A Minute with Mike

Thousands Of ‘Off Stage’ Volunteers Keep Local Arts Groups On Stage Across South Jersey

If you think about it, it’s pretty obvious.

But it’s part of the “willing suspension of disbelief” that makes live theater magical, that we don’t think about it.

The “it,” in this case, is the reality that for every performer who steps on to center stage and basks in the limelight in a local theater, there are probably a dozen volunteers back stage in supporting roles.

And these volunteers take on a wide variety of responsibilities. High profile positions such as director, or choreographer, or music director. And less glamorous positions such as set designer, stage hand, and even stand-in.

But what may be less obvious is that there are still more volunteers “off stage.” In fact, some of the most important may never even set foot in a theater.

They are the 9,500 volunteer supporters of South Jersey’s 300 arts, culture and heritage organizations no one ever sees.

They never smell the grease paint. Never hear the roar of the crowd. Never experience the gratification of a curtain call. Or the thrill of a standing ovation.

And, of course, it’s not just the performing arts that they support. It’s the visual arts. It’s the written word. It’s heritage organizations...and so much more.

These thousands of volunteers include hundreds of business professionals—accountants, attorneys, marketers, fund raisers, architects, publicists, IT wizards and the like—who volunteer their time and professional skills.

Some serve in formal stewardship roles on boards and committees. Others on advisory groups of all kinds.

But many just serve on an as requested/as needed basis—offering their professional skills for free to organizations that could never afford to hire them as consultants, much less as full time staff members.

Their work is invaluable because, among many other things, they show arts organizations how to:

Raise money,
Solicit sponsorships,
Draft contracts,
Keep the books,
Plan renovations and expansions,
Create data bases and web sites,
Write marketing plans,
Place media buys, and
Conduct focus groups and surveys.

Each year the Arts & Business Partnership of Southern New Jersey helps match scores of business professionals with regional arts groups that need their help.

For example, the South Jersey Performing Arts Center couldn’t afford to retain a nationally-respected fund raising consultant such as Anthony Ng, whose credits include the Pew Charitable Trust and the Barnes Foundation.

But, thanks to ABP on whose board Ng serves, his experience is available—at no cost to SJPAC.

And it doesn’t stop there. Strategic planners from Lockheed Martin are helping the Haddonfield Symphony evaluate the impact of a change in identity, attorneys from Duane Morris have helped a regional theater incorporate, and IT professionals from Decisive Business Systems helped the South Jersey Cultural Alliance create a media center.

The Armand Corporation is helping the Camden School of Musical Arts with a venue study, Bowman & Company is providing accounting assistance to the Perkins Center for the Arts, Hewitt & Travia is helping Tuckerton Seaport Museum with a marketing plan, and Campbell Soup has helped Wheaton Village with market research.

Henry D. Bean & Sons is helping Legacy Landmarks with its insurance needs, Comcast is helping the Ocean City Pops evaluate its marketing program, and, our firm, WMSH Marketing Communications has assisted both the South Jersey Performing Arts Center and the Cape May Jazz Festival in developing sponsorship programs.

The list goes on. And on.

For more information on how you can help an arts organization or get help if you are an arts organization, call the Arts & Business Partnership at 856-662-0888.