236 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 63 



(3) Service band recordings. — For the first time, the music of the 

 four U.S. military bands has been recorded for sale to the public, and 

 all profits from the sale of the albums are being given to the Cultural 

 Center. The records were released by KCA Victor in May 1963 and 

 to date have sold nearly 150,000 copies. The Center receives 95 cents 

 per album after the initial overhead of approximately $20,000 has been 

 deducted. 



(4) Washington area campaign. — The Greater Washington area, 

 under the chairmanship of Mrs. Hugh D. Auchincloss, has been 

 charged with the responsibility of raising $7.5 million, or one- fourth 

 of the total cost of the Center. The committees have now been formed 

 and all fund-raising projects in this area put into vigorous action. 

 Involving some 5,000 workers, the programs include a Special Gifts 

 Campaign to solicit donations of $1,000 and over, and a General Cam- 

 paign enlisting support from the area's schools and imiversities, busi- 

 nesses, labor unions, the professions, fraternal orders, etc., for con- 

 tributions of up to $1,000. 



ARCHITECTURAL PLANNING 



With the advent of 1962 the Trustees, feeling that the original $75 

 million concept of the Center was unnecessarily costly, asked the archi- 

 tect, Edward Durell Stone, to furnish an alternative design. In the 

 summer of that year, Mr. Stone provided a series of plans for group- 

 ing the three halls (1,200-seat theater; 2,750-seat symphony hall; and 

 2,500-seat hall for opera, ballet, and musical theater) under a single 

 roof — at less than one-half the original cost. In addition, a garden- 

 like roof area, with retractable roof insuring use in all weather, was 

 designed to accommodate band concerts, art exhibits, festivals, chil- 

 dren's theater, theater-in-the-round, and two restaurants. 



In September 1962 the new model was presented to the Center's two 

 honorary cochairmen, Mrs. Kennedy and Mrs. Eisenhower, as well 

 as to the Board of Trustees and the Commission of Fine Arts. It was 

 received with unanimous enthusiasm and approval. 



The site designated by Congress for the Center is the area in the 

 District of Columbia bounded by the Inner Loop Freeway on the east, 

 the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge approaches on the south. Rock Creek 

 Parkway on the west, and New Hampshire Avenue and F Street on 

 the north. 



FUTURE PROSPECTS 



By June 1963, all the aforementioned fund-raising programs were 

 well launched, and prospects of attaining individual program quotas 

 were promising. In March 1963 a conditional grant of $5 million 

 was secured from the Ford Foundation, payable when the Center's 

 fund-raising total reaches $15 million. 



