In a time when the economy is drastically changing, many arts groups are feeling the pinch. Government funding for the arts at the local, state, and national levels is often one of the first things to be cut when budgets are shrinking, but the arts remain an important and vital part of our society, community, culture, and economy. As is discussed in The Arts Ripple Effect, many in the community use the argument that while the arts are nice to have, they are not necessary. On top of the declining financial support for the arts, many business and civil leaders in the community are criticizing the funds that are spent on the arts. Long story short, many of our public leaders are not promoting a broader sense of responsibility for the arts. Perhaps because they do not understand how arts organizations function or truly how much work goes into creating, producing, funding, and providing art.
In New York City, there is an organization called the New York City Arts Coalition. This organization is "a membership network of arts professionals and arts supporters organized for education, advocacy and public policy development in the nonprofit arts field." NYCAC currently represents over 200 non-profit arts organizations and is governed by members of these arts organizations. The coalition "promotes a broad awareness of the arts in the life of the city. It encourages leaders and elected officials to protect the creative freedom of the arts community and to support adequate appropriations for the arts in the city, state, and federal budgets." The group believes that "public funding for the arts is essential to the growth, diversity, and freedom of our communities. Works of art show us new ways of seeing and feeling, reveal who we are and who we might be. The availability of government funds ensures the creation and exhibition of all forms of art, independent of market trends."
One of the many successful initiatives that this group has managed to implement is a program called "Artist for A Day." This program takes civil leaders, business men and women, and influential community members into the city's most innovative arts organizations to see what happens behind the scenes at these arts organizations before tickets are sold or doors opened for admission. They speak with arts leaders about how they function day to day with minimal staff and funding, all while providing the arts to the NYC community and a vital boost to it's economy.
I think that the city of Cincinnati would greatly benefit from a similar program. Many of our community leaders (business and civil) do not have enough personal involvement in the arts during their lifetime to fully understand the impact that they can have on a community. I also believe that there is a misconception among some (not all) leaders about the difficulty and amount of work that arts organizations must push through in order to see a successful end product. By implementing a public initiative to actively involve community leaders in our arts organizations, we can allow them to see first hand the ripple effect that the arts have in our community.
My proposal? To implement a mandatory program for members of City Council that would require them to to experience a particular arts organization for several days over the course of a quarter, production time, or year. A single day is not nearly enough time to truly appreciate how an arts organization functions or to see the true impact it is having on the community. It is currently too easy for our leaders to put the arts on the back burner and get wrapped up in fighting the same political issues we've been struggling with for years. While this initiative may be difficult to implement for business leaders (perhaps this could be something based on a voluntary basis for them?), I do think it is something that should be adopted by the City Council as a requirement for all members, and is also something that could be implemented with little or no cost to the city. This initiative would force an open dialogue between City Council members and arts leaders, foster relationships between the City Council and the community, and allow the city's leaders to truly see firsthand the positive ripple effect that the arts have on the Cincinnati community.
http://www.nycityartscoalition.org/artistforaday.html
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