CHARLESTON, S.C. — The 35th season of the Spoleto Festival USA opened Friday with dancing, a shower of confetti and a plea for more state support for the internationally known arts festival.
"I would not be doing my duty if I did not urge the state of South Carolina to substantially increase their support of Spoleto Festival USA," Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. told several hundred people gathered in front of City Hall for the opening ceremonies.
"This festival is one of South Carolina's greatest assets," he said.
Festival General Director Nigel Redden said later that state support for Spoleto, founded here in 1977 by the late composer Gian Carlo Menotti, was more than a half million dollars several years ago but this season shrunk to only $14,000.
"This is a center of excellence and a huge economic asset for our state and deserves greater support from state government," Riley said, adding that as the economy improves, state support should increase.
The festival is estimated to pump $55 million annually into the economy and provide the equivalent of about 950 full-time jobs. After several lean years, this year's Spoleto budget of $7.3 million is almost a million dollars more than last year.
This year's festival pays homage to Menotti with a production of his opera "The Medium" on the 100th anniversary of his birth. It's the first time a Menotti opera has been staged at the festival since Menotti left 18 years ago in a dispute over his successor. He died in 2007 at age 95.
The Charleston festival was modeled on the festival Menotti founded in Spoleto, Italy.
"As we celebrate his extraordinary achievement, this festival, we must allow it not only to enthrall and entertain, but to challenge and motivate us," Riley said. "We must allow this festival to challenge us even more to make sure that during these difficult times, our children's exposure to arts in their schools is not diminished, but increased."
The audience also heard from Fred Child, host of "Performance Today," the classical music program on National Public Radio.
He said a recent study of 50,000 people in Norway found people who attend concerts, go to museums and are culturally active have less stress, are healthier, happier and more fulfilled with their lives.
"I'm a great believer ultimately in the value of the arts for their own sake. In the end, not because a scientist says it makes you feel better or because it's an economic engine or because it makes the kids smarter," he said. "All of that is important but in the end there is this unequalled truth-telling in the arts."
Spoleto continues through June 12 and features, among other productions, the American premiere of Kaija Saariaho's opera "Emilie" as well as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute," conducted by Spoleto's former music director Steven Sloane.