South Jersey arts groups should get a second chance to win money that was unfairly taken from them, State Sen. Wayne Bryant, D-Camden, said Wednesday.

Also, the state should find out what it would cost to fix a performing arts center in Camden so that classical music concerts can be held there, Bryant said during a Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee hearing.

Secretary of State DeForest Soaries Jr. told Bryant he would ask the state Economic Development Authority to estimate the cost of fixing the acoustics at the South Jersey Performing Arts Center.

The center, on Camden's Waterfront, opened in 1996 and has concrete floors, plastic seats and a metal roof. During a hard rain, noise from the outside can drown out performances.

Groups who are rejected for funding by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts are prohibited from reapplying for three years. However, Bryant said South Jersey groups rejected last year should be allowed to reapply during the next round of grants, to be allocated in July.

Bryant cited Courier-Post stories published April 8-10 that documented how, over the past four years, the state arts council diverted more than $2.1 million to North Jersey groups and statewide projects. The money was taken from funds that had been previously earmarked for cultural projects in South Jersey.

Soaries plans to complete a review of arts council policies by June 1 to determine if money was, in fact, unfairly taken from South Jersey arts groups.

In Tuesday's editions, the Star-Ledger of Newark questioned whether a few politically connected groups consumed a lion's share of the arts council's money.

Fully 58 percent of the $14 million in general operating grants awarded by the council went to 10 organizations last year. Of those 10 groups, eight had former or current members of the arts council or former state government officials on their boards of directors.

Ann Marie Miller, executive director of ArtPride New Jersey, said recent media reports proved nothing.

"Articles that express the opinion of one or two or three reporters who are investigating the situation don't represent the viewpoints of the majority of the arts community," said Miller, whose 200-member group lobbies the Legislature for statewide funding of the arts.

Arts council officials say they obeyed a state law that requires 25 percent of the arts council's money to be spent in the southern eight counties. They offered grants to the North Jersey arts groups to put on shows in the south. Southern groups were not offered similar grants.

The Courier-Post is sponsoring a South Jersey Summit on Arts Funding to let arts leaders, politicians and business executives and the public discuss how to improve the system. The summit will be held June 1, from 9 a.m. to noon, at the Ritz Theatre, 915 White Horse Pike, Oaklyn.

To register, call special sections editor Laurie Stuart at (856) 486-2942, or e-mail her at lstuart@ courierpostonline.com.