He also plays sponsor

GATHER round, aspiring arts fundraisers, and test your mettle. On Saturday, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., unveiled “Picturing the Banjo,” an exhibition running through early March that examines one

stringed instrument’s role in culture and social history since enslaved West Africans brought the first banjo to North America.

The exhibition, which includes 72 artworks made over four centuries by artists including Thomas Hart Benton, Norman Rockwell and Betye Saar, was first organized by the Palmer Museum of Art at Pennsylvania State University.

So: If you were the Corcoran and looking for a banjo-loving, museum-friendly sponsor to help pay for the show’s appearance in Washington, whom would you approach?

Exactly. The Corcoran won’t say how much he gave, but the principal sponsor is the Steve Martin Charitable Foundation, founded by the actor-writer-

comedian who first hit it big 30 years ago with a stand-up act that included his picking a five-string banjo.