Trish Poupore

The Arts Build Communities project has been key to building a strong grassroots network of well informed advocates empowered with tools to make an effective case for supporting the arts in Virginia. In early 2010, the Virginia House of Delegates proposed elimination of state arts funding.  VFTA was able to mobilize nearly 300 advocates within 48 hours, who assembled in the House gallery as the House budget was presented.

The News & Advance, Lynchburg, later reported (Mar. 24, 2010) about Del. Scott Garrett’s (R-Lynchburg) account to his local chamber of commerce at the end of the legislative session:

“public reaction to a proposed cut in state funding for arts agencies led him to believe arts should be regarded as an economic development tool and not just a quality-of-life issue. ‘I had 1,983 emails about the arts after the House of Delegates proposed to cut state support entirely by 2012.’ In the final budget, most of the funding was restored. ‘What I heard, loud and clear, from our business partners is that arts are what brings businesses into our community,’ Garrett said. ‘I absolutely agree with that.’”

Through the project, over three years, a wealth of effective public awareness tools has been created that can be easily accessed and used by individual arts organizations, advocates, and the media.  The core element of the project is its bank of now 90 individual one-page stories about individual arts organizations in Virginia.

The stories follow a set, lively format using photos and quotes from community leaders.  They capture the basic elements of arts organizations’ programming, audiences, and key statistics on economic impact.   Economic impact stats are generated using the Americans for the Arts economic prosperity calculator.

Stories are used by the featured organizations on the local level to promote their own community impact with stakeholders and in grant applications.  VFTA packages the stories by individual legislative district for advocates to carry on advocacy meetings.  The stories are used as source documents for creating editorials and for creating publications like VFTA’s new Arts = Business for Virginia. They provide great source material for media.

The project, funded and operated through VFTA’s Foundation arm, started as a post card public awareness campaign—mailings were sent to directors of the boards of arts organizations in the state soliciting “sign on and support” of the Arts Build Communities concept in exchange for a bumper sticker. A generous board member donated funds to publish a full-page ad with names of 1,000 supporters in the Richmond Times Dispatch on Arts Advocacy Day in January 2008.

Through Altria Group’s generous support for the past three years, VFTA Foundation has been able to build its story bank, add a Google Map of Virginia arts organizations, initiate a vibrant Facebook page, create videos for a YouTube Channel, and pull key stories into a single publication about the arts’ economic impact.

The video component of the project allows visitors to go on a virtual tour of the state’s arts organizations (13 currently featured).  In 2010, VFTA added two regional videos featuring two localities that use the arts to build the local economy. In addition to YouTube exposure, the videos are featured in conference displays and at the General Assembly on Arts Advocacy Day. One video featuring Arlington, Virginia, was picked up the Virginia Association of Counties and linked to the front of its website for a month this fall.

Virginians for the Arts works to increase public awareness of the crucial impact of the arts in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the importance of state funding for the Virginia Commission for the Arts.  For more information, see its website at Vaforarts.org.