"During the month of June, I participated in three very enlightening conversations about the arts in Lexington. First, an interview with Vice Mayor Jim Gray and LexArts President Jim Clark to discuss a recent study by Americans for the Arts that challenges communities to take a closer look at the economic impact of the arts. Second, Mayor Jim Newberry agreed to discuss the same study and how we can encourage further investment in the arts. And, finally, I sat in on a discussion about collecting art at the Lexington Art League's quarterly forum ArTalk.
Replaying those conversations and taking the time to consider each, it became clear to me that a powerful consensus is emerging. The mayor, vice-mayor, president of LexArts, executive director and president of the board of directors at Lexington Art League, art historians and educators from the University of Kentucky and Transylvania University, local professional and emerging artists, collectors and students from The Gaines Center for the Humanities are all in agreement that the arts play a vital role in moving this community forward.
Why then do we seem to be stuck in limbo? Why aren't we raising money for a facility to house an art museum? Why can't we find a location for the amphitheater to support the performing arts? Why are there no serious discussions about a public/private percent-for-art ordinance? Could it be there is a key player missing in our conversations — namely the private sector?
Arts and Economic Prosperity III
On May 22, Americans for the Arts (AFTA) released the most comprehensive economic impact study of the nonprofit arts and cultural industry ever conducted in the United States. This study demonstrates precisely why the private sector should invest in the arts. The study illustrates that the arts and cultural industry is on the rise, growing 24 percent over the last five years, sustaining 5.7 million jobs in the United States and generating $166.2 billion in economic activity every year, which resulted in $29.6 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues.
The numbers are impressive; you can check out the national data for yourself or look up local data for cities and regions like Louisville, Greater Cincinnati, or Boulder, Colo., (the site for the most recent Commerce Lexington Leadership Visit) at the Americans for the Arts Web site.
What impressed me the most is that the analysis seemed to be extraordinarily sensitive to each community that participated; project economists from the Georgia Institute of Technology customized input-output analysis to track dollars spent by local arts organizations and their audiences. The study uses four measures to define economic impact: full-time equivalent jobs, resident household income and local and state government revenues. Simply put, the results illustrate that each time a dollar is spent and then re-spent within a community, it helps local businesses thrive and creates a more viable place to live and work.
For some communities, this type of economic analysis is vital. According to Donna Gartenmann, arts and cultural program director for the city of Boulder, "This is our second year to participate in this study and, in all honesty, it was not until we had this hard data that we were able to properly engage the private sector to invest in the arts."
What about Lexington? Do we need this type of economic analysis to more fully engage the private sector? Mayor Newberry and Vice Mayor Gray concur that the concept of a return on an investment in the arts is rather abstract; they agree that conducting an economic analysis similar to the one done by Americans for the Arts would be highly beneficial for Lexington.
"It is difficult for government to make the kind of investment in the arts that needs to be made by itself, and so we have got to have a lot of help from the private sector to get where we need to be as a community with our arts offerings. And to the degree that we can demonstrate to the community that there is a clear return on investments that are made in the arts, it would just make it that much easier to make the next investment," stated Newberry.
When asked if the government has ever considered what sort of revenues were generated by the arts organizations, Gray responded, "Well, that's what I think this report really illuminated is that Lexington hasn't done that, and what's important is worth measuring."
"I think what the main sort of takeaway from these conversations is that anything that has meaningful value over time requires patient investment money, and that's really where we are right now. We're just beginning to understand, in my view at least, what this is in terms of opportunity. Understanding what the arts community here represents and how you leverage that for long-term financial benefit," stated Gray.
Clark seemed certain that Lexington would fare well in such a study. "We've just gone through our community arts grants process and concluded our allocations to the major arts groups and we're talking about a combined budget, expense budget of about 20 groups of six million dollars, reaching an audience in excess of 500,000. So there's a big impact here in the community and that is direct audience and direct dollars being spent in the local economy."
ArTalk
Conversations at the Lexington Art League began with fervent questions about how we take the next step, how our local emerging and professional artists could gain the attention of a dealer or collector, what organizations like the Lexington Art League can do to engage a broader audience, and how we might gain the attention of a renowned art critic. I kept looking around the room, thinking, "Where are the others? Aren't we just preaching to the choir?"
The month's conversations really came together for me when someone asked to see a show of hands of the number of people who have ever purchased a work of art, and nearly every hand in the room shot up. We are all members of the private sector. Together we have the power and resources right here in Lexington, but each of us must commit, whether it be a dollar or a million dollars. We must have enough confidence to take that leap of faith and make the investment.
So, before leaving the Art League, I decided to contribute to a local artist's resident household income and purchased Milk Floor by Willard Tucker. Hopefully a portion of that investment will now enable Will to buy more milk. What he chooses to do with that milk is up to him, but I guess I am banking on it nourishing this community in a way that might enable Lexington to be more competitive in this 21st century economy."