We've noticed a lot of chatter about finding a new way to talk about what we're passionate about. We all want a value proposition that works to create support for the arts.

We followed the long exchange on the artsjournal pages and noticed that Michael Kaiser put it on his wish list for the holidays. And of course, this conversation is designed to answer the question:  how do we make the case for supporting the arts in 2010? What is the message that works with private sector supporters?

We understand this interest—and we share it. My blogs this week will offer a research-based answer.

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.  

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.

This debate is very timely.

Here in the UK we are rapidly approaching a General Election in which the overarching theme is likely to be how and where the next government makes the cuts necessary in public expenditure to balance the budget. For the arts, the impending cuts have led to a growing debate about how the private sector can play an even more significant role and, in doing so, fill the resulting funding gap. Only a few days ago, the leading opposition party called for the arts in the UK to look across to the US and adopt their approach of endowment funding. But while we look to you, one imagines many US arts organisations are looking back to us in envy at the perceived level of public funding of the arts here.

The Cultural Alliance of York’s campaign has been active since the beginning of January. Our increases are coming from our Marquis Society, a leadership giving initiative. The corporate contributions remain flat or decreased/declined. Since the alliance began as a corporate United Arts Fund, we are so glad we slowly moved to leadership giving.

We began the Marquis initiative after a few individuals wanted to donate early on when we were strictly a corporate ask and our partner agencies said “take the money.” Over the past few years, as our corporate CEO’s retired, the notion of a place for them to continue giving to our campaign turned into leadership giving.

As the late Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill said famously, “all politics are local.” Could this be a lesson for the arts sector? I was interested in a recent article in The New York Times on February 17th about the formidable Huntington Theater in Boston which is charting a new course to become more relevant to its neighbors. Artistic Director, Peter DuBois noted – “The fact is, the artistic and business models of the regional theaters in the 20th century are over, given the costs of creating theater and the competition for people’s time, so I needed to rethink our relationship with our home community.  To thrive we need a theater with work and audiences that look more like the city of Boston in terms of class, age, race, background. And you have to talk to people here to learn how to do that.”

Maybe that’s our answer for this arts-challenged time, listen first, then talk and make sure you speak the local dialect.

I picked the topic title above from the list provided by Americans for the Arts because I don’t believe what it suggests is necessarily true.

We have seen some clear changes in program direction and focus from a handful of large and visible private foundations. The Ford Foundation is probably the poster-child for this topic. The bulk of these program changes have been the result of long-term planning efforts and/or changes in leadership, and not responses to the economy. The fact that some of these announcements coincided with the recession has muddied the waters a bit.

At the same time, we are also seeing both new foundations with a strong commitment to the arts come online, and program shifts in private foundations that strengthen the position of the arts and artists in their priorities.

It is also problematic to define “trends” from observations of activity among foundations. By and large, they communicate very little with each other (despite the efforts of GIA and others) and decisions are made independently and privately. While we look at the field of arts funders as a group, each is guided in their funding priorities by their individual missions, and those missions were often established a generation or more ago. In many important ways, foundations that fund the arts are more diverse and eclectic in their approaches than they are similar.

Recently I was interviewed for a piece on the Keep Arts in Schools website and thought it might be useful to adapt that conversation for this blog conversation. The focus was on the establishment (ore re-establishment) of my office and the specific case-making needed to support the value of arts education from a public policy perspective. I am going to focus here just on my comments about case-making, but encourage people to check out the full interview.

The cultural sector benefits from strong support among elected officials. Mayor Michael Nutter - my boss - was elected in 2007 on a campaign platform that included a strong commitment to arts and culture. This support is also shared by City Council, which ultimately must vote on the cultural budget as part of the overall City budget. The Philadelphia business community is strongly supportive of the arts, but like many other cities has lost most of our corporate headquarters as a result of mergers and consolidation. We have strong support from most of the companies that are headquartered here, as well as from regional headquarters of companies based elsewhere.

Business understands that a thriving cultural sector and creative economy helps them attract and retain workers. It makes this a city where their employees want to live and work, and also fosters the creativity that is increasingly important in business. This does not mean there isn't always more work to be done educating political and business leaders - it is a continual task.

A story – sometime in the early 1970’s when I was the managing director of a non-profit theatre, a group of us were sitting around during a LORT or TCG meeting bemoaning the high cost of producing a Shakespeare – too many actor salaries, AEA restrictions on non-members, and so on. We even complained, probably following an adult beverage or two, that even the ghost of Hamlet’s father probably needed and equity contract.

One comment led to another and since science fiction and special effects were beginning to actually become real tools, the idea of the ghost as a hologram was put forth.  Yes holograms were static, fuzzy, and still mostly unknown but we did not let that sidetrack us.

Then the brainstorm!!  What if holographic technology were really practical. Let your imagine feast on this. 25 different theatres allover the country would collaborate on a major Shakespeare play. Each theatre would hire only one actor (cost saving there, eh!). The production would take place simultaneously in all cities and in each theatre every character save one would be a hologram!! And the audience would not be able to tell the real from the virtual. Now that’s disintermediation!

In January, The San Francisco Foundation and Grants for the Arts, with support from The Wallace Foundation, hosted a daylong Dynamic Adaptability Conference.  Over 700 community members attended, learning from creative thinkers from the arts, neuroscience, business, media, and philanthropy. Neuroscientist Jonah Lehrer encouraged us to reclaim our value proposition and have faith in our stories.  His research on meta-cognition drew upon many examples of artists.  Lehrer also stressed the importance of building in periods of relaxation as part of the creative process, cautioning when people get too focused on solving a particular problem, this often results in being ‘locked in’. James Rucker from Color of Change and Hugo Morales from Radio Bilingüe called for rethinking relationships to audiences and donors and forming deeper and more authentic connections to communities.  Merely broadcasting invitations isn’t enough in the socially engaged, interactive, high-touch, and multi-platform online environment.

Responding to the economic meltdown last year, the San Francisco Foundation downsized and began reconsidering what a community foundation needs to be in the present environment. As a result of this rethinking, in addition to the arts portfolio, I now have multiple tasks including managing programs for LGBT organizations, diversity in philanthropy, and a new initiative supporting mergers, closures, joint ventures, and back office collaborations. During this process of transition, I found myself having to be comfortable with ambiguity, as the importance of the arts was weighed in relation to the enormous safety net issues of food, clothing, shelter, job losses, and mortgage foreclosures. Funding cuts decimated education, health, and human services; the arts should not be exempt. Looking at any community holistically, an argument can be made for how essential arts and culture are to its vitality.  Yet, this can only be argued when a community has affordable housing, jobs, access to heath care, quality schools, parks, and libraries.  As the very tenets of civil society are being rewritten in the current recession, and the social safety net is ruptured, support for the arts is understandably imperiled.

Here in Portland, business giving to the arts has been in the news quite a bit lately. Our Business Journal reported that giving is down 33% since 2006, and isn’t likely to recover anytime soon. And a recent article in the Sunday Oregonian noted that large corporate gifts are becoming increasingly rare – not only due to the economy but also a lack of said corporations here; Portland has only two Fortune 500 companies, vs. oodles of small independent businesses.

These articles recommend that arts organizations scale their visions accordingly, recognizing that major visionary cultural projects may never be able to come to fruition. Some say that that’s not necessarily a bad idea, conforming toward our city’s strengths, anyway: progressive, smaller scale, more indie, and a bit quirky. When an arts reporter from New York comes to town, she’s not interested in our Sondheim or Tchaikovsky but rather the creative collaboration between cellos and local rock bands, or the way our ballet dancers are attracting hipsters to their performances at night clubs. These are the more unique aspects of Portland’s vibrant arts community, and programs like these are developing quite a grassroots following.

Are you sitting down?

If not, take a seat, but before you do, look at the chair.

Why did you choose that chair? Was it look, feel, comfort factor?

All of the above?

We like the way it looks. We love the way it feels.

That is exactly what art and design is all about.

That’s why it matters in today’s world. Now go to your window.

Open it. I want you to toss out the myth of the “starving artist.” And that’s what it is—a myth.

Artists and designers and other visual pioneers aren’t just leading us into the future, they are creating it right now. We have moved past the Industrial Age, through the Knowledge Age and into the Creative/Conceptual Age. This is the age in which art and design and the gamut of creativity set the parameters for our future, determining the bottom line in terms of economics. The bottom line has always, and will always be economics. But what drives the bottom line? That is what has shifted.

The Cultural Alliance is a United Arts Fund and, like everyone else, we struggle to be relevant and meaningful even during good times. In tough times like these, our challenge is greater–it is difficult to stand next to battered women or hungry babies and ask people to give to the arts. While we think it makes sense, it is not always an easy sell.

We did some research and found that during the great depression, the corporate community created the York Symphony Orchestra that still performs to this day. Their thinking, that symphonic music would help York survive terrible times, is a thought we embrace today.

It’s good for business if the community is one where people move to work and live. Businesses who feel they have a cultural or creative community to offer their employees will stay and/or relocate here. But in times when just keeping the doors open is a struggle, where is the value proposition for arts and culture.

In the past decade raising money from low-dollar online donations has nearly tripled and continues to steadily climb among generation Y. In this volatile economic environment it is important to engage and nourish young patrons to give, no matter how big or how small, and plant that seed for a sustainable and prosperous funding future. This series of blog posts will explore a few funding strategies using new media resources and online tools to engage young benefactors and make every penny count.

Following the recent success of the Haiti relief efforts, many organizations are looking to reciprocate these strategies in their own campaigns.  Raising over 20 million dollars, the American Red Cross was able to engage the American people in low-dollar giving using social media channels and a mobile texting campaign.  With the widespread adoption of social media in the private and public sectors, people’s ability to act and support communities in need like Haiti has only been increased.  One of the most effective and successful techniques in promoting your cause or product is to encourage your supporters and constituents to share a link or button to the donation page via website, blog, Facebook or Twitter status updates.  This is a quick and easy way to gain credibility (through re-posts and re-tweets) in your diverse networks while also creating a sense of urgency. 

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?

I’ve always said, “Money follows good ideas.” But, as we all know, that’s an oversimplification. We wish raising money was as simple as having a good idea, explaining that idea and waiting for the “investor” to respond, like pitching a movie script or TV pilot.

In reality, creative ideas drive the nonprofit arts sector but often, that’s not what gets us funding. While funders are attracted by inspirational and innovative ideas, what seals the grantmaking “deal” is often far from that big brilliant idea. It is organizational consistency, communication, and solid business practices that represent the maturity of the organization that will implement the creative project. But it’s even more than that. There are both internal and external forces at play.

Internally, an organization needs to have strong leadership with vision for the future and management skills for the present. The product must be unique and high quality. It’s very helpful to have enough depth in administrative staff to keep good records, write excellent grant applications and final reports with a program staff that understands evaluation.

From Wikipedia
In economics, disintermediation is the removal of intermediaries in a supply chain: "cutting out the middleman". Instead of going through traditional distribution channels, which had some type of intermediate (such as a distributor, wholesaler, broker, or agent), companies may now deal with every customer directly, for example via the Internet. One important factor is a drop in the cost of servicing customers directly.

Disintermediation initiated by consumers is often the result of high market transparency, in that buyers are aware of supply prices direct from the manufacturer. Buyers bypass the middlemen (wholesalers and retailers) in order to buy directly from the manufacturer and thereby pay less. Buyers can alternatively elect to purchase from wholesalers.”

Yes, indeed disintermediation has come to the arts.  Just consider the changes in arts consumerism on the broader scale:

Lately I've been saying, in conversations and speeches, that this is a time of great opportunity for the arts. People look at me like I'm crazy. How can there be any hope for the arts in the middle of the worst recession in 75 years? The difficult economic times have affected every aspect of our lives, personally and professionally. In general, there is a sense that we are losing ground while working even harder to catch up.  There doesn't seem to be an answer or a solution, or an end, to the myriad local and global problems we face.

So let me be clear - I agree that it's a terribly anxious and disquieting time for the arts, and for every person, every organization and business, and every community in this country. There are critical issues for the short term that we must all deal with. As director of a small nonprofit organization, I lie awake at night worrying just like everyone else. The rent demands to be paid, tomorrow (or actually, yesterday).  But, as important and as pressing as those short term issues are for us all, it's precisely because the times are extraordinary that it's a time of great opportunity for the arts.  We must turn focus and vision to the long-term opportunities ahead for the arts, and for all of us, locally and globally. The 21st century world demands new ways of thinking and doing. So what's going to get us out of the mess we're in?  Creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship-all qualities inherent in and integral to arts participation and involvement.

Last month, as hundreds of thousands of New York City sight-seers walked through Times Square, the message of arts education was promoted through an interesting partnership of arts and business. For an entire week in January, MTV aired Americans for the Arts’ The Arts. Ask for More. public service awareness campaign television ad Raisin Brahms four times per hour on MTV 44 ½, one of the largest high definition screens in Times Square.

As an entertainment industry stronghold that believes in the power of the arts, MTV leads by example—showing other companies that supporting the arts is crucial to creativity, learning, a powerful workforce, and a strong economy. This collaborative effort is a great example of creative partnerships between business and the arts.

Each year at THE BCA TEN: Best Companies Supporting the Arts in America gala, businesses are celebrated for their support of the arts, including partnerships with arts organizations, sponsorships, leadership, grants, and other cross sector collaborative efforts. In November, the Business Committee for the Arts will once again come together to celebrate THE BCA TEN 2010.