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Volunteer Spotlight: Jack Schlegel
An advertising veteran with an impressive resume, long-time DRA volunteer Jack Schlegel has helped transform the 12-year old Fire Island Dance Festival from a small fundraiser to a signature event. Schlegel has been with the festival for almost 10 years, but his efforts on behalf of the LGBT community date back much further, to the mid 1970s, when he helped develop a series of low-budget, but highly popular fundraising events for the fledgling, financially strapped Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, now the highly successful Lambda Legal. “The evenings I created were something new to gay fundraising. Each evening was two-part. First, I'd choose a great program of dance by a company that would offer us a discount,” Schlegel recalls. “Then, because Lambda couldn’t afford to have events in restaurants, I asked friends of mine to open their homes for a private party before or after the show. This not only gave the events cachet, but a distinctive feel as well.” Getting Paid to Write Throughout his life, Jack has used his writing skills and marketing savvy both professionally and as an incredibly busy volunteer. Growing up in suburban Cedar Grove, NJ, Schlegel had a clear but flexible career vision. “When I was 16, I told a vocational counselor that I wanted to write for money.” And, after earning a BA in English from Princeton, that’s what he did. Moving to New York, Jack fell into medical advertising for 10 years and then moved into a copywriting position at Madison Avenue heavyweight Saatchi & Saatchi, honing his skills on blue-chip accounts like GE, IBM, Procter & Gamble and Merck. During his 26 years with the firm, Saatchi also gave Schlegel the opportunity to work in Heidelberg, Frankfurt and Paris. In 1993, when the advertising giant offered early retirement, he jumped at the chance to devote more time to outside projects. From Fan to Fundraiser A ballet fan since the 1950s, Schlegel (who describes himself as “the proverbial stage door Johnny”) attended the first FI Dance festival and, though artistically impressed, thought he could help develop the event. “By that time I had done 18 Fire Island parties for Lambda and I figured that they really didn’t need me anymore,” he said. “But I thought I could make a difference working with DRA. I knew (DRA founders) Hernando Cortez and Denise Roberts Hurlin and approached them about helping out. Hernando said, ‘We really wanted you to work with us, but were afraid to ask.”’ A long-time FI summer resident, Jack jumped right in, drafting friends from the island to help build up the event and market it to the upscale Pines community. He also made a number of effective, practical suggestions, like adding more performances and seeking out bigger names from the dance community. “Doing what sells.” The results have validated his efforts. The first dance festival raised about $6,000; the 2005 event brought in more than $174,000. Schlegel attributes the festival’s success to a number of other factors. “For dance fans, the beauty of Fire Island is not only the setting, but that you would have to go to several theatres to see these dancers, while we bring them all to your doorstep,” he adds. “Plus the dancers from all these different companies love it because they not only get to perform in a beautiful setting but have the rare opportunity to socialize with each other.” The Fire Island Dance Festival performs Saturday, July 15 & Sunday, July 16 in Fire Island Pines. For more information, visit DRA’s website at www.dradance.org
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By Andy Smith