Jacksonville Arts Groups Serving Minority Audiences Receive Some Foundation Support
By Charlie Patton
Florida Times-Union
October 17, 2011
Terrance Patterson, whose chamber music group The Ritz Players is preparing for its 10th season, said he suspects there is truth in a new report that found that most big private foundations prefer long-established organizations to emerging ones when making arts grants.
But founder and artistic director Patterson said his group, which consists of African-American classical musicians who perform chamber music, has been fortunate to get support from some local foundations.
“We’ve been lucky in Jacksonville because we’ve got the Weavers,” he said, referring to Jaguars owners Wayne and Delores Weaver and their Weaver Family Foundation.
Another Jacksonville-based foundation, the Chartrand Foundation, also used to help fund the Ritz Players before changing its emphasis.
The Washington-based National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, a watchdog group, released a report this week that said billions of dollars in arts funding by private foundations is serving a mostly wealthy, white audience.
