will be -- as usual -- the "poor relation'' of our government's largesse.

Despite well-publicised confirmation from leading educators that early involvement in the arts produces brighter adults, Bermuda still clings to the outworn and discredited notion that they are, collectively, little more than hobbies for a minority elite.

Last week, USA Today published the results of a study by the University of California which our government may do well to investigate.

This study found that just 15 minutes a week of keyboard instruction and group singing for pre-schoolers dramatically improves the kind of intelligence needed for advanced maths and science. In an eight-month study of 19 pre-schoolers, the university's Frances Rauscher found that of the 14 who enrolled in music lessons, there was a 46 percent boost in spatial IQs, while the remainder, who had not studied any music, registered only six percent improvement.

She wrote that the study of music appears to strengthen the links between brain neurons and build the new neural bridges required for good spatial reasoning.

Yet, in Government's annual hand-outs last year, the Arts Council, which represents ALL branches of the arts, was given a total grant of $175,000.

Compare this to Sports Development and Elite Athlete Assistance which received a whopping $634,000. Included in the '94/95 estimates, an additional sum of $220,000 was set aside for "National Stadium Trustees.'' It is worth noting that for 1992-3, the recently much-criticised Bermuda Football Association received $203,000 -- $28,000 more than the entire amount allotted for the Arts Council's work. This, in spite of the fact the arts (performing as well as visual) are today enjoying a popularity unparalleled in the history of Bermuda.

Dr. Charles Zuill, as Chairman of the Arts Council and Lecturer in Art at the Bermuda College, is frustrated by what he sees as a glaring lack of support for those involved in the arts. This, he says, is in spite of the fact that "all the arts, performing or visual, are on a roll here! We all know, now, that exposure to the arts produces better students, both academically and emotionally. But Government seems to have a very low opinion of the arts! The Arts Council gets a grant of only $175,000, but $75,000 of that is siphoned off to pay for the Menuhin Foundation. Now don't get me wrong,'' he explains, "I have no gripe with supporting Menuhin, which is doing a wonderful job -- my daughter took lessons for years -- but teaching music throughout the primary schools is primarily an educational function and should be paid for from the Education budget.'' Dr. Zuill and his 11-member committee have to allocate the tiny remaining fund as best they can.

Out of the Arts Council grant, for instance, the Bermuda Society of Arts (the Island's oldest and the group credited with the "renaissance'' of the arts here) receives only $6,000 -- and this is expressly donated to cover the cost of mounting the annual schools' show at their City Hall gallery.

The Society has, in addition, been promised $4,000 for its Contemporary Collection, formed last year to collect for posterity the work of Bermuda's living artists.

Again, it is interesting to compare those two amounts and some of the others under the heading of "Sport Development.'' Of the 22 organisations singled out for cash gifts and besides the aforementioned huge allocation to football, cricket got $64,000, the Island gymnasts, $14,000, Bermuda Lawn Tennis received $18,000 and the Bermuda Yachting Association got $39,000; even the Autocycle Union was given $10,000.

Not surprisingly, the Arts Council feels it is fighting a losing battle.

"We get regular requests for funding from all sections of the community, in all branches of the arts, so we have to be careful to try and balance the distribution as best we can. It's very difficult, because there is so little to share out,'' says Dr. Zuill.

Yet, each year, as the surge in interest in the arts grows, the demand for funding also grows. The Bermuda National Gallery, which celebrates its third anniversary next month, currently receives nothing from the Arts Council.

"We were very grateful for the capital grant from Government ($160,000) to help pay for the conversion of the gallery and the restoration of the Watlington Collection, but last year, we received the last part of that pledge ($20,000) for the initial project. The Watlington Collection costs about $80,000 a year to maintain,'' explains gallery director Mrs. Laura Gorham.

"We don't know if we'll receive anything for this coming year!'' Dr. Zuill believes that because of indifference -- if not outright hostility -- on the part of Government, the Arts Council has long since been forced to abandon the very principles for which it was created in 1969. He feels that nowhere in the mission statement is there any suggestion that the Arts Council should be funding scholarships or further education in the arts. This, however, is the other area in which much of the Arts Council's grant money is swallowed up.

The reason for this, he goes on, is because Government seems unwilling to fund students pursuing careers in the arts. He gives an example.

"I had a brilliant student from Warwick Academy, with a huge number of `O' levels, who walked off with the Chamber of Commerce Award. He won a place at the Rhode Island School of Design but had no money. He was turned down for a scholarship and it was `leaked' to us at the College that if he had applied for any other subject, he would have got it. I don't know if this is a written policy, but in reality, Government never awards arts scholarships -- maybe English -- but otherwise, they do not.'' Noting that last year, Bermuda's taxpayers shelled out $203,000 to the Bermuda Football Association alone, Mr. Zuill says, "It really gripes me when you look at the enormous amount of money they give to sport, and the token amount they give to culture. In fact, I have told my MPs that, particularly in light of this football fiasco, Government might come to the realisation that a more equitable distribution of funds would be in order.'' In the early days of the Arts Council, Dr. Zuill points out that it followed the objectives as set out in the Bermuda Arts Council Act, 1969.

"There was a summer arts festival for several years and the Council helped underwrite it. It's my understanding that `Culture' came under the Education Ministry then, and they said we had to cease that kind of activity and use the annual grant for scholarships.'' Ever since, he claims, the Council has abdicated its primary function of encouraging the arts in the community and has, instead, been forced to take over the role of educating children.

"This burns my soul!'' he exclaims, "All they are doing is taking money from one ministry and using it for another. Why isn't the Department of Education handling these scholarships? Do we expect the Department of Works and Engineering to underwrite the education of prospective engineers?'' Dr. Zuill, who has a PhD in Art from the University of New York, feels the problems facing the Arts Council, however, are merely a reflection of the misguided concepts about the arts in general in Bermuda. These begin, he says, in the schools, where students who are placed in the secondary school academic streams, more often than not are denied the opportunity of studying art.

"The end result of this,'' he continues, "is that our numbers in the Art Department at the College are going down, because very few secondary school students have the background to come to us. I don't expect to have a huge department, but there are many companies here who need the services of graphic artists and designers. I think many more people are being brought in to Bermuda to work in these fields than perhaps is generally realised. But quite apart from the relative few who pursue art-related careers, there is a basic lack of understanding by Government that one kind of intelligence enhances another and serves as an avenue to other kinds of learning. The English teachers here, for instance, are constantly telling me that some of their best students are those from the Art Department.'' The practical importance of the College's Art Department was highlighted in December when it mounted its first Alumni Art Show which included such former students as Bermudians Bruce Stuart, Chris Marson, Paul Doughty, and Sharon Wilson, to name but a very few. Among those who went on to run their own advertising agencies were Emma Mitchell and Rhona Emmerson.

The cost of staging that, as with any other show, came from the operating budget of $3,200 annually allocated to the Art Department by the College.

"This sum has to cover everything from equipment to models to exhibitions.

It's extremely low! The art budget is not unfairly low compared with other areas, but the overall budget is extremely low. Can you imagine, the budget for buying books for the entire College was only $5,000!'' Dr. Zuill goes on, "I have absolutely no doubts about the usefulness of the arts -- regardless of whether you go on to become an artist. Devonshire Academy (before it was closed down by Government) was the school which took students that nobody else would take, but they had a programme of music and drama which achieved wonderful things! There is no doubt that the arts has a civilising effect on people. I sometimes wonder what the history of our century would have been if Hitler had been accepted into the Academy of Arts in Vienna. He applied, but was turned down! We can only speculate, but I think history may have been quite different!'' When Dr. Zuill first began teaching in the US, he had a "very weak'' academic student, who also suffered from dyslexia. "But he majored in art.

Now this boy had been a troublemaker but he flourished in his art classes. By the time I got to the college he was a student leader, very articulate, and went on to do a Masters in Fine Arts. Now what would have happened to a boy like that in Bermuda? I think we all know.'' He cites Bill Ming, the Bermudian sculptor who left Bermuda and became one of England's most successful artists: "He said that if he hadn't got into art, he would have ended up in Casemates.'' Dr. Susan Levasseur, who teaches at the Dunbarton School of Music, has long been an advocate of exposing children to the arts at the earliest possible age. Within her own field where, she notes, music is now being taught from the age of six months, Dr. Levasseur says she feels this is the route education should take for improved co-ordination, and the development of mental processes and perceptual skills.

"Besides having higher IQs, children who learn music are more motivated.

There is a growing belief in the States that music should be incorporated into the core curriculum, as experts are realising it is essential to the development of the whole person -- emotionally, physically, and intellectually.'' Artistic director of The Dance Theatre of Bermuda, Mrs. Conchita Ming, says she is grateful for the help received from the Arts Council: "Ruth Thomas has been a wonderful advocate for us. But even so, we don't receive a regular amount.'' Mrs. Ming is vehement in her belief that dance training is of enormous value, especially for children.

"The National Dance Association (of America) has a rather nice quote, which is, `The body is the instrument of expression and in an increasingly technical age, dance is therefore especially important in keeping in touch with what is human. Dance is both a lens for perceiving and a language for communicating.' "To me, dance is inherent in all of us. Dancing and movement also plays an important role in emotional development.'' She also makes the point that the best dancers are almost always the best students -- "high flyers'' -- and puts this down, partly, to dance training improving a student's overall organisational abilities.

Mrs. Ming says that when she met Lord Menuhin during his recent visit here, he too was lamenting the fact that when governments tighten belts, the arts are still targeted as the first victims. "He understands so well that we have to nurture the arts for our young people. And he understands, better than anyone, I think, the importance of all the arts in the development of the whole person.'' Can Bermuda expect a similar understanding from the former P.E. teacher as he divulges the taxing secrets of his briefcase tomorrow morning? PATRON OF THE ARTS -- Dr. Charles Zuill, Chairman of Bermuda's Arts Council.