arts & business council

MetLife Foundation National Arts Forums Series

Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund
Atlanta, Georgia

Strategic Alliances for the Arts: Innovative Collaborations
03/29/2004

Moderator: Lisa Cremin, Director, Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund, Atlanta, GA

Panelists:

• Thomas B. Schorgl, President and CEO, Community Partnership for Arts & Culture (CPAC), Cleveland, OH
• Bill Nigut, Executive Director, Metropolitan Atlanta Arts & Culture Coalition (MAACC), Atlanta, GA

The "Innovative Collaborations" forum examined general policy issues associated with the development of strategic alliances for the arts by focusing on issues connected with building multicounty arts alliances. The seven-year-old Community Partnership for Arts & Culture (CPAC), based in Cleveland, OH, and the recently founded Metropolitan Atlanta Arts & Culture Coalition (MAACC) served as examples. In line with the stated purpose of the National Arts Forum Series, this forum attempted to "help arts organizations address tough issues and learn from each other."

CPAC President and CEO Thomas B. Schorgl and MAACC Executive Director Bill Nigut described the two communities’ process to build strategic regional partnerships:

• It is a lengthy process. In Ohio it took nearly three years to ascertain the ultimate purpose of the organization; in Atlanta the process is in its first year.
• The arts community is not necessarily or immediately accepting. Schorgl reported that in Ohio he encountered a "hesitant and somewhat suspicious arts and cultural sector." Nigut said he has found "pockets of resistance" and some skepticism in arts organizations that asked: "Why are you regional?" "Why is the business community involved?" "Why do you think you understand the arts’ needs?" "Why should I trust you?"
• Ohio’s leadership for the process came from a coalition of small, medium, large, and extra large arts organizations who were "expected to work together;" individual artists; private-sector leaders from foundations, manufacturing, and service corporations; clergy; union leaders; and appointed and elected public officers from the seven-county area. In Atlanta, a task force of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce formed to find a better way to support the arts in a multicounty setting.
• The effort in both communities was not cheap. The process leading to CPAC’s regional plan, enacted in 2000, cost $750,000.

As the result of a survey in Ohio, CPAC developed a docket of goals, objectives, and strategies. Most of these could be met by existing organizations with the exception of four functional needs, common across the seven counties: Public Policy (working with municipal governments), Communications (public relations), Capacity Building (formerly known as technical assistance), and Research (information developed for use by arts institutions and artists alike). These four functions became the reason for CPAC’s continued work. MAACC too continues to solidify its core competencies, citing efforts at communications, strategic planning, capacity building, and research.

Schorgl concluded, "Anyone who believes you can develop a set of standardized policies and corresponding implementation strategies that will neatly serve every city or county government is out of touch with reality. The policy that works in one jurisdiction does not necessarily work in another jurisdiction."