By Kallie Cox
Featured Image Courtesy of The Bach Society of Saint Louis; Photo by STL Photo

The Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis is a large part of what makes the city unique, and its funding of the art cements it as a destination of culture in the region. 

For over 40 years, RAC has given more than 7,300 grants totaling more than $115 million to hundreds of St. Louis artists — both the well-known and the niche. 

But the first organizations selected to receive a grant by RAC have stuck with the organization and the community, becoming pillars that shape and define what St. Louisans live and experience every day. 

Since the city’s founding, St. Louis has been known as a musical locus — attracting and molding brilliant Blues and Jazz stars who would rock the nation. 

Four of RAC’s first grantees understand the importance of music in the community, and for decades they have upheld the city’s legacy as a stepping-stone and haven for musicians. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton at the Focal Point; Photo by Reed Radcliffe

 

The Focal Point 

In the backroom of a St. Louis music shop, a nun operated a folk music club, producing lively concerts and organizing a rag-tag group of performers. 

When the nun decided to take a break from the convent and hit the road, she turned the club’s records over to Judy Stein who — in her words — became the general manager, artistic director, chief cook and bottle washer for a “long, long, time.” 

The Focal Point was originally founded in 1975 by Bill and Janet Boyer who owned a popular local music store and had an affinity for folk music, according to Stein. 

However after the Boyer’s son was injured in a motorcycle accident and the store had to sell its backroom, finding a meeting place for the concerts became a bit of a craps game, Stein said. She knew something had to change and with RAC’s formation, Stein applied for a grant to help. 

This help got them through the year and allowed them to continue operating by paying for equipment and venues.

Over time the organization grew from a small operation to one that hosts international talents and now produces roughly 100 concerts a year. 

For Stein, folk music has always been a way of life. 

“My interest in folk music in particular began when I got a record player for Christmas, when I was 11 or 12,” she said. “At the same time, I was having a bit of trouble at school. So I would skip school — I grew up in East St Louis —  ride the bus across the river to St Louis with my lunch money and listen to records in the library downtown.”

Stein grew up surrounded by music, singing hymns with her mother and grandmother, hearing union tunes from her grandfather, and learning Irish folk from a policeman in the neighborhood. And, she listened to all of the Library of Congress records from the depression era, she said. When she discovered Focal Point, she became a regular. 

Now Stein’s involvement in Focal Point and love of folk has been passed to a second generation. Her son now handles the bookings for the club. 

Focal Point means more than keeping folk music alive in St. Louis — it creates a safe opportunity for up-and-coming musicians to perform. One of the factors allowing them to have this presence in the community, is RAC’s support which helped them to purchase a permanent space of their own.

“Because we had our own building, we could open up the space to other people who were struggling like us in church basements and things like that,” Stein said. “So we have now a regular bunch of renters. We’ve got a group that does songwriting. They have a workshop there. We have a group of strictly writers, actual literary writers, who rent the building a couple times a month and we’ve got several dance groups who use the building.”

RAC put The Focal Point on a more sound financial level than they had before, and so now they are able to pass that along to other groups, Stein said.

“We can provide a space for less affluent groups who are doing legitimate work in the music field, in the arts,” she said. “We can also provide music that is not going to be heard in most other places in town because of the fact that we’re not commercial (…) we don’t hire people because of their commercial success. We hire people because they’re musically interesting.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Courtesy of St. Louis Classical Guitar

 

St. Louis Classical Guitar 

St. Louis Classical Guitar is entering its 61st season. Executive Director Brian Vaccaro said that in addition to bringing in expert guitarists from around the globe, the organization is active in St. Louis schools. 

“We’ve got education programming where we go into area schools and install guitar education programs for grades roughly three through 12. And so, we’re in quite a number of schools around the St Louis area. Usually they’re situated in underserved neighborhoods where they wouldn’t otherwise have programs such as this,” Vaccaro said. 

The education program started as a result of the police murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson Missouri, Vaccaro explained. 

“We started our education programming in the Ferguson Florissant school district as a result of that situation,” he said. “It has sort of grown exponentially to the point where we’re in anywhere between 15 and 20 schools in any given academic year.”

The organization’s community engagement programming also evolved around this time. This created a radio station program, community guitar ensembles, open stage events and classes, he said. 

RAC’s support of the organization means it can expand its educational outreach and bring in big-name musicians to a city they might not otherwise consider performing in, he said. 

“What we’re trying to really do for the St Louis area is bring something that is of beauty to people of all walks of life,” Vaccaro said. “Whether it be they get to hear a master musician play at one of our concerts, or if it’s a kid that’s just learning how to play, or if it’s a hobbyist that wants to get involved in one of our ensembles, or wants to tune into our radio program, or whatever it is —  we’re just trying to raise the bar of like artistic beauty and guitar happens to just be the vehicle that we use to do it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Courtesy of St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

 

Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra

The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra is the driving force behind RAC’s formation, and it continues to make history both internationally, and at home. SLSO was one of the first orchestras to obtain a majority female membership and is the most senior orchestra in the nation.

“It was established in 1880 in St Louis, it is the second oldest in the country, after the New York (Philharmonic),” Marie-Hélène Bernard, president and chief executive officer of the SLSO said. “So if you think of 145 years of existence, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra has been a center of the cultural fabric of our region and community.”

The orchestra is one of the best in the country and its artistic scope is unparalleled, she said. This talent, coupled with the generosity and care the musicians who live here to work for the orchestra pour back into their neighbors results in inimitable performances and a world-class education for students as SLSO offers numerous programming opportunities and visits with local schools. 

“That’s the spirit that we share, that music is for everyone,” Bernard said. “We want this to be an experience of the heart, and we really work really hard to move this experience from an intellectual one to one that’s an emotional experience. So we never want self-imposed barriers to be a barrier to access. We want everyone to know this is your orchestra. This is music you can relate to, and music is a universal language.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Courtesy of The Bach Society of St. Louis; Photo by STL Photo

 

The Bach Society of Saint Louis

The Bach Society of St. Louis is the city’s oldest semi-professional chorus, according to its Executive Director, Melissa Payton. It was founded in 1941 and this season it has approximately 60 singers. 

Its concert season runs from October to May but it is largely known for its annual Christmas Candlelight Concert — a longstanding tradition beloved by St. Louis families. 

“Our mission is that we perform choral works inspired by Bach and those who have come after him,” Payton said. “So we perform all different kinds of choral works (and) we commission new pieces of music.”

Additionally, the chorus offers a young artist program that hires emerging musicians and pays them for a year while they perform. 

A. Dennis Sparger, Music Director & Conductor, said for as long as he can remember, the organization has been supported by RAC. 

Working with both choirs and orchestras has been a lifelong passion for Sparger and he joined the organization in 1986.

“This music never goes out of date,” Sparger said. “It never loses its style. It always inspires and lifts us up. It keeps us spiritually engaged as well as artistically.”

Sparger and Payton work tirelessly to ensure that their passion for classical music lives on in the next generation of the community by offering programs to both students and teachers who might not otherwise have the opportunity to be exposed to the concerts. 

This includes offering private voice lessons to underserved school districts. 

“We’ve developed this new free lessons program that we take into the schools during the school day. So we bring private voice teachers in to work with the students there,” Payton said. “And many of these schools are in communities where kids can’t afford additional private lessons.”

St. Louis is a city brimming with artistic talent, cultural richness, and creative innovation, and much of that vibrancy is thanks to the efforts of the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis.

For four decades, RAC has shaped the city’s cultural landscape, making St. Louis a national hub for the arts while driving economic development, creating jobs, and enhancing tourism. In 2024 alone, RAC awarded more than $9.69 million in grants to the arts and culture sector.

Simply put, without RAC, this community would look very different.

The St. Louis Shakespeare Festival is just one of many examples that illustrates the impact of the nonprofit. Its free shows and locally created original music productions, supported in part by RAC grants, have made high-quality arts accessible to everyone in the region.

“Since the earliest days of the Shakespeare Festival 25 years ago, RAC has been a part of the success. Now, Shakespeare Glen in Forest Park is one of the largest outdoor theaters for Shakespeare anywhere in the world,” says Tom Ridgely, producing artistic director for St. Louis Shakespeare Festival. “And it’s foundational support like the RAC grants that allow us to focus on what really matters: bringing more exceptional, high-quality free theater to our region and its visitors.”

Read the full story in St. Louis Magazine

By Kallie Cox 

If you’ve ever enjoyed walking through the city and checking out its eye-catching murals, attending a free Shakespeare play in Forest Park, enjoying a performance at the Muny, or savoring a beer and a concert at the Sheldon, then the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis has impacted you on a personal level. 

For the past 40 years, RAC has funded the arts and sponsored the work of hundreds of playwrights, musicians, visual artists, and creatives of all disciplines. 

St. Louis, a midwestern city often overlooked by major publications, awards and art critics, is a vibrant hub of culture, artistic endeavors and community art education, largely due to this funding. 

A few of RAC’s better-known grantees include Circus Flora, the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis, the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and Laumeier Sculpture Park. 

RAC leverages public funding from both St. Louis City and the County to ensure all residents have access to world-class art and cultural entertainment. The organization has given more than 7,300 grants totaling more than $115 million over its forty years in existence.

But what caused RAC to form and why does it continue to spend millions of dollars on the arts?

The answer involves one of the best — and oldest — orchestras in the country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Courtesy of St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

 

Campaigning for the Arts

Music is the language everyone speaks and an orchestra belongs to its community, Marie-Hélène Bernard, president and chief executive officer of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra says. 

The SLSO takes this message seriously and has deeply entrenched itself in the fabric of St. Louis. As the first woman to serve as president and CEO of the organization, Bernard is in a unique position to witness and usher in a new era of growth for the orchestra. 

“It was established in 1880 in St Louis, it is the second oldest in the country, after the New York (Philharmonic),” Bernard said. “So if you think of 145 years of existence, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra has been a center of the cultural fabric of our region and community.”

SLSO was one of the first to obtain a majority female membership, and for the past 40 years of its rich history, the Regional Arts Commission has helped fund its legacy.

Funding the SLSO served as a catalyst to RAC’s formation in 1985, according to Jill McGuire the organization’s first president and CEO. 

Initially, the effort McGuire spearheaded in 1982 under St. Louis Mayor Vincent Schoemehl, to enact a small sales tax to fund the arts was rejected. 

“We proposed a five-eighth cent sales tax that would create a ‘Regional Convention Bureau,’ create money for the arts, and also create a fund for economic development,” McGuire said. “We won the election in the city, but it did not win in the county. It failed by less than 1%.”

The community continued to submit requests to McGuire and the mayor’s office asking for funding for the arts, particularly the orchestra. They devised a plan to create the Regional Arts Commission through hotel/motel-tax funding, McGuire said. 

This measure passed and the city was allotted seven appointees to the inaugural RAC board while the county was given eight. The first year the tax produced approximately $1.3 million for the arts, McGuire said. 

Steve Schankman, RAC commissioner in 1985 and co-founder of Contemporary Productions which produces concerts and festivals in the area, said the formation of RAC allowed St. Louis’ major artistic institutions to stay well-funded. However, since RAC’s founding, it has grown to fund the work of numerous individual artists, organizations and projects in the region.

American Rescue Plan Act funding, administered to local governments and organizations throughout the country as a result of the pandemic, was a game-changer for RAC and the work it helps produce, Schankman said. 

RAC allocated $9.5 million of these funds to 195 artists and 75 organizations to help with revenue replacement and tourism recovery in the wake of COVID-19. 

Beth Bombara, a local musician, testified to the impact of this funding.

“Before COVID-19, 90% of my income came from live performances,” Bombara said. “Suddenly I found myself out of a job and struggling to stay on top of bills — struggling to keep writing and recording new music. The ARPA for the Arts grant enabled me to make my songwriting and performing a priority again.”

St. Louis’ vibrant melting pot of arts and culture makes it a city worth living in, Schankman says. 

“It was art and music that put us on the map. I mean, you could say shoes and leather and all the other material things, but when you think of Tina Turner, Miles Davis, Grace Bumbry and the opera, Chuck Berry (…) when you start thinking of all these great musicians and great artists, literary artists. I mean, you can’t beat a community like St Louis,” Schankman said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Courtesy of St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

 

SLSO

RAC’s impact on the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra since its founding has been constant and profound. 

“RAC has invested significant resources into the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra over the years helping sustain very high artistic excellence in service to the community, ensuring that we also have a lot of artists that locally are working with us,” Bernard said. “We’re the largest employer of artists in the region and also diversity has always been at the center of our mission. So we are also nurturing and sustaining a lot of artists from different walks of life.”

One of the main missions of SLSO is education, Bernard says. It trains young musicians ages 12-22, visits schools and community organizations, and partners with more than 130 organizations annually to provide musical education and enrichment.

“Last year alone, we served 429,000 students, 1,300 teachers, and we’re really anchoring music education from pre-K to college ensuring that everyone raised in our region, and outside of our region as well, has access to a solid music education whether they make this a pursuit in life or just a love that they nurture (in) life,” Bernard said. 

Within the orchestra itself, the artistic scope of the ensemble is inimitable, Bernard said. 

“Music is a universal language, and there’s something very unique about the St Louis Symphony Orchestra in that you have 100 of the most talented instrumentalists coming together to create a sound and an experience that’s unparalleled,” Bernard said. “The orchestra is there for everyone.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Courtesy of The Black Rep

 

The Community RAC Empowers

Another of these organizations that has had an incalculable impact on the region is The Black Rep, a theater company founded by Ron Himes who as an undergraduate at Washington University, took matters into his own hands as he saw a lack of opportunities for Black students in the school’s theater department. 

The organization was initially founded as a student group in 1974 and was officially incorporated in 1976. 

“We formed the company as a group of students because there was a void that needed to be filled. I think that in a lot of instances, in the early days of the company, that void persisted in the community, and The Black Rep helped to fill that void,” Himes said. “I think we continue to still fill that void by providing opportunities for (Black) and African American (community members) to train, develop and have a place to have their talents showcased.”

Before transitioning to primarily focus on theater, The Black Rep was a multi-disciplinary company that produced cabaret, a spoken word series, dance performances and showed independent films.

“We have been supported by the Regional Arts Commission from the very beginning,” Himes said. “We’ve done capacity building workshops with the Regional Arts Commission, the funding has been very, very important because it has been unrestricted and gone to support operating expenses. And, there have been times when the Regional Arts Commission has been a bridge in terms of funding for us, between seasons and between projects, and they have managed to always be there to help us, whether we were at a peak or in a valley.”

One year shy of celebrating its 50th anniversary, The Black Rep has an exciting year planned for 2025. It will be featuring two rolling world premieres — Coconut Cake which came out of the National Black Theater Festival and The Wash coming out of the National New Play Network.

“We are very, very excited about producing those two world premieres. I think that will take us up to 25 world premieres in our history. And then finally, we’ll be closing the season with August Wilson’s Radio Golf and that will complete the August Wilson American Century cycle for us for the second time,” Himes said. “I’m not sure if there has been a company in America yet that has done all 10 plays twice.”

Today, the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis continues to receive funding from the city and county hotel/motel tax. It uses this funding to provide grants that help fuel artists and organizations that bring new energy to the city. Its most recent grant cycle for organizations and programs opened on Jan. 21 and its Artist Support Grants are opening in late March.

Data from the Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 study (AEP6), completed in 2023 in partnership with Americans for the Arts, helps to illustrate how transformative RAC’s significant investment in the region has been. The report shows the arts and culture sector of the greater St. Louis area generates $868 million and supports 12,000 jobs, revealing the arts as a major economic engine.

Additionally, RAC supports cultural tourism efforts by promoting the work of artists and organizations at St.LouisArts.org. After 40 years, RAC diversifying revenue to meet the needs of the sector and making strategic shifts to respond to the changing landscape are also areas of focus.