Mecklenburg Times Article - June 16, 2009

The following article ran in the Mecklenburg Times on June 16, 2009. It was written by Austin Light.

CHARLOTTE — Tomorrow, the Arts & Science Council and the Charlotte Chamber will announce the results of the Creative Vitality Index. The CVI is a measure of the economic health of the creative sector in Charlotte. The creative community covers a large swath of businesses and professions, from individual artists to museums, galleries and organizations.

According to Dan Shoemaker, executive director at the Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County arts and cultural audiences and organizations “contribute $158 million to the local economy and support almost 4,800 jobs.” Shoemaker was referencing a 2007 report from the ASC.

“I think collectively, we can make a really strong case,” said Suzanne Fetscher, president of the McColl Center for Visual Art. “We have a pretty significant [economic] impact.”

Fetscher said the McColl Center’s $2 million budget pays for artist-in-residence programs, education and other cultural activities. In addition to the money the center puts into the city’s economy, it also brings in around 20,000 visitors a year, who spend money on art and at nearby restaurants.

“We are investing in the city, and [the citizens of Charlotte] are investing in us and the adjacent businesses,” Fetscher said.

With the economy struggling, many in the art community are anxiously awaiting the ASC’s report. Despite the healthy contribution the arts make to the economy, much of it is possible only because of donations and state-allocated funds that help many of the organizations operate each year. Should the funding decrease—and it already is, according to Fetscher—then the economic impact decreases as well. The results could dramatically change the way some organizations and individuals operate.

“If we took $50,000 less from the ASC, that’s one job,” said Marc Gustafson, an attorney who recently opened Gallery Pantone 278. “If we lose $150,000, that is three jobs gone; that’s huge. Because we’re in a banking town, some people see art in more financial terms, and you can’t view it that way.”

The ASC funds several dozen art organizations throughout Charlotte, and according to Shoemaker, they are “a model nationally when it comes to public support of the arts.”

Still, they can’t carry the community on their own, said artist Carmella Jarvi. “As the art community reassesses its business plan and strategies, artists need to do the same,” she said.

ASC Communications Director Krista Terrell said she did not want to discuss the report until its official release on Wednesday.

Reaching the Turning Point

“This report will be a turning point for the art community,” said Gustafson, who uses blogs and other social networking tools to publicize his gallery’s artists and events. “I think the art world is going to have to learn to do things differently.”

Among those evaluating a different approach to business is the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. The symphony, which used to receive the largest operating grant from ASC — $1,947,424 in fiscal year 2009 — has seen its funds reduced from the ASC by 54 percent.

“[The ASC] evaluated our financial status and they felt like we needed to rethink our business model,” said Director of Public Relations Meg Whalen. “We’ve already started that process.” Whalen said they have cut administrative and artistic costs and asked staff to go on furlough. According to Whalen, the symphony has an economic impact of about $15 million per year, and it is the region’s largest employer of professional, full-time artists, many of whom contribute to the economy through side jobs like teaching or performing at smaller venues.

Whalen said the symphony also is looking at new ways to raise funds from the public, like asking each adult attending the free Pops at the Park summer concerts to donate $5. The effort raised $28,000 on a recent Sunday, almost four times the usual collection.

“This is a tremendous affirmation that the community supports us,” Whalen said.

Jarvi said she believes many people in the community do recognize the importance of the arts. “From kids having art classes in schools, to the people with very exclusive seating in the Blumenthal, people see that the arts contribute to the quality of life in Charlotte.”

Though the support is apparent — more than 8,000 people attended the first summer pops concert—will it continue when casual supporters are asked to reach into their pockets?

“We’re at one of those defining moments, where we as a community need to make an important decision,”Fetscher said. “We can be bold — step up and fund the arts and help it excel — or we can be predictable and keep things the way they are.”

Fetscher hinted at greater support for the arts, more than just ASC or nonprofits and charities, but “real support on a broader spectrum.”

“The ASC is a real asset and they’ve done a real service to the artists and to the community as a whole,” Jarvi said. “But they can’t be everything to everybody.”

According to Fetscher, in the early 1990s, the city of Denver, Colo., initiated a dedicated funding source (a sales tax of one penny per $10 spent in the six-county Denver area) to support arts and cultural institutions. As a result, Denver’s art community “has just soared,” Fetscher said.

While it sounds like a great idea to support the arts and increase their economic impact, advocating for taxpayer money is never easy, Whalen said.

“No one is going to the city and questioning how they spent $40,000 on landscaping, or a new dump truck, but when it goes to the arts, there seems to be public outcry and angst,” Gustafson said.

“The city was very aggressive about finding a dedicated funding source to make the NASCAR museum happen,” Fetscher said.

“What does the cultural sector need, and how much are we willing to do to make sure it doesn’t just survive but thrive?”

Gustafson suggested working with places like the NASCAR Hall of Fame and other sports venues instead of competing against them for entertainment dollars.

“[The art community] should be collaborating with these people. You don’t go the Mint Museum or the Bobcats arena, you go to both,”Gustafson said. “It has always been a choice in the past.”

Supporting Creativity

That’s not to say the city doesn’t do a good job of supporting the arts now. Gustafson said the ASC has “done a great job supporting the arts,” and he is excited about the directions in which new president Scott Provancher could take the organization. Provancher, who comes to
Charlotte from the Fine Arts Fund in Cincinnati, will assume his responsibilities July 13.

“The city does well with visibility, education, letting people know what is out there, and giving a variety of options,” Jarvi said. “I look at business in this community as a catalyst for why arts are so significant. Uptown used to be the place you went for work and now it’s the place you go for social things and art.”

Shoemaker agreed that in comparison to some other cities, Charlotte’s support of the arts is healthy. “In cities such as Seattle, where the bulk of arts support was tied to Boeing or Microsoft, that city’s arts community suffered when the economic downturn affected those two major philanthropic foundations.”

While the Queen City’s art community has had to tighten its belt, the fact that it is in as good a shape as it is a testament to existing support, Fetscher said.

“I think we’ll be relatively pleased with the way that we score,” Fetscher said about the ASC’s report. “But I think that it will probably reaffirm that we still have a long way to go.”