🔒Williamson reflects on Homer exhibit sponsorship

"Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and Maine," which closed on Dec. 30, broke December attendance records and helped the Portland Museum of Art boost its membership by 20% to nearly 9,000. The PMA's exhibition showcased masterpieces the great American artist (1836-1910) created during the final decades of his life when he lived and worked in Maine.

Just before the show ended, Mainebiz interviewed Bill Williamson, Bank of America's Maine state president, about the bank's $100,000 corporate sponsorship of the exhibition. The following is an edited transcript.

Mainebiz: How did Bank of America become the corporate sponsor of this exhibition?

Williamson: Bank of America has a long-abiding commitment to the arts. With Winslow Homer being such a particularly well-known American artist, we felt it presented an opportunity to sponsor an exhibit that aligned very well with our support of the arts and also with supporting our local communities. So we were pleased to be asked and we were quick to respond affirmatively. We're proud also that this is the largest corporate sponsorship that the museum has received. In this case, we're supporting the arts in Maine, in Portland, but we're also benefiting the economy and really helping to put the Portland Museum of Art on the pedestal it deserves being on.

When you made the contribution, did you have reasonable confidence that the return on investment would be measurable with the museum breaking attendance and membership records?

We knew this would be successful, but we had no way of knowing how successful. When we sit down and look at an opportunity to support an institution like the Portland Museum of Art, we look at its track record, some of the past exhibits that we've been involved in and the success of those. Then we look at the opportunity in question — which, in this case, was the Winslow Homer exhibit. We knew that Homer was an exceedingly popular American artist and that this was a unique collection of his work that should be very well received. As you know, the regional and national and international press has given it terrific coverage. It was terrific to hear the response and know that our commitment to the arts was getting that kind of recognition.

Roughly how much does Bank of America in Maine give on a yearly basis in philanthropic initiatives?

If you look at our three focus areas — which are community development, work-force development and education, and critical needs like hunger and emergency shelter support — we run RFPs for nonprofit organizations. Then you add to that what we do for the United Way in Maine … Volunteering is very important, too: We don't have the figures yet for 2012, but in 2011 our employees in Maine contributed 32,000 hours of volunteer time. So there are all kinds of ways for us to provide charitable support. In round dollars it comes to about $1 million a year in total.

Is there any painting in particular you would consider to be your favorite?

Oh boy! There are several I like very much, but one that I particularly like is the one he did of his studio ["The Artist's Studio in Afternoon Fog," 1894]. It was actually a painting he did as a gift to John Calvin Stevens, who provided the design services for Homer's studio. I just happen to love that painting. But there are many others that are terrific.