TABLE OF CONTENTS
3 Update on Partners: New Dollars/New
Partners Success Story; Exemplars Profile
14
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Making Homes for the Arts in Sacred Places
is catching fire! Of course, churches,
synagogues, and temples have hosted
music, theatre, and dance performances for
millennia, but Partners’ work to support
and encourage homes for the performing
arts in our older sacred places is very new,
and is prompting “Hallelujahs” from every
quarter!
FEATURE STORY:
Making Homes for the Arts in
Sacred Places
Funding Brief: Endowments Now!
19
20
Green Building Feature: Harvesting
Rainwater
21
Professional Alliance Spotlight:
Levy Associates Architects
23
Professional Alliance Directory
ABOUT PARTNERS
Partners for Sacred Places is the only national,
nonsectarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to
the sound stewardship and active community use
of America’s older religious properties.
Partners’ Programs and
Services Include:
•
Training. New Dollars/New Partners for Your
Sacred Place is an intensive program that gives
congregations with older buildings the skills and
resources to broaden their base of support.
•
Regional Offices. Partners offers training,
technical assistance and capital improvement
grants through its Pennsylvania, Texas, and
Chicago Offices.
•
Workshops and Conferences. Partners’ staff
speaks on a variety of topics at national and
regional conferences.
•
Publications. Some of Partners’ books include:
- Your Sacred Place Is a Community
Asset: A Tool Kit to Attract New Resources
and Partners
- The Complete Guide to Capital
Campaigns for Historic Churches
and Synagogues
•
•
Information Clearinghouse. This web-based
resource provides information related to the care
and use of older sacred places.
(www. sacredplaces.org/information_center.htm)
Advocacy Initiatives. Partners works with civic
leaders, funders, and policymakers, urging them
to adopt policies and practices that provide new
resources to older religious properties.
COVER PHOTO: Art Sanctuary’s A Shepherd
Among Us Community Concert held at the
Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia, PA.
Photo courtesy of Art Sanctuary.
THUMBNAIL PHOTO: Poet Stephen Ferry
performs a spoken word interpretation of
Staition 9 at West Kensington Ministry’s
Stations of the Cross in Philadelphia, PA.
Photo courtesy of West Kensington Ministry.
When I refer to “homes for the arts”
I mean much more than occasional
performances, which many, many
churches and synagogues host throughout
the year. Instead, I’m referring to the full range of an arts group’s
activities, including rehearsals, administrative functions, storage,
performances, and sometimes even the construction of sets or the
production of costumes. It’s space for this full range of functions
that many small arts groups need most, and we are finding that
congregations can often provide that space, seeing that the arts are
an expression of the church’s or synagogue’s mission to serve and
support the community.
The cover article for this issue delves into the findings of our
recent planning study in Philadelphia, as well as the services we
will be providing in Chicago and Philadelphia. Having worked with
congregations for over 20 years, we knew that many of them would
be excited to partner in new ways with music, theatre, and dance –
and sometimes painters, sculptors, and other visual artists. We were
pleasantly surprised to learn that artists are equally excited about
these partnerships, and for the best of reasons.
For both congregations and arts groups, it’s not just about financial
benefits – that is, creating a new income stream for congregations,
and creating a stable, affordable home for the arts. More importantly,
it’s also about connecting to new constituencies and stakeholders.
Arts groups are eager to engage congregants and neighbors,
motivating them to attend a performance or become a donor. By the
same token, congregations are eager to invite arts group subscribers
and donors to become involved in the life of the church or synagogue.
By bringing arts groups and congregations together and supporting
their efforts to build sustainable and mutually beneficial
relationships, Partners will be doing a great public good. Our
preliminary conversations with arts leaders at the national level
suggest that we will have opportunities to do this work in many more
regions in the years to come. And as a result, both sacred places and
the arts will be supported and energized in important new ways.
BOB JAEGER
Sacred Places • Summer 2011 • 2