The umbrella: Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne

Founded 1955 as the Fort Wayne Fine Arts Foundation

Founding: In 1955 a circle of civic leaders — Arts United's own retelling, through its president Susan Mendenhall, places the talks in the tea room of the Wolf and Dessauer department store — formed the Fort Wayne Fine Arts Foundation, today Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne. Samuel A. Rea of Rea Magnet Wire was the founder and first president; Arts United's timeline also names him its first board chairman. The first member organizations were the Fort Wayne Art School and Museum, the Fort Wayne Civic Theatre, and the Fort Wayne Musical Society. Margaret Ann Keegan chaired the first fund drive.

The model: Arts United is a united arts fund: one coordinated campaign raises money for many arts organizations at once, and the fund also owns and operates buildings, runs shared services, and speaks for the sector. The organization describes itself as the nation's third-oldest united arts fund and the only organization of its kind in Northeast Indiana. The public side of the model came early: Sam Rea, serving as a state representative in 1965, advocated for tax levies to ensure long-term public support for arts and culture.

Name and region: The foundation took the name Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne in 1988. Its Regional Arts Council dates to 1988 as well, and Arts United later became the Indiana Arts Commission's Regional Arts Partner for the northeast of the state. Under board chairman Ian Rolland, the 1989 Renaissance Campaign established a long-term maintenance fund, paid for capital improvements at The History Center, the Arts United Center and the Embassy Theatre, and established the Hall Community Arts Center. Presidents in the recent record include Susan Mendenhall and Dan Ross, who led the organization through the A Soaring Vision campaign below.

Sources:

1. Arts United, 2017 and 2018 Annual Reports (artsunited.org) — founding members, Sam Rea as first board chairman, Keegan's first drive, Regional Arts Council 1988, Renaissance Campaign, campus figures.
2. Whatzup, "Gem of city arts scene shines again" and "Preserving the center of our arts" — the Wolf and Dessauer tea-room account via Susan Mendenhall; "founded in 1955, becoming Arts United in 1988."
3. Fort Wayne Magazine, January 2015 (via fortwayne.com) — Rea's 1965 tax-levy advocacy as a state representative; Samuel Rea obituary, Dignity Memorial — founder and first president of the Fine Arts Foundation.