<HTML>In a message dated 6/17/03 9:03:23 PM Central Daylight= Time, pianos@traverse.net writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT= : 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">We need to think creatively not= only about ways to spend money but ways to raise it as well.  To that end Interlochen Cent= er for the Arts recently created what I think may be the first endowed chair of piano<B= R> technology in the country.  </BLOCKQUOTE> While on the one hand this is a great idea, what bothers me about this is th= at not only do we have to work for a living, if this trend continues, it loo= ks like we will also have to work to find the money to pay us. Unfortunately, this is not just a minor problem with finding funds to pay th= e piano technician. This falls under the larger umbrella of funding the arts= . In the United States, funding for the arts has always been a problem. Whil= e people will pay hundreds of dollars to attend athletic events, and think n= othing of plunking down $20,000 to buy a fishing boat, which they use twice = a year, asking them to give $50, much less $5000, to help pay for the arts, = falls on deaf ears. If we are going to have to raise our own salary, it become even more imperat= ive that we can show how the money is going to be used, and used judiciously= . That is why we need to have in place charts showing how properly maintaine= d instruments will not only play and sound better, but last longer. Wim </HTML>