By JESSICA C. WEBER Bringing art to the people: The Illinois Arts Council
A public information officer for the State
Education Office, she is a free-lance writer
and a sometime graduate student. She
was a reporter for the now merged
Illinois State Journal in Springfield
for five years.
Next year the state will
spend more than one million
dollars in support of
community arts programs.
With reorganization behind
it, the Illinois Arts Council
now hopes to sponsor a
variety of new projects
which will encourage grass
roots interest in the arts
THE ILLINOIS ARTS Council has them dancing in the schools. And weaving in Galesburg.
And listening to poetry in Bushnell.
And watching, listening, or otherwise
becoming involved with the arts in communities all over Illinois. And it will be doing even more of
these things in even more communities
in the future, according to its director,
Michelle Brustin. The council's staff
has been undergoing a reorganization,
Ms. Brustin said, to improve its functioning in two major areas, grantmaking and involvement on the local
level. "I think the biggest problem with
the council in the past has been that it
simply has not developed community
contacts. That whole region south of
Springfield is really basically unknown
to us except for Centralia and Mount
Vernon and East St. Louis," she said. The council has hired a full-time
community arts specialist whose job is
to work directly with communities as a
consultant. The specialist travels to
various towns to work with community
arts councils. If there is no such council,
the specialist helps organize one. Local
arts organizations play a variety of
roles, some operating their own
programs or setting up arts festivals,
some acting as clearinghouse for arts
activities in the area. Reevaluating the grant process The Arts Council probably is best
known for the grants it awards to arts activities and this grant-making function is being closely scrutinized during
the reorganization. The total amount of
grant money awarded by the council has
grown steadily: from $72,467 in its first
two years of operation, 1965-67, to
$393,139 for 1970-71, to $910,000 for
the fiscal year just ended. Lists of grants
awarded by the council during that
period show many small grants of $25
to $1,000 and a smattering of substantial ones. For example, in 1969-70 more
than $240,000 was awarded for an
engagement of the Stratford Festival
Theater of Canada in Chicago. More substantial grants Grants may be used to improve the
quality of services offered by cultural
organizations, expand public participation in the arts, and improve the extent
and quality of the organization's services to artists in Illinois. Grants are not
made for capital improvements or construction, purchase of permanent equipment, deficit financing, out-of-state September 1975 / Illinois Issues / 275
In addition to the community arts
specialist, the entire staff will be traveling around the state to assist local arts
efforts. "We haven't gotten out as much
as we will, because of this internal reorganization this year. I think it's
terribly important that the director get
out, even if it is only to a performance
that we assisted . . . because it helps to
make the contact. Local people begin to
feel confidence in you," Ms. Brustin said.
"We want to give more substantial
grants in the future," Ms. Brustin said.
A system has been established to
evaluate organizations which receive
money, so the council can learn exactly
how the money was used and what kind
of management capabilities the
organization has. To be eligible for
financial help from the council, not-for-profit organizations must have been of
active service to the Illinois public for at
least one year before the date of
application. In rare circumstances the
one-year requirement can be waived for
special grants. Organizations involved
in architecture, dance, film, literature,
music, public media, theater, and visual
arts are eligible, as are social service
agencies with distinct arts components.
Higher educational institutions may
apply for grants for programs serving
the wider community which cannot be
funded entirely with regular institutional funds.
Every dollar the Arts
Council awards a project is
matched, in effect,
by several dollars
from other sources
touring, or subsidizing an individual's
academic study. Application forms may be obtained
from Illinois Arts Council, 111 North
Wabash Ave., Chicago, 60602
(telephone 312/ 793-3520). The next two deadlines for applications are October 15, 1975, for
programs occurring between February
1 and August 31, 1976; and March 1,
1976, for programs occurring between
June 1 and August 31, 1976. All applications are reviewed by one of eleven panels of experts in various
branches of the arts. A total of 81 persons, including practicing artists,
critics, and scholars, serve on the panels. The advisory panels make recommendations to the 21-member council,
which meets four times a year to make
grants. Council members are appointed by the governor for four-year
terms. The grants are administered by
the staff. In addition to financial grants, the
council's staff provides consultative
help, ranging from telephone recommendations to a full-scale consultation
on a project. Legal help also is available
to individual artists or organizations
through the council. Several lawyers
volunteer their services for this council-sponsored program, to give advice on
incorporation, leases, copyrights, and
so on. Artists-in-the-schools Supporting visits by artists to schools
and communities work to the benefit of
both, according to Ms. Brustin. It helps
the artist "to know he's not just an isolated member of society, that it really is
crucial for him to work with people in a
community." The community, on the
other hand, learns "to understand the
role of an artist, that it's not just someone who is that insulated, isolated person." A dance touring program, which
brings professional dance companies to
tour the state, began in Illinois with
funding from the Illinois Arts Council
and the National Endowment for the
Arts. The program is now a major
nationwide program of the National
Endowment for the Arts. Illinois authors to libraries The council will soon be noting the
nation's bicentennial with "Illinois
Architecture: A Revolution in the
Prairie." This multi-faceted program is
designed "to sensitize and educate people to architecture," according to Alexia Lalli, project director. A film,
museum exhibits, a series of posters,
tours of Chicago architecture, mini-courses and school visits, and some
traveling around the state to highlight
architecture found in various towns will
be part of the project. A touring theater company, a changing photo gallery in the lobby of the
council's offices, annual awards to
writers published in Illinois literary magazines, a three-day conference for
members of the dance community, and
traveling art exhibits are other examples of projects sponsored or aided
by the Illinois Arts Council. Grubby money Ms. Brustin feels, naturally, that
more money could be put to good use.
One of the staff's jobs, she said, is to
broaden the council's constituency so
that the arts become more important to
more people, especially those outside
metropolitan centers. A more
-widespread grass roots interest in the
arts would encourage local legislators to
look favorably upon the arts council
around appropriations time. Support
must be sought, too, directly at the local
level. Every dollar the Arts Council
awards a project is matched, in effect,
by several dollars from other sources,
including donations and money raised
by the recipient organizations. In addition to money for expansion,
more money is going to be needed in
future years just to hold the line. Arts
organizations are not immune to inflation, and expenses for rent, travel,
publicity and everything else have risen,
Individual artists, too, are paying more
for everything from food to toe shoes. A
less direct effect of inflation on the arts
is the possible drying up of private contributions and the reluctance of a
citizenry strapped for cash to pay for,
tickets to cultural events.
Ms. Brustin points out, though, that
support for the arts is economic
wisdom, since theater productions, concerts and art shows draw people into an
area and generate business for restaurants, motels, transportation, and the
other businesses. In the end, it seems, even so lofty a
goal as "Bringing Art to the People"
depends on the grubby realities of
money and politics. ž See "Calendar" for Illinois Arts Council
sponsored Bicentennial Chicago Symphony
concerts. 276 / Illinois Issues / September 1975
An example of the kind of program
the council likes to assist is the artist-in-the-schools program. This council-sponsored project places a practicing
professional artist in a school to give
performances and to work with students, and sometimes to give community performances. The length of the artist's work in a particular school varies,
and the artist may be a poet, dancer, or,
as in Galesburg, a weaver. Galesburg
liked its weaver so well the town decided to hire her to continue working in the
school and the community. In
Woodstock, a director-in-residence
worked with all music groups in the
McHenry County area, including those
in the schools.
In cooperation with the Illinois
Library Association, the council has
sent eleven books by ten Illinois authors
to 36 libraries throughout the state, and
sponsored trips by the authors to the
towns. Recently more than 100 people
in Bushnell turned out to hear Illinois
poet John Knopfle. This is a good example of the kind of program Ms.
Brustin likes to see the council involved
with. First, it is done in cooperation
with another organization, bringing
that organization's support to the arts
and also stretching the council's dollars.
Second, it is a program that can serve
any community, because "everybody
has a library. They may not have an
orchestra, they may not have a dance
company, but they have a library."
It goes without saying that the council doesn't have enough money to do
everything it would like to do. The
governor recommended a $1,360,000
appropriation for the council for the
1976 fiscal year, a 45 per cent increase
over the 1975 appropriation. In addition the council receives grants from
other organizations such as the
National Endowment for the Arts,
monies for special projects from such
sources as the Bicentennial Commission, and donations from private
sources.