Americans for the Arts

The increasing globalisation and interconnectedness of our societies and our economies means that the trends here in the UK and those in US are not wholly different from each other. Consumers on both sides of the Atlantic are becoming increasingly demanding, culturally literate and media savvy. To engage with such customers and to retain their loyalty, businesses must create meaningful consumer experiences which, in turn, require those businesses to be more authentic, trustworthy and transparent.

This, we believe, is changing the nature and scope of the relationship between the private sector and the arts. The appetite within businesses in the UK to engage with the arts is still strong, as they recognise both the direct and indirect benefits of doing so (cultural attendances increased by 12% in 08/09), although obviously the financial level at which they are able to commit is being challenged by the current economy climate (with a decrease of 6% in business investment to the arts in 08/09).

To maintain this, however, we need to continually explore new ways in which the business and arts sectors can work together.

I was inspired to connect the dots by John Cloys’ “Big Thing$ Come in Small Packages” and Mark Brewer’s “Finding Passionate Art Investors.” The challenge for the arts community is that we are currently caught in the “in-between.” Most institutions are trapped between the old fundraising techniques that we’ve practiced for the past thirty years and younger givers used to the new technologies of cyberspace.  We are “in-between” the generational gap of traditional donors who want their names on projects and buildings and a younger generation that wants to be totally involved and make community change with cell phones and ipods in hand.

One of our challenges is to position traditional arts institutions not as “entitlements for giving” but as agents for community development, cultural growth and economic expansion. This means a change in operations, marketing and programs. Younger, leaner, and more “hip” organizations may have the upper hand in their appeal to the new generation of givers. Ethnic-centric organizations have the ability to promote cultural diversity and understanding through their art that appeals to a generation that has grown up with a better reality of how our communities have changed.

Sometimes I think the arts and business are -- to paraphrase George Bernard Shaw -- two constituencies divided by a common language.  Both seek community health and vitality, both want to enable and encourage a better quality of life for citizens and neighbors but arts rhetoric centered on intrinsic arguments often crashes into the reality that the majority of our fellow citizens do not focus on the arts in their daily lives and our “soft sounding” arguments about the importance of art to a “well lived life” do not persuade our neighbors the arts are a public responsibility of a functioning society.  Arts’ instrumental arguments are rarely more effective, often stumbling on competition with other more compelling ideas about how to bolster an economy.

Although no one is specifically “anti-arts” many assumptions and misperceptions undermine our effectiveness in building public will to support the arts and the sector. Fighting against a shared civic responsibility to support the arts are deeply held public opinions such as: the arts are a product or experience to be purchased and should compete, succeed or fail, in the marketplace of “entertainment” options. Many feel the arts are a “private choice” -- why should the many pay to support the tastes of the few?

Everyone is feeling the pinch of the recession. In our small community in Northeastern North Carolina, as well as the rest of the nation, we are faced daily with headlines of higher unemployment and other general discouraging news. We’ve lost hundreds of jobs in the paper and automotive industries, banking and tourism industries have been severely impacted, and we hear of increasing numbers of our people needing assistance from food banks in our region. That said, in North Carolina, a gradual shift is taking place as we once again reinvent ourselves to face the new global economy–an economy where creativity and innovation will provide the competitive edge to our future global competitiveness.  

First, John Killacky, I’m so jealous that you blogged from and about Salzburg, birthplace of Mozart and imaginary home of the Von Trapps. Second, I sensed a thread through many of the rich posts—notably Margy Waller’s and Barry Hessenius’—about the importance of telling an arts story that resonates and is relevant to listeners.

What is the connection between Salzburg and The Hurt Locker?  I believe it’s about authenticity and identity.