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The St. Joseph Art League
was in existence for many years with meetings in
various places and no real home of their own.
They then fell heir to some funds from an estate and
acquired the Hax Art Center on Francis St. (Dr.
Fields’ office area, I think) next to the Robidoux
Hotel. They set up an office there and also
used the building for exhibition purposes.
They acquired a few paintings of their own, forming
the nucleus of the present Albrecht permanent
collection.
The Allied Arts Council was formed in 1963 (Mrs.
Henry Bradley served on Governor Dalton’s Missouri
Committee for the Arts back in 1963 and could see
the value of the arts to the state. If it was
good for Missouri, why not St. Joseph, must have
been her thought.) So she brought together a
group of residents who were also interested in the
arts and together with their leadership and the
willingness of the Junior League to serve as the
catalyst, the Arts Council was incorporated in
August of 1963.
In 1965, the Arts Council moved to the new Albrecht
Gallery at 2818 Frederick, the gift of Mr. and Mrs.
Conger Beasley to the Art League, but in 1967 or
1968, moved back to the Hax Center with the Symphony
until the Chamber of Commerce took them into their
office in September.
Martha Ann Thompson, Allied Arts Council Director
for three years, suggests the old Hax Art Center was
often like working in a sauna bath with pipes
falling down.
Jean Duncan Wright served as the first director of
the Council and with the help of numerous Junior
League volunteers set up all the office procedures,
mailing lists, billing process and methods for
handling the various problems of the member groups.
The Junior League gave literally thousands of hours
during their two-year probationary period, and many
of those volunteers continued to serve the Council
in the years following. Many of them still
continue as board members of the various groups and
as volunteers with the other members of the Council.
The League gave the Council $5,000 to begin their
first year, and in the next year added to that fund
with another lesser sum. Dues were set up for
the member organizations on the basis of the amount
of work requested in the Council office – which
meant that every volunteer who did work in the
office kept track of every minute they spent on
every job for a full year. Jean Wright
directed all of this activity and also acted as
hostess for the Albrecht Gallery while the Council
was there.
After the move back downtown, the director of the
Council was on a part-time basis, receiving pay by
the hour (and with no fringe benefits involved!) and
doing what had to be done for each group using the
Council office. Benefits to the groups
included being able to print several years supply of
stationery at a time which gives you a nice saving
in printing costs; a central telephone and
information center for the arts groups; a place
where people know they can buy tickets for certain
programs; a desk from which publicity can be issued
either for a single group or for a collaboration of
sponsorship (The Acting Co. – Community Concerts,
MWSC, AAC), (St. Louis Symphony – AAC, MWSC, St.
Joseph Symphony & Community Concerts), etc.
A calendar of events is one of our major services,
both to the members and to the general public.
Any group in town is welcome and requested to call
and see what is listed for a certain date before
they set the date for another event. The
Chamber of Commerce also has another list, which
includes many of the regularly scheduled
“association” and service club meetings –
those meetings that are on a regular basis…the
last Tuesday of every month, etc., as well as other
special events (political, organizational, etc.).
We maintain Addressograph mailing service for those
members who desire that service. Have been
able to make a savings in that area through use of a
local firm which made plates for us for nothing for
several years…but since that firm changed to a
computer system, we have had to buy them again…and
found a retired Addressograph salesman who has his
own machines to make the plates and also repairs
machines and keeps us in supplies for a lot less
than the big company would. As a group (with
several lists to maintain) the larger quantity
ordered at one time again makes for savings for all.
The Director of the Council also serves as program
coordinator for the Community Concert programs –
guidance on what to expect from the theatre at this
particular time is vital. Construction
contracts will be “let” soon, we hope, and then
there may be problems in presenting shows.
Volunteers simply don’t have the time to handle
all the details anymore. And to find the right
place to get 100 chairs for a symphony orchestra or
some such job takes a little experience and
knowledge of the city that the average person simply
doesn’t have.
We, as members of state and national organizations,
are listed in several national publications, and as
a result receive mailings on educational
opportunities, competitions of various kinds in the
arts, arts and crafts shows in the area, program
possibilities from universities as well as booking
agents…publications from federal and state offices
on the arts and humanities, and these are all for
the use of our member groups, the schools, the
college, and the public in general.
Our funding comes principally from the dues we
receive, and the past two years the Missouri Arts
Council has paid half my salary (doubling it), we
have gone to the public with requests for individual
and patron memberships which has truly kept us
alive. If we increase our dues to member
organizations, either they have to drop out because
of lack of funds, or turn that increase over to
their membership in a dues increase, and this could
hurt them. At times, we have asked for and
received large donations from several of the larger
firms and banks in town, but we don’t like to
resort to that kind of funding. Every group in
our membership as well as many others approach these
same businesses for support, and there are just so
many dollars available. We are now thinking
about proposing to members of the Council that
fundraising events be cleared through a special
committee of the Council to try to keep this kind of
thing under control. Should one group feel
free to go after a very large sum every year when
other groups are fighting for survival? The
AAC cannot tell a group that they MAY NOT hold these
activities, but some control or reservations must be
put into effect. Something like a Federated
Arts Fund Drive similar to the United Way might well
be the answer. It’s been very successful in
several other communities and it could work here,
too.
An Albany, N.Y. newspaper editor described an arts
council in this way: “Your problem is that
you have to face in two directions at once.
From one side you have to look like a bunch of
CPA’s; from the other, like you’re really with
it. And every now and then you get caught
facing the wrong way.” It’s a conflict of
irreconcilables - - amateur vs. professional; elite
vs. the broad public; excellence vs. equity;
discipline vs. imagination; tradition/revolution/the
force of a concept vs. the limitations of the
materials used; innovative vs. sustaining…
Thank you for letting me tell you about the Arts
Council. We sincerely hope you will feel free
to call on us for any group you are active in or
just for your own information at any time.
Theodore Bikel story – Appropriations Committee
– investigation of why they should set up a large
fund for the National Endowment for the Arts,
“Gentlemen, no one will remember you! NO!
No one will remember you or what you do---unless
someone writes a poem or composes a symphony or
paints a portrait…”
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