Barbara Fenhagen

Barbara Fenhagen has resigned as executive director of the South Jersey Performing Arts Center, a position she has held since the center opened in 1996 on Camden's Waterfront.

Fenhagen will be replaced by Mark Fields, the former director of the Glassboro Center for the Arts at Rowan University.
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Citing personal reasons, Fenhagen asked the board to find a replacement for her.Fields, who lost his position at Rowan after the university announced it was closing the arts center three months ago, was the unanimous choice of the SJPAC board to succeed Fenhagen.
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"Barbara did a wonderful job of bringing SJPAC to life under unbelievably difficult circumstances, and we're sorry to lose a leader of her dedication and vision," said James E. Verzella, SJPAC's board chairman.
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Fenhagen will remain at the SJPAC during the transition.

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Fenhagen said her departure is not related to the center's recent budget crisis.Earlier this year, Gov.
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"I'm optimistic the financial issues will be resolved," said Fenhagen."From the governor on down to the legislators, everyone is working hard to solve the problem."

Fenhagen was the center's only employee when she took up her job six years ago.The SJPAC now boasts a staff of nine and presents more than 25 performances in the 1,500-seat Walter Rand Theater and the intimate Studio Theater, which opened this season.

"Stunned" is how Barbara Fenhagen, executive director of the South Jersey Performing Arts Center in Camden, described the mood of South Jersey's cultural community after learning of the closure.
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"The Glassboro Center for the Arts is an incredibly important cultural resource in South Jersey," said Fenhagen."This is a terrible blow."

The decision to shut down the arts center is "a blow to the South Jersey arts community," said Barbara Fenhagen, executive director of the South Jersey Performing Arts Center in Camden.

The loss of the $1 million appropriation is " devastating," said executive director Barbara Fenhagen.

The SJPAC, which receives no funding from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, depends on the Legislature's annual appropriation to underwrite its administrative and artistic costs.

In contrast, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark receives a $1.5 million grant from the arts council but not a direct appropriation from the Legislature.The NJPAC was not affected by the governor's cutbacks.

The SJPAC has not been officially notified that its its appropriation was canceled.
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Fenhagen said the funds were needed to pay for marketing and operating expenses for the current season and provide a reserve to launch the 2002-03 season.

A reserve from last year's state funding along with corporate and foundation grants, sponsorships and contributions provided $500,000 to operate the center during the first half of the 2001-02 season.

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Fenhagen and the center's board were counting on the $1 million appropriation to increase the staff and expand the season.

Since last year, the staff has increased from seven to 13 full- and part-time employees.The performance schedule has grown from a handful to more than 25 during the current season.

With or without state funds, Fenhagen and Verzella insist the current season will go on.

--> Barbara Fenhagen, executive director of the South Jersey Performing Arts Center, said she hopes to establish with the RPAC the same relationship she has with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.The South Jersey center has collaborated with the Newark center on several theater productions.

"Until they know what they are doing, they can't begin to develop relationships," she said."That takes time but it would be lovely if we could work together."

The bottom line, said SJPAC Executive Director Barbara Fenhagen, is that the center needs the full million to stay afloat.

To get the state funding, SJPAC agreed to put on about 50 performances a year, she said.

"We are scrambling as fast as we can to find some contingency funding, either lines of credit or other sources, to see if we can find a resolution to these problems.The money that was taken away from us is money we were counting on for our current operations," Fenhagen said.

She said the SJPAC board of directors will meet in three

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weeks to determine whether the center must shut down.