Artful roger

The arts in Ulster County are getting a boost, with the county Legislature allocating $50,000 to arts organizations as part of the 2008 budget.

 

The Dutchess County Arts Council (DCAC) will provide a helping hand by administering the funds. Though modest, the funding represents a significant commitment from the Legislature, which responded to a proposal by the Ulster County Arts Council (UCAC) last November for a long-term strategy to build support for the arts.

 

“Our goal is to support and represent and advocate for Ulster County arts groups in a way that provides a connective tissue and networking among the groups,” said Jennifer Schwartz, who serves as the government liaison on the UCAC”™s Board of Trustees.

 

Ulster County didn”™t give a single dollar to the arts in 2007, despite Ulster”™s arts-rich past and present. But late last fall, after UCAC”™s executive director resigned and a planned merger with the Highland Cultural Center collapsed, the organization”™s board rallied and presented its proposal to the Legislature”™s arts, education, tourism and community relations committee.

 

“We bought into (the UCAC board”™s) proposal to do capacity building for the money,” said Susan Zimet, the Ulster County legislator who chairs the committee. “Ulster County will work closely with Dutchess as we put together the panel that will award the arts money. We have to work collaboratively to build the arts in the Hudson Valley.”

 

Details as to how the money will be distributed are still being worked out. However, the funds will be matched by money from the private sector, such as the Dyson Foundation, Schwartz said. And rather than help pay for operations, the money will be targeted to projects that help sustain the arts in the county. Grants will be awarded to projects that would help strengthen an organization, or to support a collaborative effort among several groups. Another type of use would be for programs that raise the profile of the arts and broaden public participation.

 

DCAC is qualified to help because it has the needed expertise and resources, along with a familiarity with Ulster County”™s arts community thanks to its many years of administering the New York State Council of the Arts”™ project grants for Ulster. Last year, that money collectively amounted to about $22,000. DCAC also oversees the state”™s arts and education grants for the county, which amounted to about $8,000 last year.

 

“We have a very strong working knowledge of the county, both in terms of the arts and the community needs,” said Benjamin Krevolin, executive director of DCAC. DCAC has also been overseeing grant-writing seminars held each year in Ulster County.

 

Because of the extra work, DCAC will charge an administrative fee, leaving $47,500 in grant money, according to Krevolin.

 

He stressed the close relationship between communities on either side of the river. Much of the audience for Upstate Films in Rhinebeck and the Kaatsban Studio Theater in Tivoli comes from Ulster County, while the arts organizations in Woodstock pull heavily from the Rhinebeck area, Krevolin said.

 

Now that the public sector in Ulster has stepped forward, Krevolin said it”™s time for the private sector to pick up the slack. “There is so much pressure on this tiny pool of money. There were worthy projects that just did not get funding, because we had to make meaningful grants. If you give everyone $50, nothing gets done.”

 

Krevolin named the county”™s two ballet companies and the Woodstock Theater festival as examples of well-established arts groups that didn”™t get the funds they should have. “They need more meaningful general operating support than they get from small grants,” he said.

 

One option being considered is a united arts fund for Ulster County, which is a defined campaign that raises money from all sectors of the community and then awards money to a preselected group of organizations out of the collective pool of funds. “It”™s a way for government and corporations to make one large contribution to support the arts and leverage the expertise of the arts council to distribute that money,” Krevolin said. “There”™s a lot of accountability, and the businesses don”™t have to worry about final reports” from fund recipients documenting how the money was spent.

 

Whether a united arts fund will fly, however, is dependent on the private sector. “It”™s going to demand the involvement of corporations and businesses,” Krevolin said. “Kudos to the government for taking this step. Now it”™s the private sector”™s move.”

 

Krevolin said one advantage of distributing the new grants money is that it will also result in collecting meaningful numbers, thanks to the data that”™s required on the application forms. “We want to see who these organizations are serving now and whether their programs are going to grow or change as a result of getting this funding,” he said.

 

According to the timeline in the UCAC proposal, the guidelines for the new grants will be approved by UCAC and DCAC by the end of this month. The new funding opportunities will subsequently be publicized in DCAC”™s e-newsletter and publications. The first grant application seminar will be held in Ulster County on April 3, with the application deadline set for May 9.

 

Schwartz, who also serves as deputy planner for Ulster County, said the UCAC board has no immediate plans to hire another executive director, given the tight funding situation. The four board members are volunteering their time to administer the membership as well as the council”™s insurance plan.

 

The Ulster County Legislature has also agreed to contribute $25,000 of county funds to the Ulster Performing Arts Center (UPAC), the Kingston-based theater that is owned and operated by the Bardavon, located in Poughkeepsie. Bardavon executive director Chris Silva has also met with Kingston”™s elected officials in an attempt to get funds from the city, which would be used toward the $4 million worth of renovations planned for UPAC. While UPAC got nothing from the city or county last year, the Bardavon got $50,000 from the City of Poughkeepsie and $150,000 from Dutchess County in 2007, according to Silva.

 

Earmarked funds from state and federal representatives also play an important role. U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley, recently obtained $143,449 for the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, located on the SUNY New Paltz campus. The funding will be used for an exhibition of Hudson River School paintings, a project that will include an educational outreach to the public schools, a symposium attracting national scholars and a catalog.

 

State Sen. John Bonacic, R-Mount Hope, recently obtained New York State Council on the Arts grants for three Ulster County arts organization. Arm of the Sea Productions, Inc, which presents performances utilizing giant puppets, often on topics related to the environment or political issues, will receive $10,000. The Pone Ensemble for New Music will get $4,500 for three chamber music concerts to be held this year. And the Woodstock Theater Festival will receive $5,000 for performances at the Byrdcliffe Theater.