STATE ARTS COUNCIL MEETS HERE TODAY, FRIDAY

The Missouri Arts Council will meet in Cape Girardeau today and Friday, the first time in recent memory the state agency has convened here.

The meetings are being hosted by Southeast Missouri State University and the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri.

Beverly Strohmeyer, executive director of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, said local arts officials are glad to be meeting the council members on home turf.

"We think it's a big deal...We want them to know who we are, where we are and what we do," she said.

Most of the council members are from St. Louis and Kansas City. None is from Southeast Missouri. Dr. James Olson, president emeritus of the University of Missouri at Kansas City, is the president of the Missouri Arts Council.

The public is invited to attend the council's meeting from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at the University Museum. It will hear reports from Brenda Jones, newly appointed executive director of the African-American Cultural Initiative; Margaret Brommelsiek, executive director of the Missouri Alliance for Arts Education; and Nola Ruth, executive director of the Missouri Association of Community Arts Agencies.

The African-American Cultural Initiative is designed to spur arts activities in rural African-American communities.

Also meeting here today will be the Missouri Cultural Trust Board, the governing body for the newly created public endowment which is expected to be able to fund the council within 10 years. The board is composed of the council members, two state senators and two representatives along with State Treasurer Robert Holden.

Afterward, the 15-member council plus staff will be guests at a reception to be hosted by Southeast Interim President Dr. Bill Atchley. The reception will be held at Wildwood, the president's residence.

After dinner at Mollies restaurant, the council will be treated to a performance by the Southeast Baroque Ensemble at 9 p.m. at Old St. Vincent's Church. The concert is open to the public.

Paul Thompson, a member of the ensemble, is on the council's touring roster of artists.

The council's meeting on Friday will be in the form of a retreat.

A tour of Old St. Vincent's College also was suggested to the council, Strohmeyer said, but probably won't fit into its tight scheduling. "They may do a little bit of touring around," she said, "maybe seeing the murals."

The council, a division of the state Department of Economic Development, was established to encourage and stimulate the arts in Missouri. It makes funding decisions which affect most of the state's community-based arts organizations.

Last year, 19 percent of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri's budget came from the Missouri Arts Council.