This is Important! You can help orchestras feed America!

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
is taking part in Orchestras Feeding America, a national food
drive organized by the League of American Orchestras, Feeding
America and Participant Media. The effort is inspired by the
upcoming film The Soloist, (watch trailer here--awesome...) a story that reminds us that classical music has the power to sustain spirits and change lives, even under the most difficult circumstances. The NJSO is using that power to make an even greater difference in our communities—to feed both body and soul.

The NJSO will be collecting non-perishable food items at all of its concerts from March 20–April 5, 2009. All items will be donated to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. Located in
Hillside, the Community FoodBank assists three-quarters of a million low-income people in 18 counties throughout Northern and Central New Jersey.

Audiences and community members may drop off food donations at the following NJSO concert sites:
Newark: NJ Performing Arts Center, 1 Center St.
Saturday, March 21 from 7 to 10 p.m.
Tuesday, March 24 from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 28 from 7 to 10 p.m.
Friday, April 3 from 7 to 10 p.m.
Saturday, April 4 from 7 to 10 p.m.
New Brunswick: State Theatre, 19 LivingstonAve.
Sunday, March 22, from 2 to 5 p.m.
Princeton: Richardson Auditorium, Princeton Univ.
Friday, March 20, from 7 to 10 p.m.
Morristown: Community Theatre, 100 South St.
Sunday, April 5 from 2 to 5 p.m.
Questions?Call Renee Pachucki at the NJSO at
973.624.3713, ext. 261, or e-mail rpachucki@njsymphony.org.

You can help them.

Most Needed Food
 Dry Soup
 Rice
 Powdered / Canned Milk
 Macaroni & Cheese
 Cereal
 Peanut Butter (no glass jars)
 Beans
 Canned Fruit & Veggies
 Tuna
 Canned Meats
 Stew
 Soup (no glass jars)
 Pasta
 Cereal
 Fruit Juices/Sip-sized Juices
Items We Can’t Accept
 Items in glass jars or bottles
 Unlabeled or dented cans
 Any open or resealed packages
 Perishable foods
 Homemade foods
 Expired products
 Monetary donations
 Clothing, diapers or other

Arts Get Whacked by Rich as Companies Face Losses in Endowments

By Patrick Cole of Bloomberg - March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Corporations and wealthy individuals are donating less to nonprofits, with arts groups taking the biggest hit, according to two new studies.

Of 158 companies polled by the economic-research group the Conference Board in February, 45 percent said they have reduced their 2009 philanthropy budget and 16 percent are considering it. The survey said 35 percent of the companies will make fewer grants in 2009 and 22 percent are thinking about it.

When asked what they anticipate as their biggest challenge this year, companies cited an increase in the number of grant requests, inadequate financial resources and declines in the value of corporate foundation endowments.

Smaller endowments are “a problem that’s very real,” Carolyn Cavicchio, senior research associate at the Conference Board, said in a telephone interview. “Everyone’s stock is going down. If the stock continues to go down and you’re making grants from that, you’ll have less money to give away.”

Arts and culture will see the biggest drop, with 41 percent reporting a decrease in resources. Environmental causes will see the biggest increase, with 28 percent.

A Bank of America study said rich individuals -- 700 people polled had household incomes of more than $200,000 or a net worth of at least $1 million -- gave an average of $4,792 to the arts, down 71 percent from $16,465, between 2005 and 2007, the latest data available.

Digging Deeper
By comparison, giving to health-related causes rose 51.2 percent to $12,013 during that same period, the study said.

“This is a tougher time for arts organizations,” Patrick Rooney, interim executive director of Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy, said in a recent phone interview. “When you’re providing human services or feeding the hungry, people understand that maybe this is a time to dig a little deeper. Helping an arts organization? That’s a tougher sell.”

The Bank of America report was compiled by the Center on Philanthropy.

Giving to charity by the wealthy overall decreased 9.7 percent to about $80,200 from $88,800, the study said.

According to a Center on Philanthropy study, during the past four decades donations fell an average of 1 percent in recessionary years and increased an average of 4.3 percent in non-recession years. In 1974, the worst recessionary year, charitable giving fell about 5.4 percent from the previous year.

“There’s a chance that 2008 or 2009 will be worse than that,” Rooney said. “We don’t want to say the sky is falling, but we think there will be some pain and suffering.”

To contact the writer on this story: Patrick Cole in New York at pcole3@Bloomberg.net.

NJ Arts at a Crossroad - Creative Solutions for Tough Economic Times

Arts groups throughout the state are bracing themselves for a rocky economic road ahead. The ArtPride NJ Foundation, along with the NJ Theatre Alliance, Dance NJ, the NJ State Council on the Arts, the South Jersey Cultural Alliance , the NJ Arts Education Partnership, and the NJ Association of County Cultural & Heritage Agencies (whew, that's a mouthful!), are working together to host a day's worth of knowledge to help arts trustees and arts managers get through the forseeable future with smarts and creativity.

The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation is sponsoring the day at Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick on Thursday, November 13 from 9:30 am - 4pm.

This mini-conference is designed to "start the conversation" and kick start ongoing technical assistance to small emerging cultural groups and larger established organizations. A panel discussion moderated by David Grant, President of the Dodge Foundation, will kick off smaller roundtable talks. Steve Runk of the NJSCA, Nina Stack of the Council of NJ Grantmakers and Nancy Burd of The Burd Group, have already confirmed their participation.

Smaller group sessions will meet around the topics of contingency planning and budgeting, board of trustee roles/responsibilities and liabilities, and maximizing earned income potential, among others.

The conference is FREE and you may pre-register at the ArtPride NJ web site. Stay tuned for more details!

October is...

NEW Economic Activity Study

We learned in 2000 that New Jersey's non profit arts community generates over $1.5 billion each year. That comes from direct spending by arts institutions on salary, products and services AND the indirect spending of patrons who attend arts events throughout the State. The average spending of patrons outside of the price of admission to an event is $25.94 per person. And we learned that the arts generate about $27 million in tax revenue each year!

These numbers were really handy when state arts funding was proposed to be eliminated in 2003. Legislators listened to the economic value of the arts and passed the NJ Hotel/Motel Occupancy Fee to provide a stable source of funding for arts and history programs and tourism promotion. Since that time, funding has been "somewhat" stable, though not as stable as is necessary to successfully run a business and have the ability to accurately predict government revenue each year.

For the first 2 years, arts support was at the level intended by legislation--$22.68 million. After that it went down to $19.2 million (FY07), then up to $21.9 million (FY08), then for FY09 it was proposed at the MINIMUM allowed by legislation ($16 million). Grassroots cultural advocates became active and told state legislators this was not acceptable and that the arts had significant economic impact on local communities. Stories were told by students, teachers, parents, restauranteurs, hotel owners, police chiefs, mayors and more about how the arts make a difference and art part of the economic solution--not the problem! The result was restoration of state arts funding to $19.25 million. You can see the issue--$22.68 - $19.2 - $21.9 - $16 to $19.25. OMG!!!

The ArtPride NJ Foundation will be conducting a NEW economic activity study to update numbers from 2000. Certainly a lot has changed since then--cultural institutions do business differently than they did pre 9/11. We are looking to collect about 4,000 audience surveys on site at about 25 cultural institutions. If you are interested in volunteering to help with this important project, please contact ArtPride New Jersey at 609-443-3582 or by emailing us at artpride@artpridenj.com.

Stay tuned...we hope to have some preliminary data available by spring 2009!

Remembering September 11

It's hard to believe that tragedy occurred 7 years ago today. I can still remember the bright and clear blue skies that morning and returning to my home office after seeing my son off to one of his first days as a first grader. My husband called me from work to tell me to get to the tv immediately. The scene was so incredible it was difficult to comprehend even though you watched it happen before your very eyes.
Recognizing that New Jersey non profits had a role to play in helping people recover from the aftermath, the Dodge Foundation sought proposals from within the arts community for projects that helped heal as well as deal with the emotional aftershocks. ArtPride proposed a new online art gallery that would focus on creative expressions resulting from the attacks. Called Connections, it was a new way to introduce art into ArtPride's web site that offered other ways to network and share information. ArtPride was fortunate to receive a grant from the Dodge Foundation to help launch the Connections gallery.
Some of the early art exhibited in Connections was clearly a result of the complex emotions felt during that historic time in American history. Some of the work was visceral, others patriotic in theme. Over the years Connections has moved past Sept. 11 as our country has moved past that day in time. The work, however, remains diverse and a wonderful portal into ArtPride as well as yet one more example of how the arts bring us all together--to remember, to honor, to memorialize, to express.

Back to the Shore!

Yes, it's September. But the sound of the ocean is still vibrant in my mind's ear. While this "land art" is in the UK, it could easily be on the beach of Belmar or Cape May! Enjoy...summer's not over yet!!!