Americans for the Arts

In our 21^st century digital world, the power of storytelling has become platinum currency that many corporations use to address intractable and large scale issues. Recent findings from the Animating Democracy program of Americans for the Arts suggest that arts organizations now have a chance to reinvent corporate partnerships and engage new audiences by fully engaging corporate marketing, communication, and evaluation resources.

Corporate layoffs, limited cash resources, and employees eager to volunteer are changing the models and metrics for support of the arts. This quest for greater social impact is leading to innovative, nontraditional arts programming everywhere. At the same time, the complex, cross-cutting challenges facing local and global communities are generating more interaction between disparate cultural, economic, and social groups.

CODAworx is a global, online community that is the first of its kind -  serving as an artists' LinkedIn, made for the commissioned art world. We support public art because it is an investment that creates more significant, long-term value for the community. 

CODAworx represents not only artists, but everyone collaborating on private and public art projects: architects, interior designers, fabricators, photographers… and most recently, building developers and a Rotary Club! Our passion at CODAworx lies in bringing the arts community together in one place, connecting them with the resources needed to create amazing art projects, and showcasing those projects to the world.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? We all know the answer to this old chestnut but there’s a reason why the joke persists.

After spending a lot of time considering how we might use our skills as artists to provide do something of value beyond amplifying the voices of others (through advocacy, marketing, design, etc.) my brother and I launched a consultancy, Another Limited Rebellion, focused on the creative development of individuals and organizations. What does that mean? 

BCA National Survey of Business Support for the Arts 2013

In addition to measuring the dollars spent by businesses in support of the arts, as well as the types of companies doing the supporting, the 2013 BCA Survey of Business Support for the Arts delved into the motivations and goals of businesses when considering partnerships with the arts.

As much as we may want to focus on why businesses do support the arts when trying to build strategic partnerships with them, the reasons why they typically don’t support the arts will never go away if we don’t address them head-on. Fortunately, a lot of the reasons businesses choose not to support the arts can be amended by starting open communication with companies that historically have not shown interest in supporting our sector. Many times, this is because they don’t know how the arts can benefit the company and its employees, and not because the arts are not perceived as useful to society. (It’s also important to remember that 66% of organizations in the survey stated that they have never been asked to support the arts).

Mark Shugoll

A little Broadway trivia: What "role" have Broadway superstars Patti LuPone, Kristin Chenoweth, Audra McDonald, Sutton Foster and Kelli O'Hara all played? Answer: they've all played the "role" of guest actors through ArtSpeak!, a program created, produced, and underwritten by Shugoll Research to bring Broadway stars into public schools.

ArtSpeak! will be starting its 18th year in Washington, D.C. area schools this September when Patti LuPone appears at Blake High School in Silver Spring, Maryland. Ms LuPone will be interviewed about her career on stage in Blake's high school auditorium, answer student questions, sign autographs and, best of all, sing three songs. Can you imagine if multi-Tony Award winner Patti LuPone performed in your high school?

Laura Bruney

 

This interview by Laura Bruney of the Arts & Business Council of Miami was originally published August 11, 2014 on their blog, www.artsbizmiami.org/ArtsBizBlog. Laura interviewed Matt Haggman, Miami Program Director at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

When talking entrepreneurialism, innovation, and Miami, all roads lead to Matt Haggman. As Miami Program Director for Knight Foundation, he is a visionary that is facilitating the growth of a technology and start-up boom in our community. His change-making leadership can be seen in the success of programs, collaborations, mentorships and shared workspaces flourishing in the past year. This power player shares a bit of his creative insight with us in the below interview.