Editor's note: This story was originally published by the Belleville News-Democrat.
Art on the Square Co-Directors Carol Bartle and Stephanie Dorris sent an email to committee members last week, stating that they didn’t “see a path” for putting on a show in 2025.
Bartle, 78, a volunteer since the show began in 2002, is retiring. Dorris, 61, a volunteer for 14 years, is moving to Florida to be closer to family. They don’t have a replacement.
Developments in the past few weeks have prompted the co-directors to speak out for the first time about a problem they say they’ve been dealing with for three years: Hostility from Belleville Mayor Patty Gregory, who co-founded the show and formerly served as executive director for 20 years.
Gregory wanted to continue running the show after being elected mayor in 2021, but board members rejected that idea due to ethical, legal and practical concerns, according to Bartle and Dorris.
“We had created our own little monster because none of us went up against (Gregory),” Dorris said this week. “We didn’t challenge her. She was used to getting her way.”
The co-directors said the mayor started criticizing their decisions, bad-mouthing the organization to sponsors and artists and otherwise making it difficult for them to carry out their tasks, but they mostly stayed silent to “protect everyone from the drama.”
They said Gregory had a “meltdown” during one show, initially refusing to leave the office before going outside and screaming at Bartle in front of a group of high-school students.
“I can’t tell you how many times we asked, ‘Patty, what do you want? What have we done?’” Bartle said. “She wouldn’t tell us.”
Gregory didn’t respond to BND requests for comment this week.
Bartle and Dorris said they’ve been working for nearly a year to find a new executive director for Art on the Square, and after someone finally agreed to take on the volunteer position, “politics” involving the mayor caused the person to withdraw in late August.
The co-directors recently learned that some past and present volunteers are proposing that a new organization and art show be established and, on Gregory’s recommendation, it would happen under the auspices of the Southwestern Illinois College Foundation.
“If you were mayor, and you were possibly losing one of the best things in Belleville, I would think that no matter how angry or vengeful you were, you would try to make contact with us or some of the other (Art on the Square) board members and try to figure out how to keep this thing going,” Dorris said.
That contact never happened, she said.
'Terrible message' to community
Tom Barnett, a former Art on the Square board president and volunteer for about 15 years, until 2021, said a committee member forwarded the email from Bartle and Dorris to him, and he found it alarming because of the show’s importance to the community.
The annual juried show in downtown Belleville is a major tourist attraction that draws tens of thousands of people to view and buy the artwork of more than 100 artists from all over the country.
“When you send out something like that (email), it sends a terrible message to the community,” Barnett said.
Barnett said he talked to local merchants who were “floored” by the possibility of Art on the Square being canceled and committee members who told him they would do whatever they could to keep an art show in Belleville, so he moved quickly to take advantage of the “momentum.”
Barnett said he called Gregory, who suggested he reach out to Nick Mance, president of Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC), and that Mance agreed to allow a new organization to raise money through the college’s foundation, which is a non-profit like Art on the Square.
Mance didn’t respond to BND requests for comment this week.
Barnett said he has nothing against Bartle and Dorris, who have done a good job with Art on the Square, but he thought it made sense to call Gregory because they are friends and, if a new organization was being formed, she could help because she knows many of the artists.
“All I was interested in doing was making sure we had an art show going forward,” Barnett said.
Barnett said he also called Paula Haniszewski, director of Schmitt Art Center, which is part of SWIC, and she indicated that she would be willing to serve as director of a new art show.
Haniszewski serves on the Art on the Square board. She was the person who had agreed this summer to be that organization’s executive director before she withdrew, citing concerns by Mance that it would create a conflict with Gregory, according to Bartle and Dorris.
“None of this makes sense,” Bartle said.
Haniszewski didn’t respond to BND requests for comment this week.
SWIC has an agreement with Belleville to manage the city’s Southwestern Illinois Justice & Workforce Development Center, formerly the Lindenwood University-Belleville campus. The college receives about $6 million a year from the state of Illinois to do it.
Bartle and Dorris questioned why people would want to create a new art show from scratch when Art on the Square is an established organization with a six-member board, 30 committee chairs, 300 volunteers, a good reputation among artists and steady crowd of patrons. It just needs a director, they said.
Board members include Bartle, Dorris, Haniszewski, Julie Harvey, Ann Thomure and Jenny Meyer, Belleville city clerk, who acts as a liaison with the city. Bartle is president. Meyer recently announced that she’s running for mayor in a challenge to Gregory.
Bartle and Dorris said Art on the Square is in better fiscal shape than it was when Gregory left. They declined to discuss its bank account for proprietary reasons. But they gave a hint in their email, which explained why they want to keep the directorship a volunteer position.
“Hiring an executive director would be a short term option as the funds for salary and benefits would drain the surplus in a few years,” they wrote.
Friendships suffer after election
Bartle and Dorris said they considered Gregory a friend for many years. Dorris served as treasurer of her mayoral campaign under Campaign Chairman Steve Campo, who is vice chair of SWIC’s Board of Trustees.
Bartle and Dorris said Art on the Square board members never tried to keep Gregory from being involved; they just didn’t want her to serve as director or solicit money from sponsors while mayor. Also, bylaws limit board service to 10 consecutive two-year terms, which Gregory had completed.
At one point, Gregory brought Lloyd Cueto, a city attorney, to a board meeting to assure members that her leadership wouldn’t violate any laws, according to Bartle and Dorris.
Barnett agreed with other board members, noting that it could be perceived as a conflict of interest.
The board’s decision regarding Gregory caused other problems. One anonymous sponsor withdrew support.
“That money ($30,000 for the Artist Awards) just went away,” Bartle said. “I talked to the sponsor, and I said, ‘Thank you for your past support,’ and I went out and found another sponsor.”
Bartle and Dorris said a rumor circulating that they asked SWIC to take over Art on the Square two years ago is false and that SWIC actually made the proposal, which they rejected.
The co-directors said the Art on the Square board’s long-term philosophy, including under Gregory, has been that the show should remain independent and not be operated by the city of Belleville or any other entity. Barnett verified that this was true during his tenure.
Barnett said the goal of a new organization would be to host an art show in downtown Belleville as usual on the weekend of May 16-18, 2025. He’s not sure what it would be called or how it would be structured, beyond Haniszewski as executive director and Gregory as a consultant.
“There’s a lot to do,” Barnett said.
Bartle and Dorris said the Art on the Square board will meet in the near future to determine its next step. They said it doesn’t make sense for a community such as Belleville, which has limited sponsorship opportunities, to try and support two major art shows.
If Art on the Square were to disband, the board would need to decide what to do with its funds.
“We don’t want to see (Art on the Square) end,” Bartle said. “We want to see it continue on. But this nonsense has got to stop. I have given 23 years, and there is no excuse for what is going on here. It breaks my heart.”
Teri Maddox and Mike Koziatek are reporters with the Belleville News-Democrat, a news partner of St. Louis Public Radio.
