Giant annual auction for arts is million dollar fund raiser.

When arts leaders from abroad look at cultural funding in the United States, they usually point to the plurality of support sources as the key aspect of the American approach. While government support may be much lower here than in many other countries, they view the mix of support mechanisms - corporate, foundation and individual - as a buttress for government funding drop-offs in tough economic times. In recent years, in fact, the development of private support mechanisms, especially corporate sponsorship, has become a priority concern of arts administrators in many foreign countries.

One of America's best examples of pluralistic support at work can be found in Seattle, Washington, where, for a number of years, several distinct funding sources have coexisted and have helped support such nationally known arts groups as the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, A Contemporary Theatre, Seattle Art Museum, Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Seattle Repertory Theatre, while also providing a climate for the growth and development of emerging groups in a range of cultural disciplines.

Along with an official municipal arts agency, the Seattle Arts Commission, with a budget of about $1.9 million a year, Seattle also is home to a county agency, the King County Arts Commission, whose budget is $1.67 million, a Business Volunteers for the Arts affiliate and the Corporate Council for the Arts. In addition to its fund-raising role, the Corporate Council, established in 1969, advises arts groups on ways to win business support and helps find solutions to problems within the arts community. It also provides local support to the National Arts Stabilization Fund, which selected Seattle as one of several cities where it has developed projects to boost arts support. In its key activity, its major annual united arts fund drive, the Corporate Council raised $1.5 million from area businesses for the arts in 1989.

Seattle also is home to a unique year-round organization whose sole purpose is to raise funds for the support of local arts groups. The Patrons of Northwest Civic, Cultural and Charitable Organizations, or PONCHO as it's known, has raised more than $9 million for the arts in the past 28 years and it's had a good time doing it. Forget direct mail, telemarketing and one-on-one solicitation, PONCHO'S funding mechanism is a giant annual black-tie auction of goods and services.