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New Face on the Arts
New Arts Council head Monz hopes to bring outsider's perspective to playing inside baseball
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CONNTACT.COM
10/14/2002
By: BNH
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On September 4 Elizabeth Monz of North Haven assumed the reins of the 1,500-member Arts Council of Greater New Haven from longtime executive director Frances T. (Bitsie) Clark, who retired at the end of June. Monz, a New Jersey native, most recently headed the Regional Cultural Plan.
When you first learned that Bitsie Clark planned to retire, how did you view the opportunity to replace her?
I thought it was important that the Regional Cultural Plan came out under her leadership, and I felt very strongly that Regional Cultural Plan's goals needed to become the priorities of the Arts Council in order for the vision to have a lasting impact.
What are those priorities?
Strengthening the arts community, creating greater awareness of and broadening participation in the arts from all aspects of the community, looking at facilities issues and creating an infrastructure in which the arts can thrive. It's all about strategic leadership, I think, while at the same time maintaining our commitment to our membership in proving opportunities for artists to network and connect.
The National Arts Stabilization (NAS) program has been an Arts Council priority. Where does that process stand?
The eight participating organizations are the Shubert, Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven Symphony, Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven Colony Historical Society, Guilford Handcraft Center, Neighborhood Music School and the International Festival of Arts & Ideas. The NAS works with the organizations and analyzing the entire operation - they look at each individual employee, the patron and audience base, and they analyze what's working and what's not working. They look very closely at IT use; a very critical part is financial management of the organization, maintaining good financial records and strategically analyzing financial data related to the organization. Many of these organizations do not prioritize that. Out of [both of these steps], the organizations will develop a strategic work plan. Once they've done that, they become eligible to qualify for their grant award. All of our organizations have to qualify by December 2003.
Grant award - from whom or what source?
The community has raised $5 million, and all the funders are on the Greater New Haven Arts Stabilization Committee. National Arts Stabilization provides the technical assistance to the organizations, and serves as a liaison between the organizations and the funders. And the Arts Council facilitates that.
Who are the principal funders?
The New Haven Foundation, the state, the city and Yale University are the top funders. And then there are the business and individual funders.
Is it a foregone conclusion that Long Wharf Theatre will move downtown, and merely a question of where the money to build a new facility will be found?
I hope so. I think they want to move downtown, but I think all the details have to be worked out.
One 'detail' is finding the money to build a new building.
That would be the next step.
Do you think it's safe to assume that money will come from a combination of public and private resources?
Yes, definitely. They have done a funding feasibility study, and I think the support is there.
Who really sets the arts agenda for this community?
The Arts Council certainly does not unilaterally set the agenda. Our strengths and my goals going forward are in engaging all members of the community in setting that agenda. If the arts can continue to develop a relationship with the business community, with institutions such as the universities and colleges, then I think we can all work toward that agenda. The Arts Council can play a leadership role in doing that.
Did the Arts Council or its board take a position on the closing of the [Veterans Memorial] Coliseum? That's certainly an 'arts facility' in that it hosted concerts that attracted thousands of people. Shouldn't that have been on your 'facilities' agenda?
I don't think the board looked at it very closely. The Coliseum played somewhat of a role in the community, but there were issues related to [competition from] the Bridgeport facility [the Arena at Harbor Yard], and the Coliseum was a big drain on the resources of the community. We provided information related to the [Regional Cultural Plan's] facilities study that looked at what it would cost to refurbish the Coliseum up to current standards, and those costs were high. The city separately looked at the demolition costs, and it then just became a numbers issue. The structure itself has some [architectural] significance, but I don't know that that outweighs [other considerations]. It comes down to numbers.
The larger question, though, is should the Arts Council have a voice in decisions that bear on the artistic life of the community? Do you get to offer an opinion, to use a different example, on which artists play the New Haven Jazz Festival - or should you?
I certainly hope [the city] would consider us for suggestions and ideas. We do talk very closely with the city administration, and we have been involved in critical processes that have affected the city. The mayor has called up on several occasions, and we do work very closely with the mayor, with Henry [city economic development head Fernandez] and with the Office of Cultural Affairs. So we're included on many levels of decision-making. Not all levels of decision-making.
How are local arts organizations - particularly smaller one - coping with the city's diminishing corporate support base?
That always presents challenges. I think the [remaining] corporate base is aware of that and they therefore take on additional responsibility and are much more active [in supporting the arts]. They do the best they can, and I think [arts] organizations try to engage [them] more. An example is volunteers; I see a lot more [volunteer] participation across the board than I have in the past. But it's a tremendous challenge going forward - not only for fundraising, but also in terms of audiences and whatnot.
Is New Haven positioning itself as an 'arts' center, or an 'arts and entertainment' center - entertainment encompassing non-arts offerings such as sports?
I think we're both. We have tremendous theaters and museums, some with national reputations, and I think our sports support that. When I think 'entertainment' I also think of our club scene, which is very important.
I guess I was including that as 'performing arts.'
We are the arts capital of Connecticut, but I think you can put entertainment into that mix, and it just strengthens it.
Artists by nature are troublemakers. Do you consider yourself a troublemaker, and is representing troublemakers itself a job for a troublemaker?
I think it's a job for someone who can be a leader and speak on behalf of what they believe in and what's best for the community - whether it toes the company line or needs to be more critical. I feel comfortable that the arts are very well respected in this community, and we've come a long way to get to that level. There's been a lot of turnover of leadership in this community, and now the job is taking what has been accomplished in the past and growing it to the next level.
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