THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 21, 1996 TAG: 9607190063
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 90 lines
AN EASYGOING Jim Spruance strode last week through the administrative offices of the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts, a nonprofit center that is scrutinizing its direction in a time of change.
The center's president, Helen Snow, left on June 30 after four years on the job. Within a week of her departure, Spruance, the second vice chairman of the board of trustees, stepped in as interim director.
``This is going to be a five-month adventure,'' he said, beaming good-humoredly.
Spruance's college training and Navy experience in management qualified him, while his love of the center and enthusiasm for art motivated him.
He has never studied art, however. ``Jan does a great 10-minute pitch,'' he said, humbly. ``Now that I've heard it a few times, I can at least give a lesser version.''
Spruance was speaking of curator Jan Riley, the center's art expert who organizes the exhibitions. And he was referring to the latest show, featuring Baltimore sculptor John Ruppert, whose works are cast in metal or engineered from prison-grade, chain-link fencing.
In the main gallery, surrounded by Ruppert's enormous pieces, Spruance made a stab at a tour. He stood before a huge vessel form, indicating out how it was made of flat fencing connected into a huge cylinder, then gathered at either end with a metal ring. He noted how certain principles of engineering were utilized, and how the cast shadows were part of the work.
Then, realizing he hadn't had a chance yet to watch the short video on the artist, he sat down with a reporter to view it.
Clearly, Spruance is in a mood to absorb all he can about art, and about the arts center.
Spruance said that the departing director left the center in solid financial shape. While Snow inherited a budget that had been running year-end deficits averaging $100,000 or more, the center now has no accumulated deficit, he said.
The 1994-1995 budget ended with a profit of $7,000, and Spruance is awaiting a final year-end report on the 1995-'96 budget. ``We might end with a little deficit, but no more than 2 percent,'' he said.
That would be 2 percent of a $1.27 million budget, giving the center the possibility of a debt of about $25,000, he said.
Meanwhile, three grants amounting to $25,000 - two from the National Endowment for the Arts, one from the Lannan Foundation - were obtained by Riley for next season's exhibits.
As the board of trustees prepares to begin its search for a new executive director, in hopes of having a permanent replacement by year's end, numerous issues arise.
Will the center continue to stage the Boardwalk International Arts Festival? Certainly, the 10-day series of arts events in June was deemed a success in terms of attendance and community goodwill. But preparations were labor-intensive for a 15-member staff that already is stretched thin in the absence of several positions, including a development director.
And, while the outdoor art show at the core of the festival is the center's largest fund-raiser, the international festival that coincided with it made no money. This year's Boardwalk Art Show raised $180,000 for the center.
In deciding whether to continue the festival, and in what manner, ``we'll be making sure it's still within our mission,'' he said.
The board also is asking itself: How can the center draw more people from throughout Hampton Roads to participate as visitors, artists, students and supporters?
As far as tallies, last year's numbers were far from shabby: Total attendance at all events, from exhibitions to summer art classes for young people, was 822,042 for 1995-'96. However, attendance for the arts center-sponsored Boardwalk and Neptune Festival outdoor art shows was 800,000.
The total number of people visiting the changing exhibits is a tad smaller: 17,679.
The staff is asking itself what relationship it should maintain with the local arts community, Spruance said. Should the center provide space for area art associations to exhibit? Should the center feature more local artists with exhibits in the secondary galleries?
``I guess we look at ourselves as being here to serve the community,'' Spruance said. The trick is determining how to incorporate the local arts community without altering its artistic standards.
He stressed that the board is ``tremendously pleased'' with Riley's exhibit program, and has no plans to change her direction, he said. Riley has shown relatively few local artists, and has brought in and curated shows with a strong conceptual basis. That is, she has tended to show art that cannot be entirely understood by looking at its properties; the work must be understood in its intellectual context - whether art historical, socio-political or philosophical.
The board plans to meet, probably in August, for a long-range planning and goal-setting session, he said. ``It will help us better define what our goals are, and better know what we need in a new director.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Jim Spruance is interim director of the Virginia Beach Center for
the Arts. by CNB