Halsey was elected to the APAP Board In 1975 and immediately (1975-1979) co-hosted and helped teach three week-long summer workshops in Durham, Raleigh, and Charlotte, North Carolina. APAP was known then as ACUCAA (Association of College, University, and Community Arts Associations), and Board meetings were held in Madison, Wisconsin.
Halsey and his wife Alice moved to New York City in 1979, where Halsey became Director of Corporate Contributions at Philip Morris Companies and then Executive Director of the Cultural Council Foundation. In 1979, Halsey became Treasurer of APAP, and Alice, a banker, helped APAP open its first NYC bank account so it could make deposits during the conference – and Bill Dawson, Executive Director, did not have to hold the money in a bank bag to carry it back to Wisconsin.
In 1987, Halsey and Alice co-founded The North Group Inc. As a team, they provided fundraising, strategic planning, and board development counsel and helped restore and strengthen more than 57 historic theaters, 28 performing arts centers, 53 community arts organizations, and 40 arts service organizations across the United States. Halsey and Alice raised hundreds of millions of dollars in ways that made each organization more creative, capable, and sustainable.
Annually at the APAP Conferences and Pre-Conferences 1979-2013 (43 years), Halsey and Alice volunteered to teach workshops and participate in one-on-one consultations + produced their annually-updated NYC Theatre District restaurant map (first as hard copies for attendee packets and then online and available all year long) + hosted an annual Board Alumni Dinner at their NYC apartment to celebrate APAP and keep Board Alumni connected and engaged in the organization.
In 1988, Halsey was awarded the Fan Taylor Award “for outstanding service, creative thinking, leadership and significant impact on the profession of presenting the performing arts.” In 2013 Halsey and Alice were the first recipients of the annual (11 years in 2023) Halsey and Alice North Award for Committed Excellence and Service to APAP by an Alumni Board Member. In 2020, APAP honored Halsey and Alice with APAP Lifetime Memberships.
Over many years, Halsey and Alice have given APAP unrestricted gifts as “challenges” to encourage APAP Board and Board Alumni to continue and increase their giving to APAP.
Halsey and Alice are thankful for a lifetime of productive work in vibrant communities, rewarding personal and professional relationships, wonderful memories, great opportunities, and good friends.
