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The arts scene in Beaufort took a hit earlier this year when Beaufort Performing Arts announced that it would shut down due to a lack of money. For the past seven years, the nonprofit group organized productions at the University of South Carolina Beaufort's Performing Arts Center, ranging from local theater companies to nationally known performers. But after a financially tumultuous recent history, Beaufort Performing Arts became another victim of the recession.
The closing sparked a flurry of activity to determine what to do after the departure of a major part of Beaufort's performing arts scene.
The chances of duplicating something like Beaufort Performing Arts are slim, but remnants of its schedule live on. The next step is finding how much more Beaufort can support.
PICKING UP THE PIECES
The former office of Beaufort Performing Arts in the Performing Arts Center still has posters on its walls advertising the 2009-2010 season that was scheduled to bring in Ballet Folklorico De Mexico, violinist Angele Dubeau and others.
But most of the office's contents are cleared out, packed in boxes or files. It's kind of like the organization itself -- shuttered yet, in a sense, still around.
A calendar on the wall shows the schedule of the 475-seat theater down the hall. Dates already are up for several performances that were under the Beaufort Performing Arts umbrella. The Beaufort Theatre Company, The Beaufort Children's Theatre and P.J. and Play all have productions scheduled in April, May or June.
Former BPA executive director Bonnie Hargrove oversees those shows but now does so for USCB. Over the next year, she plans additional productions for the children's theater, Beaufort Theatre Company and P.J. and Play. She plans fundraising events and perhaps a chance to bring in several outside performances.
Meanwhile, USCB is planning the future of its performing arts offerings at the historic Beaufort campus. A four-person committee is developing a business plan that is scheduled to be complete at the end of June, said USCB chancellor Jane Upshaw.
What has been determined is that future arts offerings at the campus will have to pay for themselves, she said. The programs will have to demonstrate through ticket sales or donor support that they can exist without pulling money from the university itself.
"It can't take a dime out of our operating expenses," she said.
Groups that are established and successful on their own, such as the children's theater or the Beaufort Orchestra are likely to stay, but what the university will offer beyond that is yet to be determined. For example, if a donor wants to bring in the USC ballet to perform "The Nutcracker," that's fine, she said. But USCB will not schedule the performance then pay for ways to fund it.
"BPA may have put the cart before the horse," she said. "That's something we cannot afford to do in this economy."
WIDESPREAD STRUGGLES
Beaufort Performing Arts board members decided to shutter the organization after a downturn in donations.
The organization operated on a $400,000 budget -- a portion of the revenue coming from the city of Beaufort, donations, grants and sponsorships. This season, it received $42,000 in donations, less that half of what it took in the previous year.
Since August 2006, the organization weathered two separate incidents of embezzlement. About $135,000 went missing. Police charged two staff members for the crimes and some of the money was reclaimed, but board members say the incidents hurt the coffers and, possibly, its reputation.
Of course, BPA isn't the only arts organization that struggled in recent times. The economic downturn has prompted Michael Kaiser of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., to travel the country as part of a conference called "Arts in Crisis" to provide guidance to struggling organizations. He visited Charleston last month.
The S.C. Arts Commission also has been holding meetings across the state to gauge input into its 10-year plan. Susan DuPlessis, a coordinator for the arts commission who covers five Lowcountry counties including Beaufort, said the arts organizations she's spoken to locally have reported that participation has held strong, yet grant funding, donations and sponsorship have slipped.
"Where there are arts organizations, there's struggle," she said.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
The Arts Council of Beaufort County held an "Emergency Arts Summit" at its ARTworks facility in Beaufort last month to discuss how to better the arts community north of the Broad River.
The meeting in part stemmed from the closing of Beaufort Performing Arts. The arts council's executive director, J.W. Rone, expected about 20 people to attend. Instead, about 80 artists, community leaders and arts professionals showed.
"How can we use our creativity to be creative?" Rone asked the group.
The evening was spent brainstorming ideas about how to share resources, generate money, expand offerings and, in general, get organized.
The Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce's arts and cultural committee, which brings together arts leaders south of the Broad on a regular basis, was Rone's inspiration for the meetings. He attended a recent meeting and marveled at the communication among the organizations. At some point, he'd like to see something similar north of the Broad.
"Not only do we not talk to each other at times, we're often not aware of what programs are available," he said. "If that's our case, imagine what the general public thinks."
Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling recently wrote an op-ed in The Beaufort Gazette that encouraged exploration of new ways to organize and pay for the arts community in Beaufort. He wrote that although the loss of BPA is a disappointment (the city of Beaufort provided financial backing throughout the history of the organization and gave $19,000 from the city budget and bed tax money for fiscal year 2010), the loss is a chance for action. The closing is merely a blip in what will continue to be a thriving arts community in Beaufort.
"That's what Beaufort is all about," he said. "And that's not going away anytime soon."
