Like many businessmen, Jay Appleton bypassed South Jersey theater companies and drove across a bridge to Philadelphia or through a tunnel to New York to attend plays.

Then Appleton discovered the wealth of South Jersey's cultural community when he showed up at the 2001 Business/ Arts Summit.

A year later, Appleton is a subscriber to the Ritz Theatre and also serves on the company's board of directors. The chief operating officer of Exhibitus, a Haddonfield-based firm that specializes in creating museum displays, is using his expertise as a civil engineer to oversee the renovation of the historic theater.

"The summit last year provided an education for me," said Appleton of Mount Laurel. "I discovered the diversity of the South Jersey arts community."

The fourth annual Business/Arts Summit takes place April 25 and 26 at the South Jersey Performing Arts Center in the Tweeter Center on Camden's Waterfront. The event promotes partnerships between businesses and arts groups.

After last year's summit, Appleton, 45, contacted the event's sponsor, the Arts and Business Partnership of Southern New Jersey. Appleton was matched with the Ritz Theatre when the staff discovered his interest in theater.

"Building our board and strengthening our company from the top down was our big goal when we joined the Arts and Business Partnership," said Bruce Curless, producing artistic director of Puttin' on the Ritz Inc. "Jay has the soul of an artist and the background of a civil engineer. He has provided the guidance and experience we needed when we recently purchased the Ritz Theatre."

Appleton's wife, Kathy, also volunteers at the Ritz. The elementary school music teacher will teach in the Ritz's annual summer camp for schoolchildren.

Appleton is the second board member the Ritz has secured through the Arts and Business Partnership. Several years ago, John Comegno, a lawyer affiliated with Archer & Greiner in Haddonfield, joined the board.

"John helped with the mountains of paperwork involved in purchasing the theater," said Curless. "Now Jay Appleton is supervising the upkeep and renovation of our historic theater."

"Partnerships like this benefit both parties," explained Maureen Evers, assistant executive director of the Arts and Business Partnership.

Larry Winne, a partner at the Mount Laurel law firm Capehart & Scatchard who attended last year's summit, is volunteering his legal skills to help Millrace Village create a nonprofit corporation to support artists opening stores in Mount Holly's historic downtown area. Winne, 54, recently joined the board of the Haddonfield Symphony.

"I can't sculpt, and I can't paint," said Winne, who lives in Voorhees with his wife, Courier-Post staff writer Judith Winne, "but I can help artists. I want the community I live in to be rich in the arts."