Sydney Arzt hired as executive director of Schwartz Center for the Arts in Dover

Sydney Arzt – Miss Music of Southern Delaware – is taking her entertainment talents to Kent County.

The Rehoboth Beach resident, known for bringing jazz to the beaches, stepped into a new role as the new executive director of the Schwartz Center for the Arts Nov. 1, replacing the center's interim executive director Sylvia Cowell. Cowell served as the interim director for about a year and a half.

Arzt, former owner and operator of Sydney's Blues & Jazz Restaurant, spent 18 years with the Rehoboth Beach Jazz Festival as one of the event's founding members, three years as an entertainment coordinator at Bethany Blues and four years with Kent County's Delaware Charitable Music producing concerts and booking performers.

Before her leading roles in the southern Delaware music scene, the closest Arzt had gotten to musical performance was a short stint playing piano, that and the fact that her grandfather was leader of a big band in the 1930s. She said her connection to music is based on the feeling and enjoyment she gets from a good tune.

“I always say I've been on a mission from God, like in the Blues Brothers, because there is no rational explanation,” she said. “It's a soulful connection for me and always has been.”

Arzt said that connection has helped her develop a formula for booking impressive talent that has worked for years, and she hopes to bring that – as well as some other changes – to the Schwartz Center.

Arzt will play a key role in developing the center's new strategic plan, as well as restructuring the board of directors and by-laws to produce a more community-oriented center for the arts.

“Our intention is to become a very strong anchor in the revitalization of downtown Dover,” she said. She hopes to bring in more national and international talent through a new method of programming, which is expected to include a more open schedule for booking big-name stars.

“We're kind of restructuring from the ground up, so to speak, except for the building,” she said.

Arzt credited Ed Dulin, liaison for the center's board of directors and CEO of Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA, for spear-heading the restructuring efforts at the Schwartz.

“The Schwartz Center is a beautiful facility. It has wonderful potential – it's just terribly underutilized,” Dulin said. “Sydney is just Miss Music. I think she is just going to be a jewel in the executive director position. If we can utilize her knowledge of the talent of the industry, I believe we can maximize the potential of the Schwartz Center into being a great thing for central Delaware.”

Dulin said the restructuring will begin with Arzt cleaning up the center organizationally, then enhancing and updating programming for 2015. Along with the restructuring efforts and a new strategic plan, Arzt and Dulin said the new focus is on fundraising to make the center more sustainable and community-oriented, allowing for less university involvement. The Schwartz Center is currently operated by a nine-member board: three representatives from Delaware State University, three from Wesley College and three from The Friends of the Capitol Theater.

“My top priority is really to create a more financially viable Schwartz Center with greater community participation,” Arzt said. “As Dover is the capital, we hope to make this theater representative of the capital city in Delaware.”

Dulin said there are going to be a lot of changes in the next six to nine months, but said the tasks are doable with Arzt at the helm.

“I hope what people are going to see is much better programming, much more programming that touches on all aspects of the community – from children to education to big-star shows that come through this area,” Dulin said. “[Arzt] believes in music and the arts. She's done amazing things in Delaware already, and I think what she can bring to the Schwartz Center is just going to be terrific.”