click here to watch a 59-second video created by the artist.

It is typical to honor people with "things cast in bronze or engraved in granite," Jim Valone says. But he and Christiane went a modern route with a piece of functional art made from glass, wire and microchips. A grant from the Valones' donor-advised fund at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation paid for the chandelier whose clear orbs have insides that spin when exposed to light. If you pause at the stairwell and are quiet, your ears will be treated to a gentle fluttering sound emitted by the moving parts. Renowned British artist Luke Jerram created what he calls The Chrysler Chandelier from 330 glass radiometers. Tiny microchips hang next to each globe and produce enough infrared energy to make the spindles and vanes inside the glass orbs rotate.

"This is the first chandelier I've made that is powered by Infra red LEDS rather than sunlight," Jerram says. "What's interesting is that you can see the (invisible to the naked eye infrared light) only when you view the chandelier through your mobile phone."

 William Hennessey, Chrysler Museum executive director, remembers being fascinated when the sun made a radiometer on his window sill whir when he was a boy. "Radiometers have a great gee whiz factor," he says.

"The chandelier was commissioned for this very spot," Hennessey says. "We had a leading artist create something that will delight people from ages 5 to 85."

After nearly a year of work the 66-pound chandelier, which requires no electricity, was installed the other week. It bridges the museum's new upstairs modern art gallery with the ground floor where kids and families gather. Both the Chrysler's children's gallery and the

hands-on Hampton Roads Community Foundation Education Center are at the bottom of the winding staircase.

Christiane Valone is a long-time docent at the Chrysler Museum, which has been closed for more than a year for major renovations. She and her husband both love art and the Chrysler. The grant they recommended through their Hampton Roads Community Foundation fund honors all four of their parents who taught them to appreciate art and philanthropy: Denise Gabrielle Jacot des Combes and Leslie Ellis, who live in Great Britain, and Ethel Morrison Fielder of Raleigh and the late James Valone.

The Valones believe it is important for all young people to come face to face with art and develop a fascination with it. They look forward to the spinning chandelier encouraging families and young people to come and enjoy the Chrysler. Learn more from the Chrysler Museum of Art about the chandelier.
Read the April 10 Virginian-Pilot story by Teresa Annas about the chandelier.
Watch a 59-second video created by artist Luke Jerram and see his creation in action.

(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. )
 

Photo by Gary Marshall courtesy of the Chrysler Museum of Art