Many arts organizations and institutions in Columbia and across the country are dealing with declining revenues during the recession. People are buying fewer tickets, corporations are donating less money because of their own financial strains and foundations are underwriting less because endowments have shrunk along with the stock market.
Faring better than most communities, Columbia, with its insulated economy, is also the only city in Missouri that allocates funding for local arts groups and has an Office of Cultural Affairs, which has a $322,000 budget this year. The city is now considering whether to maintain its current funding of the arts, both in the proposed budget for 2010 and through a portion of lodging tax revenue.
The CBT brought together leaders of the local arts community recently for a forum on the allocation of public and private resources during tight economic times. Here are the highlights of the commentary:
Jerry Wade, 4th Ward Representative, City Council
Jerry Wade addresses attendees of the Power Lunch while Nola Ruth and Marie Hunter look on.
Wade said he expects city revenue to be down for the next few fiscal years and added that the question of how much money to allocate to the arts is perhaps more difficult to answer than “any other area of public investment.”
“When you ask questions about the public sector investing in art and art education, you’re really asking about who you are as a collective and what you want to be as a collective,” he said.
Wade then asked a series of questions: “Does the city spend money to increase citizens’ understanding, appreciation and access to art experiences? Is that important to what we become or just a luxury item for the well off? Finally, during tough economic times, what is the appropriate balance in services between art and filling pot holes.”
“There is no core service right now that is not a potential budget reduction. Everything is being evaluated. That’s why the question of the relative value between art and potholes is not a light question.”
“Everyone is an art expert in that each of us knows what we like,” he said. “There is not an arts decision that does not generate controversy and conflict.”
Nola Ruth, new chair of the Missouri Arts Council
Ruth makes a point about funding challenges in Columbia.
Ruth has worked at Columbia’s Office of Cultural Affairs and directed the Missouri Association of Arts Agencies before leading MAC, a state agency that provides about $7.5 million in grants to nonprofit arts organizations.
“For arts organizations, everything is going to be reduced,” Ruth said, before providing a Darwinian scenario. “It’s not the strongest or most intelligent that survive-it’s the ones that are most able to adapt to change…
“Everybody has to be more business savvy. The business community can offer some services to people, because a lot of arts directors are not the best financial managers.”
“If you’re a symphony and you’re only serving 2 percent of the population, then you’re in trouble. They have to make themselves viable. It’s not good enough to say we were historically wonderful. It’s important that all of the organizations look in a hard business way at their income source, service and mission. If they are not on target, they are going to be dead.”
Ellen Roper, treasurer, Missouri Theatre board
Roper said the organization is expecting a budget shortfall this year because operating expenses are higher than ticket sales and other revenue. She agreed with Ruth’s argument for adaptability.
“For years the symphony society thought that theater down the block was for classical music – and I love classical music. There was strong resistance to changing that. So you get 200 or 300 people in a theater that seats 1,200. Pops outsell classical, so we moved to a mix of classical and pops.
Marie Hunter, manager, Office of Cultural Affairs
Marie Hunter converses with Jerry Wade.
“The arts are not considered an industry, but they truly are. So often, we frame the arts as the extras and the fluff, and really there is a huge number of people employed in the arts. Arts agencies are also purchasing services such as printing and catering, so as an industry the arts are fairly significant.”
Hunter pointed out that studies have shown that arts education enhances student performance and attendance and said government support helps provide access to the arts.
“This is particularly important because so often people think of the arts as this extra, for the wine and cheese crowd, the elite. Actually government support of the arts ensures the opposite. It ensures that the arts are not elitist and not just available to people who have the ability to pay for them.
“The city’s arts funding is not just for feeling good about supporting arts – it’s money that stimulates our economy.”
Lorah Steiner, executive director, Convention & Visitors Bureau
Lorah Steiner and Richard King.
Steiner said the arts “define who we are and give our community its character.” The CVB allocates about $157,000 in annual arts funding from room tax revenue, and Steiner said she hopes to maintain that level of funding next year despite a significant decline in tax revenue.
“I personally don’t want to see any reduction in our support for the arts in the coming year. If we can get through 2010, that won’t be an issue. We’re crossing fingers.
“Years ago, I thought of the arts as sort of a nice thing that a community has, but is not really that important. At one point, while developing our five-to-10-year plan, we started looking at niche markets that might have an impact on the community. The more we looked at it, the more we discovered that the arts were one of those niches. That’s when we started in earnest to support the arts.”
Mark Timberlake, owner, Timberlake Engineering
Timberlake cited studies showing that people who listen to music or view art perform tasks better in school and the workplace, and he has put up artwork throughout his offices.
“An investment in art is actually an enhancement of productivity for your employees,” he said
From left, Katie Harris, Kanani May, Jon Poses and Bob Roper.
Larry Schuster, owner, Pioneer Window Works
Schuster, a former City Council member, said the city’s funding allocation for the arts “is a drop in the bucket” and believes in former City Manager Ray Beck’s philosophy of a “balanced community.” But he also said arts organizations need to reach out more to “blue collar workers” in Columbia to expand their audiences.
From right to left, Gary Meyerpeter, Mark Timberlake, Larry Schuster and Jill Womack.
“You probably don’t see too many people who work at Quaker Oats show up at the Missouri Theatre ribbon cutting,” he said. “You probably don’t see too many people who work at Square D show up at the Art in the Park event.”
Axie Hindman, Ellen Roper and Christina George.
Richard King, owner, The Blue Note
“We’re a for-profit business, so I don’t have the luxury of asking for public money. This may sound like Marketing 101, but I try to reach every segment of the community – whether it’s blue collar, or the ‘hoity toitys,’ or whatever you want to call them. Maybe that’s something that everyone should stand back and take a look at: are you attracting people outside a certain segment? I didn’t know a whole lot about country music when I started out. Now I know a heck of a lot. I realized these people want to come out and hear shows.”
What the city is funding for fiscal 2009
Columbia Art League, Art Academy & Short Stories………$7,309
Columbia Chorale, 2008-2009 Concert Series………………$5,792
Columbia Civic Orchestra, 2008-2009 Concert Series……$5,177
Columbia College Dept. of Humanities, Literary Arts
and Storytelling Residency………………………………………..$4,700
Columbia Community Band, Performance Series 2009….$1,660
Columbia Entertainment Co. Community Theatre,
2008-2009 Season……………………………………………………$6,061
Columbia Handbell Ensemble Inc., 20th Anniversary
Concert Season……………………………………………………….$1,130
Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center/UMC, African
Diaspora Project……………………………………………………...$3,779
Maplewood Barn Community Theatre, 2009 Season……….$2,806
Mid-Missouri Traditional Dancers, Spring Breakdown
Dance Weekend……………………………………………………….$2,037
Missouri Contemporary Ballet, Dance Columbia Project…$6,294
Missouri Symphony Society, Classical Music for Young
Adults and the Symphony Conservatory……………………..$6,800
Performing Arts in Children’s Education, 2009
Scholarship and Program Assistance………………………….$5,915
Ragtag Programming for Film and Media Art,
True/False Film Fest 2009…………………………………………$6,315
School of Service, Access Arts 2009…………………………..$7,052
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