Circle Nerdz dances at Courthouse Square
Valley View vs. Franklin
Ross vs. Wilmington
Home > Blogs > Arts and Entertainment > Archives > 2009 > February > 03 > Entry
Arts need growing locally, nationally
Culture Works president and CEO Denise Rehg said a new national program announced Tuesday, Feb . 3, by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to assist struggling arts organizations “is commendable, but the need is huge and it’s growing.”
As evidence, she held up a letter she had just finished writing to Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland asking him to reconsider his proposed $6 million decrease in the Ohio Arts Council’s biennial budget for 2009-10.
Rehg, who helped kick off her organization’s annual united arts fund drive Jan. 29, setting a goal of $1.7 million, said there’s still reason for optimism. “When it comes to the importance of the arts, this community really gets it.”
Like a FEMA for the arts, only much smaller, the newly established “Arts in Crisis: A Kennedy Center Initiative” will provide emergency planning assistance to struggling arts groups across the country.
During a telephone press conference with arts reporters, Kennedy Center president Michael Kaiser said the current economic climate “is the worst I’ve seen in my 23 years as an arts administrator. There have been recessions, but this is so deep and so broad, no one knows when it’s going to end.”
The nonprofit group Americans for the Arts estimates 10,000 arts organizations could disappear in 2009.
Open to arts groups with 501c3 status, “Arts in Crisis” will provide free and confidential support with fundraising, board development, budgeting and marketing.
Kaiser said the center has established a preliminary $500,000 budget (with funding by contributors) to cover additional staff and travel costs, but admitted he had no idea how many staff hours will be needed.
Organizations with a high degree of “fixed costs” — for example, orchestras with large numbers of musicians — are one area of pressing concern, Kaiser said. “They can’t cut those costs as easily as a theater company can choose plays with fewer cast members.”
Another is mid-sized organizations, a category that includes several of Dayton’s major performing arts groups.
“The largest groups tend to have a very large donor base. The smallest ones are generally very good at practicing better flexibility. Mid-sized groups have neither. They’re less flexible and they have fewer donors.”
Companies that wish to participate can submit an online request at www.artsincrisis.org.
Kaiser has personally worked with the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company in the past under the Kennedy Center’s capacity-building program.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Arts News
Comments