Blog Posts for Arts & Business

Thank you to the many people who have been blog contributors to, and readers of ArtsBlog over the years. ArtsBlog has long been a space where we uplifted stories from the field that demonstrated how the arts strengthen our communities socially, educationally, and economically; where trends and issues and controversies were called out; and advocacy tools were provided to help you make the case for more arts funding and favorable arts policies.

As part of Americans for the Arts’ recent Strategic Realignment Process, we were asked to evaluate our storytelling communications platforms and evolve the way we share content. As a result, we launched the Designing Our Destiny portal to explore new ways of telling stories and sharing information, one that is consistent with our longtime practice of, “No numbers without a story, and no stories without a number.”

As we put our energy into developing this platform and reevaluate our communications strategies, we have put ArtsBlog on hold. That is, you can read past blog posts, but we are not posting new ones. You can look to the Designing Our Destiny portal and our news items feed on the Americans for the Arts website for stories you would have seen in ArtsBlog in the past.

ArtsBlog will remain online through this year as we determine the best way to archive this valuable resource and the knowledge you’ve shared here.

As ever, we are grateful for your participation in ArtsBlog and thank you for your work in advancing the arts. It is important, and you are important for doing it.


Mr. Jeff A. Hawthorne

More on “old ways” and “new ways”

Posted by Mr. Jeff A. Hawthorne, Dec 08, 2010 0 comments


Mr. Jeff A. Hawthorne

Jeff Hawthorne

In an earlier blog post, Monograph author Katherine Mooring pointed out a quote that I too found thought-provoking. It’s from Bob Speltz, Director of Public Affairs for The Standard (an insurance and finance company in Portland, Oregon) making an important comment on intergenerational changes in corporate leadership:

“Doing it ‘the old way’ is not an option,” he says, “and it will require a very different set of skills for arts administrators to appeal to new leadership and the people who work around them.”

To establish and nurture stronger relationships between businesses and arts organizations, Speltz advocates for arts leaders to be more proactive about meeting with corporate decision-makers – but not to start off with soliciting a contribution. “Understanding what [businesses] are looking for in community partnerships” is key, says Speltz, and having these discussions can help arts organizations collaborate “in intelligent and innovative ways.”

I think most arts executives and fundraising professionals are well aware of the need to cultivate their corporate prospects methodically, and remember to reach out to their corporate donors when they’re not asking for money. Yet apparently it doesn’t always happen, so we need to be reminded. And while Speltz notes that it can be invaluable for arts organizations to simply listen to the needs of the business, I suspect many of us could spend more time and energy taking what they hear from a business and considering new innovative partnerships that can meet the needs of both the company and the arts organization.

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Ms. Emily Peck

Why and How Businesses Support the Arts: Business Committee for the Arts National Triennial Survey

Posted by Ms. Emily Peck, Dec 07, 2010 0 comments


Ms. Emily Peck

Since 1968, the Business Committee for the Arts (BCA) has conducted a field-wide survey of businesses to determine why they support the arts, to what extent they support the arts, and how they support the arts. Conducted by Shugoll Research, the 2010 BCA Triennial Survey of Business Support to the Arts is the only survey in the United States that tracks support from small, midsize, and large companies to provide the most complete view of the arts funding landscape from businesses nationwide.

Why Business Supports the Arts

What’s the most important determinant of why a business that gives to the arts might increase its support? Profitability. Businesses make decisions based on bottom line. After profitability, respondents chose a “link to social causes or education” as the next most important factor in deciding to support the arts.

For example, Northeast Utilities, a 2010 BCA 10 award recipient, has an ongoing partnership with one Hartford area elementary school.  A $500,000 grant from the NU Foundation provided funding to enable The R.J. Kinsella Elementary School to transform itself into a K-8 arts-based magnet school.  According to Northeast Utilities Chairman, President and CEO, Charles W. Shivery, “Northeast Utilities and its companies embrace the important role played by the arts in energizing the social, economic and educational fabric of our communities.”

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Mr. Andrew M. Witt

New Money for LAA/UAF’s

Posted by Mr. Andrew M. Witt, Dec 07, 2010 0 comments


Mr. Andrew M. Witt

Andrew Witt

I recently had a conversation with one of our board members on how we (LAA’s and UAF’s) were addressing the economic issues that were forcing us (locally and nationally) to take a hard look at the traditional business model.

Over the past two years, and really well before that, the UAF field has seen reductions in traditional corporate philanthropy in favor of sponsorship marketing.  Coupled with that, constituent arts groups (grantees) have taken advantage of that shift to solicit and receive funding from the same corporate sources that were the major donors to united arts funds.

This was noted in the Triennial survey results as business advertising budgets and marketing/sponsorship budget support roughly equaled annual contributions budgets.  Further proof was noted in the Areas of Giving section that theatres and non-symphonic music received the largest percentage of support.  From these two findings, I see two main opportunities for our field:

  • Sponsorship and Marketing support is here to stay and the associated benefits such as comp tickets, program recognition, VIP sponsor receptions and the like will continue to be a strong draw.
  • Theatres and non-symphonic music have multiple performance runs and therefore more opportunities for exposure – more reach as the ad world says.  A three week 20 performance run even with fewer seats, has a greater impact than a one night concert in a large hall.

Indeed, I have a question to pose to the field.  Since this is a blog and we are asking for your comments, how about responding to this situation?

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Amena Brown

Poet and a Cubicle

Posted by Amena Brown, Dec 07, 2010 4 comments


Amena Brown

Amena Brown

I live my life as a full-time poet, writer, performer, speaker, typist, errand runner…depending on which day you catch me. This life is not as freewheeling as it seems. It is a tenuous balance and juggle of many different opportunities that somehow add up to not quite having to eat ramen noodles for every meal. A couple of years ago, I had a full-time gig writing for a Fortune 500 company, editing and composing documents geared towards employees. I was a poser: a creative brain who had seemingly by some fluke been hired to work for a company that achieved its bottom line via left brain initiatives. As a right brain thinker in a left-brain corporate world, I felt as if my creative thinking skills set could not help me win my boss’ approval or a promotion.

According to Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future, right-brain skills sets will be a commodity in what is becoming the new marketplace. This means a couple of things: there are right-brain thinkers currently feeling stifled at jobs where there skills and talent will soon be of immense value and there are left-brain executives who will need to know the tools to manage right-brain ideas while completing left-brain agendas. Therein lies the rub.

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Courtney King

Corporate Contributions to the Arts

Posted by Courtney King, Dec 07, 2010 0 comments


Courtney King

Courtney King

The “2010 National Survey of Business Support to the Arts” provides a valuable in-depth look at corporate philanthropy through the lens of art and culture. At the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), we enjoy a unique perspective working with CEOs of leading businesses to increase the level and quality of corporate giving. We are committed to data and benchmarking and are grateful for the opportunity to contribute our perspective to this conversation on business’ support of the arts, drawing upon the $70 billion in corporate giving data that CECP has gathered over the last ten years.

CECP does not advocate for specific issue areas for corporate philanthropic support because we believe that each company should undergo an evaluation of which social issues the company is best prepared to address based on its relevancy to the business’ future success and the ability of the company to make a positive impact in that area. However, our annual data publication, Giving in Numbers: 2010 Edition does provide insight into changing strategies and funding priorities, including to the arts, of the over 170 leading corporations that participate in the Corporate Giving Standard survey.

It is important to note that whereas the 2010 National Survey canvasses companies of all revenue sizes, CECP’s study focuses on large corporations, including 61 of the Fortune 100. As the 2010 National Survey points out, a significant percentage of arts funding comes from the small to mid-sized businesses (combined 93%), since most arts giving remains targeted at local arts projects (97%).

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Akhtar Badshah

Art is the Lifeblood of the Community

Posted by Akhtar Badshah, Dec 07, 2010 1 comment


Akhtar Badshah

Akhtar Badshah

Arts are the lifeblood of a thriving and successful community.   For companies like Microsoft, with over 30,000 employees and their families living in the Puget Sound region, we place great emphasis on playing an active role in the development of our community. Supporting the arts is an investment that pays for generations.  We recently supported the Picasso exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum which opened this October and already over 100,000 people have visited the Museum and viewed the art opening their eyes to works that have never been seen before in this country.  In addition 18,000 school kids signed up to learn about Picasso through school tours and classroom outreach programs.  This is the real benefit of arts we can insure our kids are getting a fully rounded education.

We believe that supporting the arts means going beyond supporting the major and established organizations but also supporting the local theatre, the small children’s theatre and other performing arts organizations because all of them together provide the rich variety of a cultural experience that then becomes the foundation of our growth as individuals and as a community.   Our partnership with the Arts Fund gives us the opportunity to fund the most creative organizations that are both interesting and cutting edge.

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