ARTS COUNCIL HEAD TAKES JOB IN OHIO

Greg Jones, whose brief leadership is credited with infusing the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri with new energy and ideas, is resigning to take a position with the Toledo Museum of Art.

Jones, who spent many of his formative years in Toledo, will begin work in mid-February as the museum's creative-arts coordinator. He will oversee a stable of 42 in-house arts instructors.

After one and one-half years on the job, Jones said his feelings are mixed about leaving when many of the projects he initiated are still in progress. But the opportunity to work in arts education at the world-class institution is what he has always wanted to do, he said.

"Arts education is my passion," Jones said. "You are able to reach out to all audiences."

Arts education is the means for communities to build the support for the arts essential to a healthy cultural life, said Jones, who eschewed a career as an artist with New York City representation to pursue arts education. Many of the programs he initiated here were aimed at making the arts more accessible to the community.

The arts community praised the work Jones has done.

"We're sorry to lose him," said Bob Steinberg, the organization's president. "He has taken the arts council in new directions. He'll be sorely missed."

Jones is married to Dr. Jenny Strayer, director of the Southeast Missouri State University Museum. He said he will be commuting often to Cape Girardeau.

Jones began work at the Arts Council in August 1997. During his brief tenure, he found the organization permanent gallery space at 119 Independence, extending the hours and opening the gallery seven days a week. He also established a second gallery to show the work of regional artists.

"We are trying to reach out to more of the community," Jones said.

He sought more diversity in the Arts Council board of directors. He also brought to the city the Art for All program, which provided special tools to help people with disabilities create art.

The Arts Council's newsletter, smartly designed by Eric Woods, is another example of trying to increase the accessibility of the arts, Jones said. The newsletter gives an enlarged picture of what's going on in the arts in the region, including at the university and high schools.

He also added interns from the university to the organization staff. "A lot of the things I started won't be seen for a few years yet," Jones said.

Jones has an MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago and formerly supervised the artists studio at the University of Iowa.

His parents recently moved back to Toledo after living in Florida for a time. His father has been diagnosed with lung cancer.

But Jones' connection to the city goes deeper. "It's where my most memorable and life-changing experiences happened," he said.

The two years he spent drawing and studying anatomy at the Toledo Museum of Art -- just for fun, not for credit -- turned him into an artist and endeared the institution to him.

"The best employees are those who have an emotional tie to a place," Jones said.

He has heard people say that Cape Girardeau is slow to change, but he didn't find that to be true. "Cape Girardeau really is a community willing to try things," he said.

The proposed River Campus and the revitalization of the downtown are part of an exciting time in the city's history, and he expects the Arts Council will play an important role.

"Some people think of the arts as entertainment," Jones said, "but the arts are all about community building.

"They are an engine for social change."

In a day when people spend much of their time in front of TVs and computers, the arts get people out of their houses to share a common experience. "They replace something that's missing in the community," Jones said.

Steinberg said it is unclear at this point how the organization will proceed in replacing Jones.

A prime candidate for the job will be Daniel North, who was an intern under Jones' predecessor, Beverly Strohmeyer, and has been Jones' assistant the past year and a half.