CARLOS J. ORTIZ/Courier-Post Local executive Pete Busam has been called `a real supporter of the arts' for his work.

When the South Jersey Cultural Alliance needs help, Executive Director Cynthia Lambert knows where to turn.

Inspired by the annual Business/Arts Summit, South Jersey business leaders are extending a helping hand to her organization and to other South Jersey arts groups.

Last year, the alliance received an $8,000 grant to open a media center to help its constituents publish brochures and make advertisements.

Part of a $203,289 marketing initiative from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the grant got the alliance only halfway to its goal of purchasing sophisticated software and two state-of-the-art computers, scanners and printers as well as digital cameras.

Lambert put out an SOS.

Pete Busam, vice president and chief operating officer of Decisive Business Systems, a Pennsauken-based technology company, came to the rescue.

``They had high expectations but low dollars,'' Busam says. "The grant could only pay for the graphic software they needed."

Using his connections with Compaq and Lexmark, Busam secured the computers and printers at a reduced price.

The equipment was installed in the alliance's Atlantic City office and in the Haddonfield office of the Arts and Business Partnership of Southern New Jersey.

For their help, Busam and Decisive Business Systems are receiving the Business Volunteer Award in a ceremony Thursday at the South Jersey Performing Arts Center on Camden's Waterfront.

The annual Business/Arts Partnership Awards precede Friday's daylong Business/Arts Summit at the center.

Others to be honored at the 6 p.m. event Thursday:

•Business Partner: Frank Siegel of Video Communication Services of Mount Laurel for his support and contributions to the Business/Arts Summit and for producing a video about the Arts and Business Partnership of Southern New Jersey.

•Corporate Partner: Lockheed Martin for " substantial, ongoing commitment" to the arts in South Jersey and to the partnership.

•Arts Partner: Mark Packer, executive director of Appel Farm Arts and Music Center in Elmer, for his work on behalf of the South Jersey arts community.

•Government Partner: Assemblymen Louis Greenwald, D- Camden, Joseph Roberts, D-Camden, and Sen. John Matheussen, R-Gloucester, for playing key roles in securing South Jersey's share of funding from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

•Partnership Advocate: Dorothy Rivers of Haddonfield for helping secure increased funding and for ongoing lobbying to protect South Jersey arts groups from this year's budget cuts.

Lambert calls Busam "a real supporter of the arts."

With the new technology in place, she says the alliance was able to produce a cultural tourism brochure that will market the activities of more than 100 arts institutions in South Jersey.

"The media equipment is a valuable asset for cultural groups," adds Lawanna Dykes, executive director of the Arts and Business Partnership. "Our members are able to use the hardware for marketing and public relations."

Dykes says the project shows how the combination of of government funding and private support can strengthen the South Jersey cultural community. Busam says the business community benefits, too.

"The arts make our region more attractive to people and enhance the quality of life," he says. "That makes it easier for businesses to attract the personnel we need. When businesses help the arts, we are also helping ourselves."