Collaboration with Non-Arts Groups Good for the Arts

The Minnesota Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, which has been mentioned in several posts, recently launched Legacy Destination weekends that will be held throughout the year to showcase projects and organizations that have received funding through the amendment. Each month, one community in the state will feature activities such as arts performances, fishing tournaments, tours of historic buildings and towns, trail walks, and other activities held by organizations that have been supported by the amendment. The weekends, which are being organized by Minnesota Citizens for the Arts, Conservation Minnesota, Explore Minnesota Tourism and local community groups, are an opportunity to celebrate the amendment and also showcase how the fund has helped improve the state’s outdoors and arts and cultural assets.

While the amendment is still in its infancy, having been passed in 2008, there is still the need for public awareness to show how the funds have been used to benefit the state so far. This comes at a time when Minnesota is facing a $6.2 billion budget deficit and legislators are looking for any ways they can to fill the gap – including impeding on the Legacy Amendment (despite the wording of the law that says amendment funds “must supplement traditional sources of funding for these purposes and may not be used as a substitute”). While this is a serious concern, the good news is that there are many different types of stakeholders who came together to pass this amendment and who would be willing to defend it.

Minnesota’s Legacy Amendment is a good example of how to bring together multiple interest groups to help reach a common goal – supporting the organizations and projects that make a place special. This is why several Ohio organizations are looking at doing the same type of thing in the state. And this same type of collaboration can be used in Cincinnati’s discussions on how to brand the city – it can’t just be about the arts or baseball or the parks or Fountain Square. But it can be all of these and more.

When talking about what makes a place unique, it seems that arts messages have a better chance of being heard when they are built into a larger dialogue with other types of advocates (whether it be the environmental folks or historical supporters or others). Ohio seems to be on the right track and hopefully Cincinnati will take note.

Sources:
http://exploreminnesota.com/travel-ideas/legacy/index.aspx

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/statewide/archive/2011/02/legislators-eye-legacy-fund-to-balance-budget.shtml

http://www.theamendment.org