More than 50 representatives from Augusta's fine arts community met Monday for Round Two of a campaign to build an arts center in Augusta.

In 2004, voters chose not to fund a $25 million arts center included in a special purpose local option sales tax proposal. The organizations now want to get a revised request on the November 2009 ballot. But first, they're meeting to discuss what went wrong and how to fix it.

"This group already has a consensus of the need," said Phil Caldwell, president of the board of directors of the Augusta Symphony. They've got the "why" figured out, just not the other four of the five Ws -- the who, what, where and when, he said.

The arts organizations need to reach a consensus on those, too, for the effort to succeed, said City Administrator Fred Russell, who attended the meeting with Mayor Deke Copenhaver and state Sen. Ed Tarver and Rep. Quincy Murphy.

"You couldn't agree on what you actually needed," Mr. Russell said. "This group has to decide what best serves everybody."

Without a unified voice, commissioners aren't likely to put the arts center on the ballot, he said. Even then, voters must still approve the referendum, which would pit the center against other community groups vying for a piece of a $160 million pie.

No cost estimate was given, but organizers say they'll work from documents drawn up for the 2004 proposal. "We don't have to reinvent the wheel," Mr. Caldwell said. "We just have to build on what's there."

Since the initial proposal, the city has introduced a new master plan, which carves out space for an arts center along the Savannah River. The center would back a river harbor created by cutting into the levee across from Augusta Common, although that, said Augusta Tomorrow President Robert Osborne, is just one possible location for an arts center.

Reach Kelly Jasper at (706) 823-3552 or kelly.jasper@augustachronicle.com.