Giving Back: Rebekah Huber Keeps Arts Vibrant

If Rebekah Huber were alive today, she would likely be enthralled with Hampton Roads’ vibrant arts scene that now includes the NEON District near Downtown Norfolk and ViBe Creative District near the Virginia Beach oceanfront.

A generous Norfolk resident who loved the arts, you would find her at symphony and opera performances as well as simply dancing while in line at her favorite grocery store. In 1985, she and her family created a Hampton Roads Community Foundation field-of-interest fund for the arts. The Paul S. Huber Fund pays tribute to her late father, a Norfolk newspaperman and its grants helped start the Business Consortium for Arts Support and continue to support it each year.

Since 1987, the consortium has provided more than $20 million in operating support to 31 established area arts and cultural organizations.

Sadly, Rebekah passed away at the age of 92 in 2007, but we can image how thrilled she would be to know that her legacy lives on and she continues to support the emerging arts districts through her permanent fund. Indeed, funding from the Huber Fund, along with four other Hampton Roads Community Foundation funds resulted in a $473,800 grant for the consortium which is underpinning the arts in 2016.

We thank Rebekah Huber for her foresight and generosity along with these community foundation arts funders -- the Ashinoff Family, Lee A. and Helen G. Gifford, William A. Goldback and John L. Roper 2nd and Sara Dryfoos Roper Fund. The donors named here have all have passed away but left legacies through their community foundation to keep the arts humming in Hampton Roads.

You can also leave a legacy, click here to learn how to start a fund at the community foundation or donate to one.