Temp: 31 °F
Saturday, June 2, 2001
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By ROBERT BAXTER
Courier-Post Staff
OAKLYN
More than 200 South Jersey arts leaders and legislators converged on the Ritz Theatre on Friday morning for the South Jersey Summit on Arts Funding.
During a four-hour brainstorming session, they addressed the challenges facing the region's cultural institutions as they fight for equitable funding from government, corporations and foundations.
"A very exciting morning," summed up Ruth Bogutz, executive director of the Camden County Cultural & Heritage Commission, at the end of the forum sponsored by the Courier-Post. "An event like this encourages all of us to continue the dialogue. A lot of very good ideas were put out on the table."
Among them:
•Assemblyman George Geist, R-Camden, suggested the Delaware River Port Authority allocate resources to fund arts groups in the region.
•Barry Taylor, president of Wheaton Village in Millville, suggested the Casino Reinvestment Development Association as another source of arts funding. He also said the Department of Education should fund arts groups' educational programs.
•Assemblyman Nicholas Asselta, R-Cumberland, urged creation of urban art zones and the passage of an arts facility fund act to provide additional support.
•Michael Willmann, chief executive officer of WMSH Marketing in Haddonfield, encouraged arts groups to band together to present a "South Jersey arts trade show" to to potential corporate and foundation funders in Philadelphia and Newark.
•Assemblyman Louis Greenwald, D-Camden, urged "a tax incentive for people donating" money to arts groups.
•Barbara Rambo, executive director of the Council of New Jersey Grant Makers, challenged South Jersey business, academic and philanthropic leaders to join together to create a community fund as "a giving vehicle" for the region's arts groups.
"This is a very important event, a great day for the arts in South Jersey and in all New Jersey," noted William C. Hidlay, executive editor of the Courier-Post at the beginning of the summit. "We need to talk about where we are, where we're going, and how we're going to get there."
During the morning, nine South Jersey legislators and three candidates for governor affirmed that South Jersey must receive its full share of funding from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Since 1998, the Legislature has stipulated that 25 percent of grants support cultural projects in South Jersey. In a recent series of articles, the Courier-Post showed the council has shortchanged South Jersey arts groups in the past four years by awarding $2.1 million to statewide groups and North Jersey arts institutions to present programs in the South. Last year, South Jersey arts groups received only 21.1 percent of council grants.
Assemblyman Joseph Roberts, D-Camden, insisted the full 25 percent must be awarded to South Jersey arts groups. " The 25 percent must be ironclad, and it needs to be a minimum," he said.
The other legislators agreed. So did Republican gubernatorial candidates Bret Schundler and Bob Franks. Roberts also affirmed the support of Jim McGreevey, the leading Democratic candidate, who was unable to attend.
Asked if the council was revising its view on paying North Jersey groups to perform in the South, its director, Barbara F. Russo, did not respond. She also did not comment later when Sen. John Matheussen, R-Gloucester, noted he was "still waiting" for Russo's reply.
Assemblyman Greenwald warned leaders not to expect increased arts council funding in the fiscal 2002 budget. In this election year, he urged arts administrators to "go to the candidates and ask for increased funding."
Russo pointed out arts council grants account for only 8 to 10 percent of the budgets of most New Jersey cultural institutions. Even if the council's appropriation were increased, she said groups will have to look elsewhere for more support. Russo pointed to municipal and county government as another source.
South Jersey arts leaders must focus on "more than money," advised Dorothy Rivers, executive director of the Haddonfield Symphony. "The attitudes of the people who evaluate us have got to change too."
Rivers recalled the comments of an arts council evaluator who attended the Haddonfield Symphony's recent concert at the Glassboro Center for the Arts. He told Rivers he was amazed at hearing such a wonderful concert " down here."
"There's a misperception we don't have good arts here," Rivers said.
Rep. Rob Andrews, D-N.J., underlined that theme in an address at the end of the summit. "We need to tell our story better," noted the congressman. "We have a great story to tell."
Andrews also said South Jersey must "demand equity in funding" from the arts council and insist on "peer review" of grants applications.
South Jersey arts groups must find ways to increase foundation, corporate and private support for their activities, several panelists stressed.
"We've got to become more proactive in presenting our message," stressed Willmann, of WMSH Marketing. "We need a program that delivers a message on behalf of individual arts organizations."
Willmann suggested the region's arts groups create and distribute to potential funders a video and book containing information on all the region's cultural institutions.
Abby O'Neill, Fleet Bank's vice president for community relations, encouraged South Jersey arts administrators "to open a dialogue with people" in North Jersey. She compared fund raising to "climbing a mountain."
Several panelists advised arts groups to make "face-to- face" contact with potential donors and persist even if their initial application is turned down.
"Knock on doors, and get in somebody's face," said Lendel G. Jones, director of government affairs for New Jersey-American Water Co.
At the end of the four-hour meeting, Joe Bretschneider, managing director of the Mainstage Center for the Arts in Blackwood, said, "I would hope good things come out of this. The summit has brought us all together. Now we've got to carry the energy back to our work."