Wright's Foundation Funnels Funds To The Arts

Bagley and Virginia Wright have been called the Medicis of Seattle. They've given millions to local art museums, the symphony and theater groups, among other arts organizations. And they've often rolled up their sleeves and served on arts boards and capital campaigns.

The Seattle Repertory's Bagley Wright Theater is named for Wright because he spearheaded the founding of the organization and the building of its theater more than 30 years ago.

But ask him why he and his wife have been so generous in supporting the arts over the decades and he shrugs off the question as if the answer was obvious.

"I'm interested in art and the theater, so I want to have a good museum and good theaters," said Bagley Wright. "I don't think I was particularly inspired to do any of this, it's just that you don't want to miss a chance when it comes along."

Wright was chairman of the symphony hall's capital campaign, now completed, and last year stunned the city by announcing the formation of a $20 million arts foundation that he has called the Bagley Wright Fund.

The money comes from his sizable personal fortune, and will be given away to the tune of about $1 million a year in mostly large hunks of at least $250,000. The money is essentially earmarked for well-established visual arts and performance groups, and can only be used for capital campaigns and endowments. Wright says that is his way of ensuring that there will always be top quality art in Seattle, whether that means international-caliber paintings at the museum or first-rate symphonic productions.

Wright says his private foundation gave away about $1 million last year, mostly to projects to which he had already committed, such as the building of the symphony hall, the Henry Art Gallery and the new ACT Theater. He also plans this fall to give $25,000 to a veteran visual artist as a lifetime achievement award, and $5,000 to an emerging visual artist. No decisions have been made as to who will get those individual visual arts awards, which will be given annually.

Though he is well aware that federal and some other sources of arts funding are drying up - that's one reason he cited last year for starting his own foundation - Wright, a retired businessman, says he is not concerned about funding for established Seattle arts organizations. Virginia Wright is heir to the Bloedel and Merrill timber fortunes, and Wright in the late '50s and '60s became one of Seattle's most successful developers, building the Space Needle among other Seattle landmarks. He was later chairman of Physio-Control Corp., the Redmond manufacturer of heart defibrillators.

"Seattle seems to have been very successful in fund raising for the arts in the last several years," said Wright. "We are very prosperous as a community and people are giving. I don't see any reason to be pessimistic."