A Quiet Worker Who Turned the Tide - NYSCA's Earle I. Mack Reflects on a Love of the Arts and Leaving a Legacy

He is, first of all, a soft-spoken, thoughtful man; scrupulous in word choice in interviews; humble enough to ask, at times, if he's chosen the right word; wise enough to avoid taking credit for accomplishments, and argue for where he feels the plaudits really belong.
But Earle I. Mack‹who resigned last week after nearly three years as chairman of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA)‹will prove hard-pressed not to accept credit for a tenure that has turned the tide. He appears to have worked and won in his effort to nurture the state's struggling arts agency back into a force of economic and structural stability.
In his resignation letter to his friend Gov. George Pataki, he listed three pages of accomplishments‹which he credited to Pataki‹including raising the council's low morale and once-eroding arts infrastructure, and increasing public arts funding by 45%. And in an exclusive interview with Back Stage, he offered respectful laurels for the state legislature, including Sen. Roy Goodman (R-Manhattan), Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), and Assemblyman Paul Tokasz (D-Buffalo), who spearheaded the legislative drive for increased arts monies.
But the truth is that, before Mack's arrival, the legislature had slashed the arts budget by more than half; and Pataki's FY96 budget called for a further $6 million cut, which led to NYSCA staff resignations. So when Mack came on the scene in March of '96, he faced a darkened set with a doubting audience.
"They called me a one-art person," he confided last Friday, because of his active leadership in the ballet community. And because he is seen as a conservative, successful businessman, some in the arts family stood cautiously in wait of his agenda, and how he would implement it.
A clear illustration of the arts community's view of Mack on his arrival, and at his leaving, comes in the words of Norma Munn, chair of the New York City Arts Coalition and a major legislative soul of local arts:
"I have no knowledge of him, and can't comment," Munn bluntly told Back Stage three years ago. Then, last week, she observed to the New York Times, "I found Earle to be extremely hard-working. I found him sophisticated about the political atmosphere in Albany. One would expect him to have connections to the governor, but he had connections to the legislators."
Asked what, in his attitude, allowed him to step past the critics and doubters, Mack unhesitatingly quoted from Shakespeare's "Macbeth": "Screw your courage to the sticking place and we'll not fail."

Dedicated to NYSCA's Mission
To Mack, that sticking place was NYSCA's mission, which he saw as proving to the politicians that the arts "were not discretionary spending," but contributed to the state by creating jobs, improving the economy, and adding a vital component to education.
He did that in a number of ways. To just name a major few, he:
‹brought in a new executive director to organize and energize staff activities;
‹arranged private financing for an economic development study to prove the arts' economic impact of generating $16 billion annually;
‹spurred a statewide conference on technology and the arts;
‹encouraged the governor's formation of an arts education policy.
‹led the formation of NYSCA's new five-year plan for arts intiatives on arts education, technology, tourism, and grants distribution.
He also toured state arts facilities, and, all the while, spoke with the governor and legislators, emphasizing the necessity of the arts. They've listened well enough to raise the NYSCA budget to $41 million.

A Love Since Boyhood
The fact is, a successful real estate developer doesn't commonly dedicate that kind of time, energy and willpower toward politics to help the arts. Often one does to help his own drive toward higher office, yes, or improve political-business connections. Mack, on the other hand, appears to have used his already-sealed political and business connections to improve the state of the arts.
That may seem so unusual as to appear suspicious, until one pries Mack open about where his arts dedication sprang from.
"I was always musically inclined," Mack, a native New Yorker, admitted. "In grammar school, I played the drums. I went to Drexel University in Philadelphia, and I played in a band. I liked to sing when I was a boy."
He gratefully recalled his school days in Tarrytown, where a school master would take students to the old Metropolitan Opera. "I looked forward to that," Mack said, "although instead of the Italian operas, I would catch the Wagners. It was difficult sitting through five hours of that."
For Mack, the experiences caused the love for music to run deep. "What I really wanted to do," he admitted, "I really wanted a career in the arts. I guess my dad, who was in building and real estate, wanted me to follow his career, and come into the family business.
"That was in the late '50s," he continued with a soft laugh. "It was a time when kids were still listening to their parents. So I forewent a possible acceptance at Brown University, a liberal arts college, as opposed to a college of engineering or business administration."
So Mack worked toward a business degree from Drexel, where he also joined the Reserve Officers Training Corps. After graduating, he served a six-month stint as a military officer at Fort Bening, Ga. "Then I came back, and, along with my brothers Bill and David, went to work in my dad's business."
But the days and nights in the office couldn't quell the inner creative voice. "I felt I was very creatively unsatiated," Mack said. "I had always felt a need for the arts. I was toying with the idea of becoming a film director."
Then in 1966, he met Joseph Papp. "I was impressed with what he was doing at the Public Theater." He also learned that Papp was struggling with a mortgage problem. "That was about 33 years ago, and it's hard to remember exactly what the problem was," Mack confessed, but basically he used his business acumen and connections to work the problem out.
The '60s were an especially exciting time for Mack. "I've always followed the arts closely, and tried to keep myself on the cutting edge," he recalled. "I think if ever there was a cultural revolution‹it started in New York and San Francisco and spread throughout the country‹it was the '60s: the protests; the emancipation of youth. It was very intriguing, what was being expressed in the arts by contemporary artists like Warhol and Lichtenstein. It was all very curious for me because it represented such a quick cultural change. I thought the '60s represented the fastest change in the women's movement, in the psyche of how the youth culture related to the mainstream culture. It was the fastest change in 2,000 years, and I was very fascinated in that."
He decided to co-produce a Public Theater venture titled "Stomp." "No relation to the current show," he assured. "It was a multi-media rock musical. A group from the University of Texas had written the script and lyrics. I thought it gave a great message of the plight of the youth in America, and the Vietnam War. Much like "Hair,' but I thought here the message wasn't as vague, and the skits were funny and a little clearer."
They were preparing to open the show‹which had received very good reviews‹on Broadway at the Ritz Theatre. But then, as Mack recalled, "I was having dinner with either Joe Papp or Bernie Gersten at P.J. Clarke's," when he got a call from the theatre owner, Larry Zarinsky, who said he had just sold the theatre and wanted to invoke the contract's demolition clause. That left Mack and partners without a theatre and with about an $11,000 refund, which they donated to the Public.

Ballet: The Creative Fire
Then Mack found himself in the '70s, and discovered ballet, which really fueled the creative fire. "A lady friend who had studied with the American School of Ballet introduced me to the New York City Ballet. I fell instantly in love with dance."
It became a romance that knew no geographical boundaries. He began traveling the world to see all genres of dance, from contemporary to classical. Then, in 1976, he joined Oleg Briansky and his dancer-wife‹a soloist with the Paris Ballet‹on a tour of ballet in the Soviet Union. At the Kirov School, "I was so touched by what I saw, I decided to make a film of that 250-year-old bastion of dance."
It was Mack's first film‹"The Children of Theatre Street"‹which he produced and co-directed. It garnered a number of honors, including an Academy Award nomination for best documentary.
In 1980, Mack made another documentary, on dancer Kyra Nijinsky called "She Dances Alone." He followed it with a feature film, "Hard Choices."

In 1981, he was invited to join the NYSCA council, followed by invitations to the boards of the New York City Ballet and the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the Briansky Ballet School, and the trustee board for the American Friends of the Paris Opera and Ballet.
It was on the NYSCA council that he first met Kitty Carlisle Hart, the legendary head of NYSCA, who he ended up replacing. While Mack had his own business and political connections coming into the NYSCA post, he said he is very grateful to Hart, and to Schuyler Chapin‹commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs‹for their experience and guidance, which helped Mack greatly in the government service arena.

Leaving a Legacy?
Early in the interview, Mack spoke of how he had hoped to leave some type of legacy. By the interview's end, he was asked if he felt he had done so with his NYSCA service.
"I feel I've done something that's been constructive and for the public good," he responded. "I feel that my legacy that I leave my family will be, besides a good name, something more than having built a successful business. It's important for me to give back, give of my time and energies. The arts are my love, and deserve my attention.
"If I've left a legacy, I hope it's that I've been helpful in raising the consciousness of the public to the importance of the arts as an education tool and an economic engine. If I have, I'll be happy."