Major Donors Shape the Future of An Appalachian Summer Festival Their gifts help build a $5 million endowment to ensure the festival enriches the lives of future generations.
the art of giving By Linda Coutant
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or 38 years, An Appalachian Summer Festival has brought world-class arts programming to the High Country—music, theatre, dance, film and the visual arts, all at affordable ticket prices. A program of Appalachian State University, the festival and its future received significant backing through two recent gifts from individuals who fell in love with the region and its people decades ago: a $1 million matching gift from Neil and Nancy Schaffel in 2019 to encourage others to give and a $500,000 multi-year pledge from Chris Petti in 2020. The Schaffel and Petti gifts will become part of a $5 million endowment to keep An Appalachian Summer Festival entertaining and educating audiences in perpetuity. The university’s Office of Arts and Cultural Programming announced in May the endowment goal may be reached this summer. “These donors are creating transformational change for the festival,” said Denise Ringler, director of arts engagement and cultural resources at App State. The endowment helps ensure “a bright financial future for the festival for decades to come,” she said. “Endowment funds are game-changers for arts programs such as An Appalachian Summer Festival. Income from ticket sales covers only about 43 percent of the festival’s needed revenue each year, and private support must make up the difference. Endowment income serves as a ‘safety net’ by providing a reliable and predictable source of income to support festival operations if a future economic downturn were to make it difficult for our annual donors to sustain their contributions,” Ringler said. Here’s a look at these benefactors and their reasons for giving so generously:
100 — Summer 2022 CAROLINA MOUNTAIN LIFE
Nancy and Neil Schaffel The Schaffels’ engagement with the High Country began in 1972 when Nancy’s parents, Arnold and Muriel Rosen, were among many south Florida residents who bought vacation homes in Beech Mountain and other local developments. Long involved with the arts scene in Miami, the Rosens were among the original founders of the An Appalachian Summer Festival in 1984. Family members spent lots of time here over the years. Nancy and Neil later inherited the Rosens’ summer home and recently made the High Country their full-time residence after retiring from jobs in Florida (as bookkeeper and real estate lawyer, respectively) and living for a short time in Texas. The Schaffels have continued the family legacy of supporting the arts in the High Country—“the place we call home,” they said. As part of An Appalachian Summer Festival, they created the Rosen-Schaffel Competition for Young and Emerging Artists and the Rosen-Schaffel Endowment for Classical Music. They also have funded music scholarships through App State’s Hayes School of Music. “I was raised with the arts, that was the culture of our home. My parents were involved in the opera, the ballet and the theatre. They instilled in me the value of the arts, and I have always felt the arts add so much to a person’s well-being and their thinking,” Nancy Schaffel said. “It has felt like a family effort,” Neil Schaffel said of their continued giving. “The Rosens made the first endowment commitment in the 1980s and we saw them as an example.” The idea for a matching gift for an endowment benefitting An Appalachian Summer Festival came from the successful matching gift program used by WDAV public radio station in Davidson, he added. “We thought, why not use this endowment as a way to get other people involved in the festival, too? “I think An Appalachian Summer Festival is the best example of a public-private enterprise that I have ever witnessed,” he said. “My in-laws wanted to bring classical music to the High Country at a price people could afford… and the university, from chancellor to chancellor, has stayed true to the festival’s mission” of artistic excellence, innovative programming, the commissioning of new works and support of young American artists, and educational opportunities. Ticket prices are typically 30-40 percent lower than prices in other cities, and the festival gives school coupons and discounts for children’s tickets. “There are many people who have never seen a live performance before, and the festival gives them an opportunity at a price families can afford,” Nancy Schaffel said. “When you give, you get back so much more,” she continued. “It’s so enjoyable to see people benefit from what we’re able to do—I see the pleasure people have in seeing a performance, I see students benefit through scholarships, and I see people go to concerts they otherwise might not get to see.”
