Representatives of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts met with South Jersey cultural leaders Wednesday to engage in what Executive Director Barbara F. Russo called " a frank and open discussion" about the council's policies.

During the council's first South Jersey constituency meeting in three years, 20 of the region's cultural leaders shared their concerns and suggested solutions to Russo, members of her staff and Kenneth J. Endick of Hampton, chairman of the council's grants committee.

During the exchange on the campus of Cumberland County College, Russo and Endick defended the council's insistence on excellence in return for funding.

"Excellence is your mantra and meritocracy is your watchword," noted Bart Johnson, board chairman of the Westmont Theatre Company, one of the Camden County arts groups the council refused to fund last year.

"As a gardener, I know if you put all your fertilizer on the big plants, you will end up with a lopsided garden. The council must find a way to develop excellence as well as support excellence."

During a meeting scheduled for two hours that stretched into three, South Jersey arts leaders addressed issues of paramount importance for the region.

Much of the discussion focused on issues raised in a series on arts council funding published by the Courier- Post last month. The series showed the council is ignoring the region's emerging arts groups and shortchanging more established organizations.

In the last four years, the council has given $2.1 million to North Jersey and statewide arts groups to present programs and performances in South Jersey. Those funds were subtracted from the 25 percent of grants the the Legislature stipulated must be spent on cultural projects in South Jersey.

Ed Fiscella voiced an impassioned catalog of " frustrations" over the council's refusal to fund Mainstage Center for the Arts. With a volunteer staff, the Blackwood arts center presents numerous shows that attract sold-out audiences to school and college theaters in the area.

Fiscella, the center's director, noted the council underwrote a recent performance in Camden County by New New Brunswick's George Street Playhouse for which Mainstage paid production costs.

"Forty people showed up," said Fiscella. "Local audiences want to see local performers. And we can't get funded to present those performances."

Michael Willmann, incoming president of the Arts and Business Partnership of Southern New Jersey, asked the council to help emerging South Jersey arts groups like Mainstage to grow and prosper.

"To develop excellence, you don't need to be elitist," he counseled. "Don't let your pursuit of excellence put you in a position of elitism."

To support emerging arts groups, Alan Willoughby of the Perkins Center for the Arts suggested, the council should develop a new funding category that would provide on-site evaluation and peer panel review.

Dorothy Rivers of the Haddonfield Symphony advised the council to revive the development grants that allowed her group to grow into one of the region's major cultural institutions.

Government funding was only a part of the discussion. The South Jersey cultural leaders repeatedly stressed they need much more than arts council grants.

"More money is not the sole answer," said Mark Fields, director of the Glassboro Center for the Arts. "We need your guidance."

Adding his voice to the discussion, Willmann urged: " Help us make a better job of connecting with foundations and corporations. We need you to help us get into the mainstream."

Barry Taylor, president of Wheaton Village, said "the key issue" facing South Jersey is finding ways to increase corporate, foundation and individual support for the arts.

Taylor lamented the South's lack of "high quality, experienced development people" and urged the council to work with cultural leaders to create a South Jersey Community Fund that would pool the region's philanthropic resources.

Michael Zuckerman of the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts in Cape May asked the council to fight to secure another $40 million cultural bond issue, like the one that helped build arts centers and renovate aging facilities a decade ago.

Others asked the council to encourage contributions by giving awards to corporations that provide major funding for the arts. They also suggested the council strengthen regional support groups, such as the South Jersey Cultural Alliance and the Arts and Business Partnership.

At the end of the meeting, Russo said: "I appreciated the depth of the comments people voiced today. They raised a lot of issues for us to consider as we proceed on to meetings in Central and North Jersey. The input will help the council continue to develop our programs."