The Woodruff Arts Center’s recent announcement that it raised a record $9.3 million in its 2013 Annual Campaign came as good news for the Southeast’s largest arts entity after a challenging fiscal year.
Last summer, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra management, determined to limit mounting debt projected to reach $20 million, had acrimonious contract negotiations with its musicians that led to a month-long lockout before a deal was finally reached in late September. That was followed two months later by news that a former employee had embezzled more than $1 million from the center, the non-profit whose divisions include the orchestra, Alliance Theatre, High Museum of Art and Young Audiences.
The AJC discussed the roller-coaster year with Howard Feinsand, Woodruff Arts Center treasurer and finance committee chairman since 2011. A native New Yorker whose job as executive vice president and general counsel with then-employer Duke Realty brought him and his wife Ellen to Atlanta 1999, he soon became active on the Alliance Theatre board, eventually rising to chairman. While still serving the Alliance, Feinsand, 66, has taken his problem-solving skills to the Woodruff board, where he works closely with Virginia Hepner, president and CEO of the arts center that operates with a $100 million-plus budget.
On the Annual Campaign's success: "It's a direct reflection of the importance of the arts to the Atlanta community. Corporations, foundations and individual donors all stepped up because they know that any great community needs great art. … There were challenges this year, but the Woodruff faced them head on, and Atlanta has always supported the Woodruff's efforts. We're fortunate and grateful."
On why he thinks Hepner, now completing her first year, is the right leader for the Woodruff: "She knows everybody in town, and she has not just all the brains and knowledge that you'd want but she has a very logical and non-ego-driven approach. She made it very clear to the divisional heads from the beginning that it is all about excellence in the art, that's what they are there to produce."
On how giving to the Woodruff changed through the recession: "We're not yet back at the inflation-adjusted level of giving that you had back in 2005 and '06. Even at the corporate level, the pure giving from generosity or philanthropy is not the same as it used to be. The companies have a budget (for causes such as the arts), but it has to be directed toward something that will (bring a return, such as sponsorship exposure). And the unidentified, just general keep-the-lights-on giving is much more difficult (to secure) from the corporate level. That needs to be made up by individual giving."
On the surprise in some quarters that the Woodruff, which boasts many of Atlanta's top financial leaders on its board and its divisional boards, fell prey to embezzlement: "Well, distinguish between what management does and what a board does. Management runs the place. And for the most part the board deals with results. And they deal (mainly) with the top leadership. But believe me, the board, with its great financial minds, got really involved when that embezzlement was discovered. … I would put my faith in there not being any additional holes in the ship."
On his concern when the embezzlement news broke: "When something like this happens (you worry that on-the-fence donors will think), 'They're not going to watch my money, so I'll cut my giving in half and not feel bad about it.' But it's a different regime today and it will continue to evolve and do better and better."
On how to deal with the orchestra's accumulated debt: "It's not a question of 'How are you going to meet the debt today?' or anything like that. … The central issue isn't how are we going to find $20 million to repay the ASO's endowment and the Woodruff, but how are not going to make that $23 million."
On what the future may hold for the ASO: "Whatever the solutions are, there's going to be as good a chance at getting them accomplished here as anywhere else and a better chance than most. Because a lot of the organizations don't seize (the problem) until they're bankrupt. That's the good news and the bad news. Our symphony can't go bankrupt or else the Woodruff would go bankrupt. That's not going to happen. So there's a certain inevitability about having to fix it. We have to deal with these problems. You can't walk away from them, and we're not."
On if the rest of the country knows enough about what the Woodruff offers: "I think we could do better. We have a world-class symphony and I don't know how many people come in from out of town to see it. We certainly have extremely good theater. The Alliance does 12 plays a season with about 50 percent of the money that it would take a play to get one night on Broadway."
On what he personally gets out of the experience of serving the arts center and other volunteer board work: "I do hard crossword puzzles because that's what I like to do. I love the substance of solving problems."
VISUAL ART
Explosion of knitted color coming to Marietta
Time is ticking before the Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art unveils a yarn bomb across its facade on July 6, but it’s not too late to get involved.
The museum is hosting a stitching party where panels of donated hand-knit and crocheted pieces are being linked together in preparation for display, 5:30-7 p.m. June 26. The party is BYON — bring your own needle, with an eye big enough to handle yarn.
The multi-hued knitted and purled display — flying high in a banner across the museum’s six front columns, wrapping the bottom 7 feet of each column, covering railings and trees — will remain on view through September. The museum is at 30 Atlanta St., just off the Marietta Square. 770-528-1444, www.mariettacobbartmuseum.org.
ARTS
Annual drive to fund innovation
Idea Capital, an Atlanta independent arts funding group with the mission of supporting “risky and challenging work that might not otherwise receive funding,” will hold a fund-raiser June 30 for its 2013 grants cycle.
Having bestowed 33 grants totaling more than $31,000 over five years to artists working in diverse disciplines, the group will host a launch party for its annual funding drive from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at a Sherwood Forest home intown. There will be food, drink, entertainment, the chance to meet artists and other arts supporters as well as to peruse the hosts’ contemporary art collection.
The event is free, but guests will be expected to contribute. RSVP required (address to be forwarded upon receipt) at www.ideacapitallaunch-2013.eventbrite.com. More on Idea Capital: www.ideacapitalatlanta.org.
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