News talk sports Time now for Delaware State of the arts I'm Paul we graft director of the Delaware division of the arts and your host for today joining me by phone today is a former director of the division of the arts and now the president of more College of Art and Design Cecilia Fitz Gibbon welcomes to Celia thank you I'm so glad that you can join us today as you know we are celebrating that is the division of the arts is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year having been founded in 1900 or created in 1909 and you were there at the beginning so what I'd love to do is take our listeners back to 989 and hear about how the division was created what was the impetus for it being becoming a division because prior to that the state support for the Arts was carried out through the Delaware State Arts Council for 20 years up until my 989 so let's go let's go to 1909 and tell us about what was going on then to create a division of the arts Well we were within the governmental structure we were the operating within the division of historical and cultural affairs that was located in Dover and. The primary emphasis because of the deficient directors in the past prior to they being 9 were predominantly historical in nature dynamism and currency of the arts were taking in my opinion a back seat to the very deep and important history of the state of Delaware so we wanted to bring the arts forward it was a very strong economic time which of course. Sometimes ignored the other times or not and we have achieved. Nation within the state government to the. Strong support of the then secretary of state and also of the coffin of her Mike Castle there and so we had all of the stars aligned and we maintain that world of the State Arts Council but we placed the creation of the division of the arts Well it's have to their state power structure we were able to elevate the importance of the arts and that was the primary Wesen for creating the division I was at the State Arts Council for 5 years before we did that and had an opportunity to develop some very close associations with the state legislature which we were able then to to capitalise on as we tried to make this change within the structure of government there was a broad base of support from the Jones joint finance committee so we were able to motivate and activate all of those Keep in mind that State Arts Council nationally has had only been formed as a stimulus from the creation of the National Endowment for the Arts around 976 so when wheeling out talking that longing to the notion of a state funded arts and this was a chance for us to capitalize freely on a national guard for the creation of public funding for the Arts Now you mention the National Endowment for the arts and for listeners in order for a state to receive federal funding from the National Endowment for the arts there must be an identified stede agency or entity public entity that serves as that state partner and prior to 1909 the Delaware State Arts Council was that partner I believe is that. Correct however a bit of a. And of historical and cultural affairs was the formal governmental conduit Ok so the funding that came in from the National and for the Arts prior to $989.00 came to historical and cultural affairs correct right and after 1909 the division of the arts became that official partner That's correct that's correct and we always we've already had this State Arts Council that volunteer members that were grouped in the tour of the appointed and I'm sure that that's the case today we always we guarded them as our partner they really function as a representative of the public and the public's interest rather well it is to arts and culture and more largely which cultural development within this state so they become a very important partner and what we were able to do was kind of create an equality and a presence within government that equals the very strong involvement of the swan couple volunteers right and that structure exists today the enabling legislation that was created in 1989 sort of redefined the Delaware State Arts Council as the governor's advisory body to the division of the arts which falls under the Department of State as does the still existing division of historical and cultural affairs. So something so worth keeping. Now says the lawyers were there. What was your role in that having been with the State Arts Council and then becoming the 1st director and who were some of the prime movers and shakers and sort of formulators of the division. Well we had the agreement of the historical and cultural affairs division that the arts only needed to be carved off so. Talk to John Kernan was to act with the division of historical and. Toole affairs at the time and was very supportive of that we were but we were separated by geography and over in Wilmington as well as culturally with a small fish in terms of how we operate so there was intrinsic governmental support of course the secretary of state at the time my carcass. Was extremely aware of the political impact that the Our could have we had some very strong Council members at the time who saw the importance of elevating our our Shafter within government and then finally have a business to imitate who had invested a lot arts and culture and were very strong perhaps even stronger than today sadly although I am not aware certainly very strong partner in terms of their understanding their remember Assman in arts and culture was an investment in their own vested self interest and so they were talking with the powers that be speaking directly to the governor and I didn't go by my shelf because that wouldn't. Either mobilize these people to express their needs for an important position for arts and culture within the governmental structure and. As I quipped earlier some things are worth keeping it's very important that our return culture remain foremost in the minds of folks within the government well if you have to economic development community development public safety education so they are to have a much broader world to play. How they in. Infiltrate the quality of live shows you know where to listen to and this was one would have expressed. Could you go into a little bit about what your role was with the prior to 1909 under the umbrella of the Delaware State Arts Council and then how that changed as you became the director of this new division. Well we. We have access to the secretary of state and prior to that there was a division director just by virtue of how the structure is the reporting structure of the organizational chart looks we were we were able to have access and that was helpful in terms of our own appropriations because when we have access to the secretary of state's office you're able to start to think about how you testify in front of the state legislature how you articulate the value of the state funding relative to matching the federal government subsidy and what you are doing in addition to that to make meaningful contributions to arts and culture because we know that as I said earlier there is really a very strong economic development function that artists as makers play as well as institutions as. The foundation for sometimes actively I think of many of the cultural organizations that we really became the basis for an economic and business development strategy and we hope with and also in the city of Wilmington and to deny that. Is kind of blind so that we have to time had the advantage of a strong economy that was able to. Sustain governmentally the expansion into a Division the appropriation. Was was raised in addition to the ability to pay people a living wage to waste. All of those things became very important as we attempted to position the artist as this important part of the state. To fully aware and Paul as I recall when I took this job in a before Delaware was very high. In terms of the amount of. Capital that we had and how little money they received and we were able to waive the state appropriation with the creation of our Co and some of the other initiatives from I think we were in the twenty's per capita funding to the arts to a number 3 in the country and per capita funding for our turn culture a little Delaware so now that's a function of capita in Delaware but it's also a function of the kind of commitment that the state legislature at the time right you mention to our TCO I want to pursue that but let me 1st remind our listeners that you are tuned in to Delaware State of the arts here on News Radio 450 w. I l. Am and 1410 w d o v Our guest joining us by phone today is the president of more College of Art and Design Cecilia Fitz Gibbon and former and 1st director of the Delaware division of the arts Cecilia you mention art Co one of. The major accomplishments of the division in its early years the arts stabilization fund managed by the Delaware Community Foundation and it also is representative of a great collaboration between the public and corporate sector can you speak about that fund its creation what was its impetus and what was its purpose. Well the word stabilisation was in the title because at the time there were several major cultural institutions who were really working on the functional deficit accumulated deficits that it was difficult for them so we. Tire given their ordinary activities so there is a there was a real story which is that we place everyone the readers and their board sheriff in a room and we say Ok what we're going to take you to thrive in the next 20 years and how to address as well as 50 or you have to say to your cash reserves and to the development of n n Talman Now some of those folks haven't very few of them had operating cash and for those of your listeners who who may be unclear about what that is essentially especially with performing arts organizations you get your ticket sales at certain times of year and then the rest of the times of the year you're trying to spread those income out to make sure that you can cover the highs and lows of your economic circumstances we wanted to help them create these cash reserves that they could draw upon and like any good bank account to pay back so this would be a sustained opportunity for them to even out the bumps and frankly to incur debt that would the interest of which would hurt them because interest rates were so much higher than they are now so we asked these groups this group to define what would sustain them over this period of time and there was concern that the division would be raising money that would compete with their own philanthropic desires and interests but we finally adopted an abundance mentality that we were not going to be competing with them that in fact it was of their money to be able to generate and we were able to get. Because this to help with capital we were able to achieve bond funding that very few of them would have had access to so the same being. It was touch and go for a while there. We went to the state legislature and because of a remarkable advocacy of a gentleman named Phil co-wrote who was the chair of the joint Finance Committee after time and who played trumpet in forest. That was his arch experience and because of him he was able to take his own. Political capital and talk to the. Slide legislature through the joint fan and committee and through the bond process into investing $5000000.00 that was immediately matched passed along with foundation and that's how we started the the major part of it ended up being $21800000.00 a county as far as I am just and I sadly went to be the New England foundation director. But. We had many investors because they saw the importance of arts and culture in the state and they were willing to make this long term investment and this can could only be done by a 3rd party likes a division. Because individual institutions were too busy putting on their artwork and also wasting money for their annual operation so we had a chance to go up to 60000 feet think about the structure of the industry address the issue around cultural development for the state and then. Termonde stabilizing this framework would have ancillary benefits to all of the cultural institutions in the state which of course was and still is our mandate so that's how it came about and I don't think it's appropriate to tell you the gory details and I have have a vivid recollection early in my years with the division of the arts. In State Arts Council member Tom Graves announcing somewhere in 97 or 98 that the final pledged contributions to the Arco fund had been received so they had reached that goal back right somewhere in 98 I believe very excited yeah very very early there was a celebration that I would be remiss if I did not recognize and acknowledge that we markable work that my colleague who was chair of the State Arts Council at the time so we're young who had since passed away he was went tirelessly and without recognition for a very long time and it was he who supported me in this effort and. We believe we've we laid the groundwork but I will also recognize pay. Who was appointed director of the division at the time and I said Here go away the rest of the money so to her credit she did. Mockable amount of civic effort on the part of men women and people there's a case where we leave the stage of village now in a few minutes we have left. Would you care to reminisce about any of the accomplishments achievements you're you're proud of in those early years of the division My goodness s. Memory lane. But thank you for the help or treatment to. Well we have sabotaged a very strong relationship with the national and talent in that we started the 1st harvest presidency we had of course all these programs are come by the wayside because St Amant has in the end a limb but we had this fabulous stance on tour program where we've brought this world class institutions we started I think to help people fleeing about the growing demands of administration and the arts and it required for skills that perhaps had been absent our field so I will speak for myself I have a master's in order to ministration and very few people Dave at that time mostly because I was Program at the start until 980 so we're really talking about the beginning of the field in many ways some of the cultural organizations have been around for a very long time but we worked with them to really bring up up the capacity and that I'm very very proud of. It it's easier when the economy is good I know that my successors have had a more difficult time but I think fundamentally we were able to establish the importance of the wall of Arts and Culture at that moment. To the state of Delaware and I'm only hopeful that things will continue well a trip to cultural development which I fear as being very very important for our field at large nationally and internationally now your career has taken your some really fascinating directions we've got about a minute left where where did you go on to from the Division I was a director of a new. England's foundation from the arts then I came back to Delaware and ran 1st bank for a while because I was interested in economic development and the arts that out of them for 17 years I ran the graduate arts ministration program I track so I thought I could hire there and then they called me to come be the president and get more College of Art and Design and I love it what could be bad for the Parkway here in Philadelphia artists women it's just doesn't get any better than this I feel as if this is giving me the opportunity to influence the future and for that I'm very grateful and I understand the arts are important to your family as well I was looking online at your bio with more College of Art Design which for listeners is I think more dot edu is that correct yes it is and natural than are involved in the arts as well yes my my oldest son is a finance guy but he's a very practitioner accomplished with a group for and wasn't musician until a guy this where he says My my youngest son is doing his bass to Pratt right now an industrial design of course my husband is a painter practicing paying so we live Felipe and weighs the arts in this family and let my kids who have a little They promised me they would never be dragged to another Muzammil can and of course look where they ended up and with that it's time for us to sign off the ceiling if it's given the president of more College of Art and Design and the 1st director of the Delaware division of the arts thank you so much for joining us thank you lovely to speak with you thanks for tuning in to Delaware State of the arts heard Sunday mornings on 1410 w d o v news talk sports here about it but love not to build the wall but you need to talk about it during a machine government while we were all very much News Radio 4. 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Issues organizations events and people she being changing and improving our community this is Delaware spotlight on 1410 w t o V's with your host Holland. Going to Delhi respond like do to the public affairs show or we discuss things going on in the city don't work on your host Holland and would need. The chair of the Delaware victim's rights taskforce and Aaron Conley the vice chair of the Delaware vi