Portland, Ore... When longtime Portland City Commissioner Mike Lindberg retires from public office in January of 1997, he will continue his arts advocacy and leadership role in the community and state as President of the newly established Oregon Symphony Foundation, Symphony Life Director and Foundation Board Chair William J. Fronk announced today. Lindberg's career change was revealed during a morning news conference in the Grand Lobby of the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, the Symphony's performance home.

"This is both an honor and a dream," said Lindberg. "An honor to be able to continue to advocate for the arts being an integral part of everyone's life -- and a dream to be able to fulfill that role with the Oregon Symphony, where excellence is personified. "

Symphony Board of Directors Chair A.G. "Bud" Lindstrand announced that the Oregon Symphony joins a select few American orchestras to establish a separately funded Foundation as an ongoing mechanism for raising major gifts and bequests.

Funding for the Foundation will come from the income created by the Symphony's endowment fund, which currently has a market value of close to $17 million.

Also revealed was an impressive list of Foundation Board of Directors which includes Oregon Sen. Mark Hatfield, who will assume his Symphony role when he retires from the United States Senate in January of 1997, and Foundation Vice Chair Ned Hayes, a longtime Symphony patron and former board member who led the nucleus committee launching the orchestra's $13.1 million Centennial Campaign, for which Fronk held a key leadership role as well. The continuing campaign has now raised more than $15 million.

Fronk, who also is the founding recipient of the orchestra's William J. Fronk Award for Distinguished Service, stated: "I have a longstanding relationship with Symphony finances -- we have faced many challenges over the last 10 to 12 years. Although the musical rewards have more than justified the effort, I feel rewarded as well that the Foundation is most likely the final piece of the financial puzzle."

Although he was unable to attend the Foundation news conference, Sen. Hatfield sent these comments to his friend, Music Director James DePreist: "Jimmy, you and the orchestra are one of our greatest cultural assets and I am pleased to be in a position to lend my support at a time that is so critical for the future of the Oregon Symphony. The prospect of leaving public office allows me to commit some of my personal energies in areas that I believe will have the greatest return in securing the quality of life in our state. There is no question that the Oregon Symphony fits that bill. In 1997 I look forward to great success with the Oregon Symphony Foundation in building a solid framework for a second century of great music."

Also appointed to the Oregon Symphony Foundation Board of Directors are: David Dietzler, Managing Partner at KPMG Peat Marwick; Gerard Drummond, a former Symphony Board Chair; Gerald Hulsman, the CEO of Charter Investment Group; Carolynn Loacker, Symphony Board Vice-Chair; Harold Pollin, the Owner and Operator of Sheraton Inn Airport; George Spencer, a Partner at Tonkin Torp Galen Marmaduke & Booth; A. G. "Bud" Lindstrand, the President of ODS Health Plans; Patrick Jones, Vice President/Corporate Controller of Intel Corporation; and Don Roth, Oregon Symphony President.

The establishment of the Oregon Symphony Foundation ensures that the Symphony's steady endowment growth will continue, said Lindstrand. The orchestra currently receives just over 10 percent of its annual income from endowment revenue; the goal is 20 percent. "In today's terms the Foundation will need to raise an additional $15 million in endowment to provide that level of income," he said.

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