Guest post by Margy Waller,
Cincinnati Fine Arts Fund

Many of us have spent years searching for the strongest possible message and the best case on which to build support for the arts. Yet, the messages we have used to create dialogue in communities across the country have not yielded the broad sense of shared responsibility for the arts that we seek.

In late 2008, leaders of the Fine Arts Fund, with financial support from The Greater Cincinnati Foundation and the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation, embarked on a research initiative designed to develop a communications strategy for an inclusive community dialogue leading to broadly shared public responsibility for arts and culture. The result of that work, The Arts Ripple Effect Report, was released early in 2009.

Perceptions shape behavior toward the arts

After a year of investigation and hundreds of interviews with residents of the area and surrounding states, this research—conducted with the Topos Partnership, a national communications research organization—finds that public responsibility for the arts is undermined by deeply entrenched perceptions. Members of the public typically have positive feelings toward the arts, some quite strong, but how they think about the arts is shaped by a number of common default patterns that obscure a sense of shared responsibility in this area.

For example, it is natural and common for people who are not insiders to think of the arts in terms of entertainment. Problematically, entertainment is a matter of personal taste, not public responsibility, and is viewed as an extra—not as a necessity. People make several assumptions that work against the objective of positioning the arts as a public good.

• The arts are a private matter: Arts are about individual tastes, experiences and enrichment, and individual expression by artists.
• The arts are a good to be purchased: Therefore, most assume that the arts should succeed or fail, as any product does in the marketplace, based on what people want to purchase.
• People expect to be passive, not active: People expect to have a mostly passive, consumer relationship with the arts. The arts will be offered to them, and therefore do not need to be created or supported by them.
• The arts are a low priority: Even when people value art, it is rarely high on their list of priorities.

These points represent the “default thinking” of people in the community, and indicate that the existing landscape of public understanding is not conducive to a sense of broadly shared responsibility for the arts.

A new message to inspire public support

Of the many communications approaches explored in our testing, one stood out as having the most potential to shift thinking and conversations in a constructive direction. This approach emphasizes one key organizing idea:

A thriving arts sector creates “ripple effects” of benefits throughout our community.

This message is at the heart of a communications strategy that helps position arts and culture as a public good, and helps people see this topic in a new way. In delivering this message, we have learned that the following two ripple effects are especially helpful and compelling to enumerate:

• A vibrant, thriving economy: Neighborhoods are more lively, communities are revitalized, tourists and residents are attracted to the area, etc. Note that this goes well beyond the usual dollars-and-cents argument and emphasizes creating an environment where people want to live, work, play, and stay.
• A more connected population: Diverse groups share common experiences, hear new perspectives, and understand each other better through the arts.

By conveying this message and describing key ripple effects, we are bringing new language with the power to create a broader sense of collective responsibility for the arts. This organizing concept for our message is simple and vivid, and helps people learn and remember our main idea.

This strategy emerged from significant testing conducted with a range of messages that are often associated with building public support for arts—including messages that emphasize civic inspiration, or focus on strengthening our identity as a great city, or highlight the positive connection between arts and youth.

It is fair to assume that at least some of the default patterns of thinking, as well as responses to messages we tested, reflect patterns that would be repeated elsewhere. We believe this research initiative provides a head start for those planning to embark on similar efforts in other parts of the country and at the national level.

Read the report and reviews.

Margy Waller is Vice President of Arts & Culture Partnership for the Fine Arts Fund, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. For more information and to discuss replication of this research, please contact her at mwaller@fineartsfund.org.

Is there anything special arts funders can do to help nonprofits and artists deal with the continued effects of a down economy? Something beyond continued funding opportunities, capacity building, and technical support?

That’s the question The San Francisco Foundation (a participant in Irvine’s Communities Advancing the Arts) and a group of Bay Area arts funders took on halfway through 2009. And the result was a welcome relief from hard times for 700 artists and arts leaders who attended the Dynamic Adaptability conference last week at the historic Herbst Theatre.

An untypical gathering

This conference brought together creative thinkers from arts, neuroscience, business, media and philanthropy for a day of conversations. The idea was not to highlight a single strategy, emphasize a certain type of skill, or support a specific new set of relationships. To the contrary, this was a day to do something different—to be stimulated and inspired, and to turn the tide from one of cautious hope to one of genuine optimism for continued vibrancy in the Bay Area’s diverse arts ecology.

The day was keynoted by Jonah Lehrer, neuroscientist and author of How We Decide and Proust was a Neuroscientist. His rich ability to make insightful connections between art and science was catnip for the group. In the context of deep understanding of the human brain and its dual needs for focus and relaxation, he makes the persuasive point that, “Art is truth. Art teaches us something special about the mind.” In particular, he makes the case that, “Arts are deeply practical in helping us think about thinking.” In this way, arts can play a role in helping people learn new ways of thinking—including creative thinking. It’s a powerful argument.

Informative material, informal exchanges

The conference featured doses of data, including new research from Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC) indicating that Bay Area artists are, when compared to their peers nationally:

• More affected financially by the recession (more declines in grant amounts, fewer sales of work, and greater declines in non-arts income)
• More likely to have second jobs in the arts (seven of ten artists nationally hold at least one job in addition to making art)
• More likely to engage in volunteer activities (in and outside of the arts) More likely to say that artists have a special role in strengthening their communities at this time
• More likely to believe that future success will require a new outlook and approach after the economy stabilizes
• More highly educated, less white and African-American, and more Asian and Latino

Brief presentations led to conversations among panels of practitioners and thought leaders on topics such as:

• How has the way that artists engage audiences and markets been affected by the recession? How can we help artists strengthen their connections with their audiences, communities and support systems?
• What inspires people to want to be involved in something beyond themselves, including arts and culture? How can artists and cultural organizations form deeper and more authentic connections with their audiences, donors and communities?
• What are the implications of the demographic and technological changes we are experiencing for arts and cultural organizations? How can we adapt effectively to the evolving environment?

Memorable lessons

The day was a juicy mix of reality check, intellectual calisthenics, and new tools and techniques. A few more highlights:

• Margaret Jenkins, who leads the dance company bearing her name, has navigated through many recessions in 35 years of choreographing community-based dance programs. Her advice spans dance and business: “The only way to keep your balance is to move forward.”
• Perry Chen, CEO of Kickstarter, an online funding platform for artists and other inventors, makes it clear that artists need to make a pointed ask. When artists ask “can you help me?” they will get some response. When they ask “can you help me do X?” they will get a better response. And when they ask “can you help me do X, for which you will get Y?” they get the best response. Donors want to invest in a particular project and outcome, and many really appreciate gaining something (even simple recognition or a pin or a free ticket) in return.
• Philip Huang, founder of Dana Street Theater, and a grantee of the East Bay Community Foundation Fund for Artists, put Perry Chen’s principles to work in a highly animated fashion, making an unexpected bid for arts funding from conference attendees. His new project is street theatre pantomime to be performed in the middle of the night, in view of people working out on the other side of the window in 24-hour exercise facilities. It’s titled Witness to Fitness. Philip’s spontaneous pitch raised nearly $200 of his $300 project funding goal. The trick behind his animated description of the project, his up-front response to questions from the crowd (Q: “Why are you doing this piece.” A: “Art doesn’t need to have a reason.”) and his unabashed request to be “showered with money” is simple. “Thrill yourself,” says Philip, “and the money will come.”

A recurring theme, brought home by several speakers, is the need to always have “faith in our stories.” Artists and arts organization leaders need to keep their stories relevant to donor interests, even if it is a small set of donors who have real interest in the art experience offered, and to make it easy for these donors to become part of the stories. As Perry Chen commented on the colorful and engaging pitch made by Philip Huang, many of those in the audience “will tell this story tonight,” and those who contributed to his art will feel they have “a special place in it.”

Visit the conference website for more information.

The San Francisco Foundation and East Bay Community Foundation are part of Communities Advancing the Arts, a major funding initiative of The James Irvine Foundation.

Talk about a multiplier effect: Here’s how two community foundations leveraged private foundation dollars to seed a four-city partnership for the arts. It’s an equation worth knowing in regions where acting together is the better path for growing a vibrant, sustainable arts landscape.The action takes place in the East Bay, where the cities of Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland and Richmond have distinct art scenes. According to mayors Tom Bates, Richard Kassis, Ron Dellums and Gayle McLaughlin, “The East Bay is a region of widely diverse cultural backgrounds. Our arts and culture reflect the region’s demographics.”

By the numbers

The East Bay contains:

• More than 6,000 professional artists
• One of the nation’s largest per capita collections of public art
• A depth and variety of art styles that mirror the diversity of the region—more than 150 languages are spoken in the area; many times that number of culturally specific art forms are practiced
• Hundreds of non-profit visual arts, music, dance, theater, multi-disciplinary and arts education organizations—from established international institutions to start-up neighborhood programs

From culturally specific traditional art forms to edgy and experimental expressions, this geography yields an astonishing array of art. The new four-city collaboration is well founded in promoting “world culture in the east bay.”

Out front and online

The East Bay Cultural Corridor is being marketed as 510Arts. (510 is the telephone area code for the region.) The partner cities worked together to build 510Arts.com as a gateway to arts in Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland and Richmond. The website establishes a unified identity for all East Bay arts, and provides easy pathways to information about each city’s arts sector and happenings.

Organizations and artists submit information to their respective city arts agency to get placed online. The website is off to a hot start, with artists and arts leaders throughout the East Bay wanting to make sure they are a recognized part of 510Arts.

The website and overall 510Arts brand—including posters and materials that arts organizations can incorporate in their local marketing—were publicly launched through a media event featuring the mayors of all four cities, as well as the funders who made this collaboration possible.

The back story

Arts campaigns are not always easy to make happen. The same can be said for municipal collaborations, public/private partnerships, and foundation/government alliances. Yet all these elements are in the East Bay Cultural Corridor equation.

And the catalysts are two community foundations. East Bay Community Foundation and The San Francisco Foundation are collegial program champions for Bay Area arts. With funding support from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC), and The James Irvine Foundation, and drawing on credibility developed through years of good work with local governments, these community foundations convened arts leaders from the four cities and facilitated a joint planning process.

“We believe collaborations and partnerships are not merely desirable, but are necessary in a world where limited resources must be leveraged for maximum impact,” reported Nicole Taylor, President and Chief Executive Officer of the East Bay Community Foundation. “Through this collaboration, we intend to throw a spotlight on the amazing richness of arts resources in these four East Bay cities.”

The process called for equal parts patience and persistence. All players needed to determine their level of comfort with, and assess their level of responsibility in, a collaborative effort. And each needed to in turn work through its own internal processes—which included gaining inputs and support from city administrators, elected officials, and community arts groups and leaders.

Steadily, the process gained momentum. A critical step was defining and having each mayor literally sign off on a formal set of operating principles for the collaboration.

A public declaration for the arts

It’s a terrific example for use in any potential arts collaborative—and for municipal arts partnerships in particular. 

It begins with a preamble, including making a direct connect between local arts and economic progress. Some excerpts…

We, the Mayors of the cities of Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland and Richmond have come together to state our strong commitment to strengthening the regional economy through creating the East Bay Cultural Corridor.

The intention is to heighten awareness of our cultural landscape, deepen the impact of the arts on their cities, and further the sustainability of artists and arts organizations through arts marketing, economic development and cultural tourism.

The arts drive economies. Creating sustainable arts communities is good business.

From individual artists working and teaching in communities to nationally recognized theatres and museums, the East Bay provides arts experiences that make the area a regional cultural treasure. Its arts presence has contributed to urban development, has a positive impact on local businesses, and has the potential for creating more viable and sustainable communities.

The document goes on to express a purpose for the corridor; two excerpts stand out:

The arts culture in each partner city has different components, different strengths, and different ways in which it interacts with the larger community. This collaboration between these cities was created in recognition of this, and the knowledge that working together creates opportunity for a cultural presence with wider impact than each city could have individually.

We see this partnership as the beginning of a wider regional collaboration between government, arts and culture, and business in the years to come.

Next come five objectives that codify the win/win nature of this collaboration (each is further described in the full document):

1. Create a Relationship Between the Diverse Arts Communities of Each City
2. Leverage New Audiences and Resources for the Arts
3. Increase the Visibility, Accessibility and Sustainability of Arts Communities
4. Leverage New Resources for Each Partner City
5. Benefit Local Businesses Through Partnerships with the Arts, Regionally and Locally

Finally, a set of “principles of partnership” explicitly set out the expectations for each city—ranging from agreement that each has equal representation in the process to acknowledging that each has responsibility for completing its assigned activities in a joint work plan to launch and sustain the collaboration. See the full document here.

A happy beginning

Three of the mayors, as well as executive leaders for the foundations that sponsored this partnership, were center stage in a media event introducing the East Bay Cultural Corridor and 510Arts.com.

The good feeling among players, and high hopes for long-term success, were evident. “The San Francisco Foundation is honored to join forces with the East Bay Community Foundation, our sister funders, and the cities of Berkeley, Oakland, Emeryville and Richmond, to lift up the importance of arts and culture in the Bay Area,” commented CEO Sandra R. Hernández. “We look forward to the diverse fruits of this creative partnership.”

Media coverage was positive, leading people to 510.arts.com and emphasizing the cities’ shared goal of increasing the visibility, accessibility and sustainability of their arts communities.

Plus, the commitment—and structure—for the long term is in place. The four-city leadership group convened by the community foundations is now meeting on a monthly basis, and developing a regional advisory group made up of artists and nonprofit arts leaders, to steer the effort into the future.

Most meetings take place at the East Bay Community Foundation—a welcoming and productive place for multiplying the impact of individual actions.

East Bay Community Foundation and The San Francisco Foundation are participants in Communities Advancing the Arts, a major funding initiative of The James Irvine Foundation.

This is the story of what a community—even one facing economic and social issues—can do to stake a claim for arts, and of how a community foundation can spark this public commitment.

California’s challenges are visible in its capital, where images of a tent city housing hundreds displaced by the economic downturn make international news.

Sacramento Region Community Foundation is active on many fronts to address human needs at this time of crisis, and has made a point of keeping arts very much in the mix of its local leadership agenda. The community foundation sponsored a series of high-profile spring events through its Advancing Sacramento Arts initiative, including a lively discussion with Michael Kaiser, President of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In front of a packed house at a local performing arts venue, Michael was interviewed by a local arts leader.

Ten tips from an arts turnaround expert

Michael spoke to over 200 arts leaders, drawing on his experience and writing to share insights on how arts organizations can survive—even thrive—in a down economy. In a nutshell, here are his ten basic rules for every turnaround:

1. Someone must lead.
2. The leader must have a plan.
3. You cannot “save” your way to health.
4. Focus on today and tomorrow, not yesterday.
5. Extend your programming planning calendar.
6. Marketing is more than brochures and advertisements.
7. There must be only one spokesman and the message must be positive.
8. Fundraising must focus on the larger donor, but don’t aim too high.
9. The board must allow itself to be restructured.
10. The organization must have the discipline to follow each of these rules.

View the entire 90 minute event, including Michael’s complete message, by watching this video.

Connecting with public interest

One of the invitees to this event was new Sacramento mayor, Kevin Johnson. Michael Kaiser’s message immediately resonated with the mayor’s vision for the city—causing him to adjust his calendar to spend more time at this community event. Shortly thereafter, Mayor Johnson announced an initiative titled For Art’s Sake—establishing arts as a vital plank in the platform for making Sacramento a world-class city.

The mayor has proceeded to form a multi-sector coalition for the arts, to name a liaison to the arts community, and to initiate a popular and well-publicized process for creating new relationships and programs supporting the arts. He cites both the economic and cultural contributions of the arts. “Performing arts, visual arts and literary arts—we need all three to reach the potential of what Sacramento can be,” the mayor said in his speech. “Our commitment: We are going to promote the arts in a real way.”

Sacramento Region Community Foundation is at the table with the mayor and area leaders, finding ways to help strengthen For Art’s Sake while seeking ways to link it to programming and donor interests.

For the community foundation, it’s all about leverage—and leadership.

Sacramento Region Community Foundation is a participant in Communities Advancing the Arts, a major funding initiative of The James Irvine Foundation.

Where is art? Thanks to SparkOC.com, that’s a question of the past for cultural consumers in Orange County. The area’s arts council and community foundation teamed to create a one-stop info source for area residents and visitors.

This website is a central element in a larger strategy to celebrate and stimulate creativity throughout Orange County—a place where 64 percent of residents say that they or their family members create or participate in arts (research report).

This comprehensive vehicle features a searchable calendar of arts events; a directory of local organizations, venues and schools; classified listings for jobs, auditions and classes; and individual artist profiles. As part of the Artsopolis Network, it’s in a growing movement to effectively promote local arts and culture via the internet.

Something for everyone

SparkOC.com is a go-to place for all performance and exhibition information. It promotes theatre, dance, music and visual arts offered by more than 140 organizations and venues in Orange County. Online users also can find activities based on their interests in youth and family activities; classes and workshops; poetry and literature; festivals; events unique to Orange County, including History and Heritage, Science and Nature; and free public shows in all categories.

In addition, the site includes listings of special events and fundraising galas offered by arts and culture organizations, as well as weekly half-price ticket offers available exclusively through SparkOC.com.

“The goal of SparkOC.com is to inspire a groundswell of creativity and imagination throughout Orange County by increasing involvement with the arts,” said Richard Stein, executive director of Arts Orange County, which, together with the Orange County Community Foundation, developed the site. “SparkOC.com allows everyone to be in the know about the Orange County arts scene.”

SparkOC.com was developed in response to a landmark 2006 Cultural Indicators study   commissioned by Arts Orange County and the Orange County Community Foundation which found that 92% of residents agree on the importance of a vibrant cultural sector in the community, and that most said they would go to more arts and cultural events if they could find the information easily.

Orange County Community Foundation is a participant in Communities Advancing the Arts, a major funding initiative of The James Irvine Foundation.

Who knew? A surprising 64 percent of residents say that they or their family members create or participate in arts. It’s a fact that shows the value of research, and it came from the Orange County Cultural Indicators Report, this community’s first-ever study of arts giving and donor perceptions. The study was conducted by the Orange County Community Foundation and Arts Orange County. The attached report describes resident values and behavioral drivers related to the arts. It includes the case for investing in a creative community, a review of the research findings summarized below, and a set of recommendations for advancing the arts and culture sector.

Key findings

1. Orange County residents agree on the importance of a vibrant cultural sector in Orange County and recognize the social and personal benefits of the arts: 64 percent revealed that they or their immediate family members actively create or participate in the arts.
2. A deepening relationship with the arts leads to attendance and financial investment. Research reinforced that early or informal family involvement in the arts are the strongest drivers for future attendance.
3. The county’s nonprofit arts sector is young and undercapitalized. Seventy-five percent of local arts organizations were founded in the last 35 years.
4. Orange County residents place a high priority on the importance of the arts in the development and education of children. A remarkable 98 percent of residents agree that arts are critical for the education and development of children.
5. Orange County has a unique set of cultural assets that tells the story of the county’s cultural history and creates the cultural face it presents to the world. The County of Orange and its 34 cities have the capability to leverage these cultural assets to help create a unique sense of place for Orange County residents and visitors.
6. Leadership at all levels will be required to make Orange County a more creative community. These leaders can be bolstered by evidence of community support: 92 percent of residents agree on the importance of a vibrant cultural sector in Orange County.

This activity was conducted as part of Communities Advancing the Arts, a major funding initiative of The James Irvine Foundation.

While lots of communities want to build a creative economy, too few are able to pull everyone together around a plan. Not so in Monterey County, where collaboration, research and dialogue led to a countywide blueprint for collective action. The process was led by the Community Foundation for Monterey County in tandem with the Arts Council for Monterey County. And it produced the first comprehensive approach to advancing local arts and culture.

Seeing the big picture

The attached report states the case for investing in a creative economy. It then presents goals, recommended strategies, and a timeline for implementing an action plan to advance this creative economy over a five-year period. It addresses the role of arts and culture in community life, makes a case for increased donor support to sustain arts and culture as part of a vibrant region, and describes an approach for increasing cultural patronage. It includes a review of local demographic trends pertinent to the arts.

Purpose and goals

The purpose of this planning was three-fold:

1. To guide actions of and collaborations among artists, arts agencies and arts educators regarding research, program development and public awareness
2. To guide public and private investment, including an array of short-term and long-term loans, grants and earned revenues
3. To guide the Arts Council for Monterey County in leading countywide research, planning, advocacy and support

Four goals resulted from this process:

• Develop greater participation in Monterey County’s culture and creative activities by residents and visitors
• Build and strengthen the creative industries as a major economic cluster in the region
• Make effective use of arts, culture and creative opportunities to promote vibrant and healthy communities, including education and workforce development
• Develop visible support mechanisms to nurture and promote arts, culture and creativity

This planning activity was conducted as part of Communities Advancing the Arts, a major funding initiative of The James Irvine Foundation.

A new study helps answer the old question: What do arts bring to communities? It documents the economic impact of the nonprofit arts and culture industry, and covers 156 communities and regions representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The study was conducted by Americans for the Arts. It includes diverse communities, both rural and urban, ranging from four thousand to three million people.

The attached study focuses solely on nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their audiences and excludes spending by individual artists and the for-profit arts and entertainment sector. The two largest U.S. cities, New York and Los Angeles, each with more than $1 billion in organizational expenditures, were excluded from this study to avoid inflating the national estimates.

Arts are big business…with big benefits

America’s nonprofit arts and culture industry generates $166.2 billion in economic activity every year—$63.1 billion in spending by organizations and an additional $103.1 billion in event-related spending by audiences. The national impact of this activity is significant, supporting 5.7 million jobs and generating $29.6 billion in government revenue.

The impact of spending by nonprofit arts and culture organizations is far reaching; they pay their employees, purchase supplies, and acquire assets within the local community. Additionally, unlike most industries, nonprofit arts and culture leverage significant event-related spending by their audience. Whether serving the local community or out-of-town visitors, a vibrant arts and culture industry helps local businesses thrive.

Less public support for arts is the trend in many communities. Monterey County has reversed the pattern. Here is a happy story of increased commitment to arts by a local government, and of collaboration between a community foundation and arts council to make it happen. It begins in the context of public sector budgets.

Monterey County, like virtually all local governments in California, has faced severe financial pressures in recent years. In response to these challenges, county funding of the Arts Council declined from a 2003/04 high of more than $500,000 to less than $95,000 in 2006/07.

Based on continued budget concerns, county staff’s recommendation for 2007/08 funding was $120,000.

A winning combination

Working in tandem, the Arts Council of Monterey County and the Community Foundation for Monterey County engaged the County Board of Supervisors to revisit this recommendation. By emphasizing the vital role of arts and culture in economic development (Monterey continues to be a hot spot for national festivals as well as a welcome home for emerging and established artists) and in quality of life (for current residents plus those considering locating to the region), these community leaders helped the Board of Supervisors rethink the emphasis given arts in the county budget.

The result: an increase in funding to more than $300,000 for 2007/08.

Even better, the Supervisors committed to restore and revitalize the historic formula (abandoned in recent years) for ensuring that arts have significant support from the county’s coffers.

According to Paulette Lynch, Executive Director of the Arts Council for Monterey County, the visible involvement of the community foundation was essential to helping county leaders understand the broad-reaching impact of the arts, as well as the value of investing in a creative economy. Following the Board of Supervisors’ action, her note to community foundation colleagues concluded, “Thanks to you all, the arts are back on track in Monterey County and poised to take a leadership role in the creative economy.”

The Community Foundation for Monterey County is a participant in Communities Advancing the Arts, a major funding initiative of The James Irvine Foundation.