As artists, it is often hard to go out there and make things happen. [He] is making things happen and is a great role model to artists and kids alike.

[Ball is one of the few musical comedy artists to have distinguished himself equally as an interpreter of both Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondheim, who would seem to be polar opposites as songwriters.] I'm very lucky that I've gotten to work with both of them, ... I was in Andrew Lloyd Webber's 50th party concert at the Albert Hall. That same year I was in a special show called Hey, Mr. Producer , a celebration of Cameron Mackintosh's work. There was a Sondheim section, and Cameron asked if I'd be part of it. I'd already recorded 'Losing My Mind' from Follies , which is one of my favorite songs of Steve's. But I hadn't yet done a particularly traditional treatment of it. Steve said he wanted me to do it absolutely straight, the way it was heard in the original show, which I was delighted about. And he worked with me on it--just him, and me, and a pianist in a tiny room, for an hour-and-a-half master class on this song. I came away knowing every nuance; why he wrote everything that he did; why every note was in its place; why the phrasing was like this--can you imagine how thrilling that was? And he is so articulate in explaining his work; you can be under no illusion why something is there. When you have that understanding, that is when his work opens up to you. Of course, they put me between Judi Dench singing 'Send in the Clowns' and Bernadette Peters doing 'Being Alive.' You try holding your own in that company!

Arthur Fogel operates in his own league. He is a maverick that has earned the respect of superstar artists because he religiously strives to maximize revenue for the artist while delivering a world-class service.

There are so many talented artists in this town. I wanted to support them.

The Main Street program held several meetings about creating an artists' cooperative, and our group just kind of grew out of that. A co-op was actually turning out to be more complex than we wanted to be, so we just decided to form our own group.

When there is artwork up on the walls, the color will really make the art pop. After all, the real beauty is the artwork. The gallery is just to show it off.