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What Works
What the signs are telling us....
Financial support for arts and culture is down both in Erie County and across the country. Private giving to the arts declined 2.4% in 2009 according to the Giving USA 2010 report, and public support of arts and culture is estimated to be down by 10-15%. The fortunes of local arts organizations are reflecting this trend – 60% of them experienced financial losses in the most recent year for which data is available, and many of these were significant losses.
A host of promising and successful post-industrial communities across Pennsylvania and elsewhere are finding a way to mix arts, culture, and heritage into their formula for the future. In its quest to become a more “creative community,” Erie trails Pennsylvania cities of comparable size in the number of arts and culture establishments it supports, a key element in the creative index.
While audiences for arts and cultural performances and festivals are holding steady, research conducted as part of Erie County’s CultureSpark cultural planning process concluded that the county has a large untapped market of individuals and families who do not participate much in the cultural offerings we have but would participate in activities and events that were creatively re-oriented to fit with their tastes and lifestyles.
The National Arts Index generalizes from these trends in a way that is instructive for Erie. How the public participates in and consumes the arts is expanding – more and more people are art creators, and the expanding use of technology is driving this trend. The demand for arts in education is growing, even as funding pressures squeeze it out of the public schools. Our national need for creativity, the growing connections between the arts and other disciplines, and our need to build future audiences for arts and culture are all important drivers of this growth.
What Works: Traffic Patterns, Promising Practices, and Pilots
From a national scan of programs led by nonprofits that are making a difference in other communities, we see hope in:
Self-directed capacity-building for the arts
Healthy, vibrant arts and culture organizations that are well led, well managed, and well governed are at the heart of resurgent creative communities that find a way to thrive in the 21st century. Building and sustaining these resilient and resourceful nonprofits in an artist-friendly environment takes on different forms in different places, yet two world-class creative communities have created comprehensive capacity-building websites for the arts community based on the premise that with flexible 24/7 access to information and direction, artists and organizations can do much to help themselves. Primary exemplars here include:
- • Arts Resource Network (Seattle)
Erie’s Nonprofit Partnership and ArtsErie are working to incorporate these web-based resources with an arts-friendly approach to educational workshops and technical assistance that attracts the attention and support of the local arts community and strengthens and empowers local arts organizations.
The Creative Economy
In cities across the country, there is a growing recognition that culture can not only enhance life and revitalize communities, but also foster new industries and employment. So-called creative cities are building temples of art, using arts districts to stimulate urban redevelopment, promoting cultural tourism, attracting and retaining the creative class, building creative industries, and developing the values of a creative city. Many of these strategies and qualities were endorsed by and included in the CultureSpark plan for arts, culture, and heritage in Erie County, but accessible models and maps for development already exist in the examples of many cities that are making the transition from a manufacturing economy to a mixed 21st century economy dominated by creative industries:
- • Portland, Maine used a broad-based Creative Economy Council to champion the development of creative industries that spring from the city’s rich maritime and textile history.
- • Pawtucket, Rhode Island developed a highly successful arts district with the full-time leadership of one cultural affairs officer, a strong plan, and a creative municipal vision.
- • Schnectady, New York is using the entrepreneurial energy of Proctor’s Theater and a strong pro-culture climate to put a creative economic mix into play in this former central New York manufacturing hub.
- • Tallahassee, Florida has used its designation as a Knight Foundation Creative Communities site to harness philanthropy and community transformation, largely based on the strong local presence of government and higher education in nurturing sustainable creative communities.
While the drivers of change in each of these cities are different, the fundamentals are the same – building on local strengths, championing affordability and user-friendliness, and not being afraid to think outside the box. For more resources regarding the development of communities based on the creative economy, see
Arts In Education
The pressing need to develop new audiences for arts and culture and to use the arts to engage students creatively in learning so that they can be more successful in education compels us to use creativity and innovation to integrate the arts into K-12 school settings. In Erie and Crawford counties, ArtsErie’s Art In Action three year federal arts dissemination grant involves local artists with extended classroom residencies, the commitment of three local school districts, and the expertise of Edinboro University to transform school culture through the arts.
A bit further afield, Ripley Central School in Ripley, New York has leveraged a five-year investment in creative writing residencies to dramatically lift student academic achievement. Jamestown High School in Jamestown, New York has developed a comprehensive video and media studies strand that engages students in creative video production as part of the English curriculum. This cohort of students has the highest success rate in the school in passing Regents’ exams. For more information on these programs, see www.artscouncil.com.
To assist schools and arts organizations in the development of high quality, standards-based approaches to developing literacy and other critical learning skills through the arts, several national technical assistance centers have sprung up in recent years and stand as resources for educators who want to bring fresh, creative approaches into the classroom to stimulate learning and achievement. Using rigorously evaluated, evidenced-based approaches to learning, these organizations offer a foundation on which to build, see Reading In Motion and the Brown University Arts/Literacy Project
For more background and resources on arts in education, see the information at Americans for the Arts.
Philanthropic On-Ramps
Modest, strategic investments of grant funds that can help move arts and culture into the fast lane include:
• New audience development. Some of the most promising territory in the CultureSpark plan concerned the cultivation of new approaches to engage large demographic groups in Erie County that are not participating in traditional arts fare. Focusing on their lifestyle drivers and interests in family, heritage, and nostalgia, among many other things, is one approach. Building innovative programming at the intersection of the arts and healthcare, arts and the environment, arts and community development, and the like explores natural connections between the arts and other disciplines, builds new audiences, and leverages other funding streams that can nurture arts and culture. For instance, over the past 25 years, Philadelphia has nurtured creative partnerships with community groups to produce over 3,000 outdoor murals – a massive commitment to public art that has paid dividends in economic investment, audience development, and the rise of the creative city.
• Community economic development. Projects that position the arts, culture, and heritage as the drivers of new economic activity are important to Erie’s future. Assisting with the development of Erie’s new downtown cultural district and supporting the development of this infrastructure through staff coordination and websites in Erie and other emerging hubs like Edinboro, Corry, North East, and Girard is a first and fundamental step that allows arts and culture to leverage other investments from the public and private sectors. With basic infrastructure in place, coordinated marketing efforts that promote cultural tourism and build the cultural brand of the region is a natural next step.
• Arts in Education. To support the goal of effectively engaging students in the classroom, developing the creative thinkers America needs for global competitiveness, and planting the seeds for the next generation of arts consumers and patrons, grants that utilize evidence-based strategies for integrating the arts into learning in K-12 education environments produce strong results. Students perform better academically, are more engaged learners, move onto higher education in greater numbers, and support the arts in their communities as adults.